Target looked at buying the mattress startup Casper for $1 billion but will invest insteadTarget held serious acquisition discussions over the last few months with the mattress startup Casper Sleep, according to multiple sources, but plans to take a minority stake instead. Multiple sources told Recode that Target offered $1 billion to buy the fast-growing New York City-based company, but the two sides couldn’t work out a deal. Casper had been out raising a large round of funding when the talks started, sources said. The startup generated around $200 million in sales in 2016 — its second full year in business — and was valued at around $550 million after its last private investment in 2015. [ Re/Code ] Cybersecurity Hits Another Record High, As Deals Keep Pace With TimesGlobal cyber attacks against business and governments including attacks like the recent “WannaCry” ransomware fiasco only seem to be getting wider in scope, and potentially more damaging. In tandem with the rising quantity and severity of attacks, investors are making more deals to back private cybersecurity companies than ever before, as companies and governments look to better secure their networks, data, and devices. [ CB Insights ] Musical.ly Talking With Viacom, NBC for Original Shows
Musical.ly, an app for creating and sharing personal music videos, is in talks with media companies including Viacom Inc. and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal to make original show programming, set to launch this summer, according to people familiar with the matter. The Bizarre Naming Trends That Modern Startups FollowStartups put great effort into finding the perfect name. Ideally, it should be short, memorable, descriptive, and easy to pronounce. Names that meet all the criteria are commonly taken, however, so most founders find a compromise. They settle on a creative misspelling, add a word, or just string together sounds they like. In the end, the hope is that a well-named startup will have an easier time attracting customers and capital. Uber threatened to fire engineer at center of Waymo trade secret lawsuitUber has issued a sternly worded letter to Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the center of a lawsuit alleging theft of trade secrets from Google parent Alphabet’s self-driving technology unit Waymo. The gist? Comply with the court’s orders or risk being terminated. Levandowski is the former technology lead for Google’s autonomous vehicle unit and co-founder of self-driving truck startup Otto, which Uber acquired for $680 millionlast summer. He is also accused of downloading tens of thousands of confidential documents related to Google’s proprietary LiDAR design before leaving the company and founding Otto. [ Tech Crunch ] Fundamental Advisors LP raises $993 mln for third PE fundFundamental Advisors LP has closed its third private equity fund at $993 million. Fundamental Partners III LP’s limited partners include state and corporate pensions, foundations, financial institutions and ultra-high net worth platforms. The fund will invest in municipal and public purpose assets, which include affordable and student housing, senior care, infrastructure, alternative energy and hospitality. [ PE Hub ] How to Think About PR - CS183FMeet These Incredible Women Advancing A.I. ResearchYou already know that artificial intelligence is eating the world, transforming virtually every industry and function. But you might not have met the brilliant AI researchers and technologists driving the edge of innovation. Incredible breakthroughs occur when talented and diverse thinkers collaborate, pooling together unique backgrounds, disciplines, expertise, and perspectives. Holistic and inclusive thinking is even more importantin the field of AI, where our inventions have pervasive and exponential impact. [ Forbes ] Twitter’s media boss, Ross Hoffman, is leaving the companyRoss Hoffman, Twitter’s VP of global content partnerships who’s been running the company’s media team for the past year, is leaving, according to multiple sources. Hoffman has been at Twitter for almost seven years in various media and brand roles, and took over the company’s media team last June. That group was hit hard during Twitter’s layoffs in the fall, and has morphed over the years from a pure media partnerships group into a hybrid team focused on media and sales deals. Today, the media team also works on sales deals around Twitter’s amplify video efforts, for example. [ Re/Code ] AMERICA’S RICHESTSELF-MADE WOMEN Shalini Prakash gears up for a new innings at 500 Startups Study shows gender bias in venture capitalNaval Ravikant hints at future plans for Product Hunt and adding secondary trading to AngelListEarlier this week, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt event in New York, we sat down with AngelList cofounder and CEO Naval Ravikant to talk primarily about the platform’s new Angel Funds product, wherein a select number of proven “angel-operators” is being provided capital from AngelList and outside VCs to invest in a basket of startups. (We wrote about that new program here.) [ Tech Crunch ] The White House will meet with tech execs for advice on giving the government a digital upgradeThe White House plans to huddle with top executives from Apple, Facebook, Google and other tech giants next month to brainstorm ways that the U.S. government can put more of its “citizen services” online and tackle thorny policy issues like high-skilled immigration. Both items are part of a lengthy agenda — obtained by Recode on Friday — that awaits the inaugural gathering of the American Technology Council, an effort by President Donald Trump to modernize the inner-workings of Washington that’s being spearheaded by his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. [ Re/Code ] Equity podcast: Instagram copies Snap again and Greycroft’s Ellie Wheeler on self-driving carsHello and welcome back to another episode of Equity, TechCrunch’s weekly podcast focusing on all things venture and capital. This week we pulled off our very first live episode, taping the session during the last day of TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017. For our inaugural public show, Ellie Wheeler of Greycroft joined our merry band of nerds: Katie Roof, Matthew Lynley, and Alex Wilhelm. [ Tech Crunch ] Salesforce marches steadily toward $10B run rate goalSalesforce is on a steady climb toward a $10 billion revenue run rate. And while it’s not quite there yet, its recent, nearly $2.4 billion quarter puts it squarely in the neighborhood. According to the company’s CEO, Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s revenue growth results give it “the fastest growth of any top [five] enterprise software company.” It’s clear that Salesforce has been on a phenomenal revenue growth run the last five years. And investors, seemingly pleased with the results, have rewarded the company with new share price records this month. [ Tech Crunch ] |