HOW PIRATES BECOME THE NAVY [ Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber ]Early-stage startups are a lot like pirate ships, but at some point they need to evolve into something more akin to a navy – no less heroic, but more disciplined. Though Uber blitzscaled to become the most valuable startup in the world, it was also notorious for its toxic culture. Here's how Dara turned the company around and led through its IPO. [ masters of scale ] VC Lior Susan has a big idea that seems to be working: building next-generation industrial companiesMany investors in Silicon Valley are waiting the next big platform. That’s fine with Lior Susan, a former Flex exec who in 2015 cofounded Eclipse Ventures with the legendary venture capitalist Pierre Lamond, long of Sequoia Capital. The duo, along with a team that has now grown to 13 people — happen to think the Next Big Thing is not whatever comes after social networks and flying cars; they think the biggest opportunities that too few VCs recognize is the chance to augment or else build from scratch the next Honeywell or GE or Johnson & Johnson through full tech stacks that enable speed and efficiencies that are hard for incumbents to rival. [ Tech Crunch ] Apple's Tim Cook: Silicon Valley has created privacy-violating 'chaos factory'Big tech companies are failing to take responsibility for the chaos that their innovations have created, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. In a speech to Stanford university graduates, Cook said the recent impact of the technology industry had not been "neat or straightforward", with the negative impact on privacy particularly bad.[ zdnet ] CapitalG co-founder introduces $175M early-stage venture fundValo Ventures, a new firm focused on social, economic and environmental megatrends, has closed on $175 million for its debut venture capital fund. The effort is led by Scott Tierney, a co-founder of Alphabet’s growth investing unit CapitalG, as well as Mona ElNaggar, a former managing director of TIFF Investment Management and Julia Brady, who previously worked as a director at The Via Agency, a communications workshop. [ Tech Crunch ] The German Tech Startup That's Shifting Power From The Energy Conglomerates To The Consumer.The energy industry is experiencing rapid transformation thanks to new technology and high rates of innovation, which in many cases is being driven by some visionary entrepreneurs, including Dr Richard Lohwasser and Dr Kyung-Hun Ha. The pair first met in 2015 while working for an energy company in Berlin and shared a strong belief that technology was the key to creating a great competitive advantage for both suppliers and consumers in the energy sector. [ Forbes ] PayFit raises $79 million for its payroll serviceFrench startup PayFit is raising a new $79 million funding round (€70 million) from Eurazeo and Bpifrance. The company first started with a payroll service for small and medium companies in France. It has evolved into a full-fledged HR solution for multiple European countries. [ Tech Crunch ] Annie Kadavy, Russ Heddleston and Charles Hudson will tell us how to raise seed money at Disrupt SFJust about anyone can come up with a good idea. Fewer people can execute on that idea and turn it into a prototype or MVP. But there is still one final challenge for most entrepreneurs that can prove challenging. How do you secure that initial seed capital and take your idea to the next level? At Disrupt SF in October, Redpoint’s Annie Kadavy, DocSend’s Russ Heddleston and Precursor’s Charles Hudson will sit down together and chat it out on the Extra Crunch stage. Kadavy, Heddleston and Hudson can offer a unique perspective on the process of early-stage fundraising. [ Tech Crunch ] Wharton student or alum? This MBA Fund could help your start-up.Are you a Wharton student or an alum looking to raise money for a start-up?The MBA Fund, a venture capital group started by current Wharton, Harvard, and Stanford MBA students, hosted its first schoolwide pitch competition last month. Student entrepreneurs from the three business schools applied, and 15 companies were awarded nearly $1 million in prizes. [ inquirer ] Alibaba proposes share split ahead of reported $20B Hong Kong IPOAlibaba is being heavily linked with a public listing in Hong Kong, which could reportedly happen in Q3 and raise up to $20 billion. The firm is keeping quiet on those rumors, but it did let slip a major hint after it announced plans for a stock split. Filings uploaded today (but originally released Friday) announced a proposal for a one-to-eight stock split. Shareholders are invited to vote on the offer ahead of the company’s annual general meeting on July 15. The initiative has already been approved by Alibaba’s board, which is recommending that shareholders follow suit. The particularly interesting part of the filing is where Alibaba explains the reasons behind the stock split. [ Tech Crunch ] Ripple Takes $50 Million Stake in MoneyGram in Push to Deploy XRPCryptocurrency company Ripple on Monday announced a major partnership with MoneyGram, which will see the money transfer service use the digital currency XRP as part of its day-to-day operations. [ Fortunr ] Intel Announces Israeli Startup AcceleratorIntel Corporation will be launching a startup accelerator in Israel, Intel CEO Robert (Bob) Swan announced Sunday during a visit to the country. Called Ignite, the accelerator will host 10 to 15 pre-seed to seed stage startups for a 20-week mentorship program in a variety of product, management, and technical areas, the company said in a statement. [ Forbes ] B2B Fintech Startup Razorpay Raises $75 Mn From Ribbit Capital, SequoiaB2B fintech startup Razorpay has reportedly raised $75 Mn (INR 525 Cr) in a Series C round of funding led by Ribbit Capital, the US-based financial technology investment firm, taking the total funding raised so far by the B2B fintech startup to $106.7 Mn. Sequoia Capital along with the existing investors New York-based Tiger Global Management and Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund also participated in the latest funding round. [ inc42 ] Paris-based pizza robot startup Pazzi raises €10 million and plans to launch its first restaurantFrench foodtech startup Pazzi has landed €10 million in a funding round led by the Singaporean investment fund Qualgro, with participation from Eutopia, Partech, and daphni. Founded in 2017, Pazzi is building robotic pizzaiolos in collaboration with chef Thierry Graffagnino, 3-time world champion of pizza. In September, the startup plans to open its first restaurant in Paris. [ tech.eu ] Airbnb property management startup Hometime just scored $6 million from a new VC fund that offers debtSydney-based Airbnb property management services company Hometime has landed a $6 million debt and equity funding deal with Australian technology venture capital firm OneVentures It’s the first deal from the new $100 million OneVentures Fund, launched less than 12 months ago. The fund is a partnership between OneVentures and Viola, the technology-focused Israeli venture credit fund. [ Startup Daily ] Matillion raises $35m in Series C funding roundMatillion has raised $35m in its latest round of funding which hopes to allow for accelerated growth and extend the capabilities of its flagship product line, Matillion ETL. The provider of data transformation software for cloud data warehouses’ latest funding round was led by Battery Ventures and brings its total funding-to-date to $60m. [ uktech ] Kids Retailer Camp, Founded By Buzzfeed CMO, Raises $10.5M, SEC Filings ShowTally another one up on the list of venture-backed brick-and-mortar retail upstarts. On Monday, NYC-based retail shop Camp filed paperwork with the SEC indicating it’s raised $10.5 million out of a targeted $11 million in equity-only funding. The company received its first capital commitment in early April and raised from five investors. [ Crunchbase ] India’s payments firm MobiKwik kick-starts its international ambitions with cross-border mobile top-upsMobiKwik, a mobile wallet app in India that has expanded to add several financial services in recent years, said today it plans to enter international markets as it approaches profitability with the local operation. The company is kick-starting its overseas ambitions with cross-border mobile top-ups support. [ Tech Crunch ] Coursera CEO, Jeff Maggioncalda, at The FamilyDara Khosrowshahi, Chief Executive Officer, Uber Technologies Inc.Dara Khosrowshahi, Chief Executive Officer, Uber Technologies Inc., speaks with Economic Club president David M. Rubenstein on Tuesday June 11, 2019. 446th 1Mby1M Roundtable June 13, 2019: With Francis Simisim, Original Pitch Venture CapitalSpotlight on The Philippines During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest, Francis Simisim, Partner at Original Pitch Venture Capital based in the Philippines. We had a very good discussion on how that eco-system is developing. Growing Your Brand: Through Venture Capital, Strategic Partnerships, Acquisitions, and BeyondPanel discussion recorded at the Plant Based World Conference & Expo at the Javits Convention Center, New York, 7-8 June, 2019. Tips on how to grow your plant-based brand through various strategies depending on the size and stage of the business. Moderator: Lisa Feria, CEO, StrayDog Capital Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase, AngelList ] |