AR mystery startup Magic Leap looking to raise as much as $1B in Series D roundMagic Leap may be raising as much as $1 billion to fund their vision of a future filled with augmented reality glasses. A Delaware filing dated Wednesday was provided to us by CB Insights, confirming that the secretive startup has authorized about $1 billion in new funding. The filing authorizes over 37 million shares of Series D preferred stock at $27 per share. No details on investors yet. Using this and previous filings, Equidate is calculating that the proposed round is being done at about a $7 billion post-money valuation. Pitchbook estimates it closer to $6.5 billion. [ TechCrunch ] CarGurus' IPO proves you don't need early venture funding to succeed on Wall StreetA Boston-based tech company that hadn’t raised any money from venture capital until ten years after its founding staged a successful initial public offering Thursday — a reminder startups don’t need to raise huge amounts of cash from Sand Hill Road to succeed. Stock for CarGurus, an online marketplace for used and new car sales, was trading up by about 75 percent as of mid-day Thursday. The company’s market value was expected to exceed $3 billion. The company raised $150 million in its IPO, selling stock at $16 a share. The fact that shares have gone as high as $30 during its first day of trading could be taken as a pricing failure on the part of CarGurus’ banking advisors. Or, it could be taken as a sign of irrational hunger for tech IPOs. [ Re/Code ] Can 'Experience Investing' Help Female Entrepreneurs? The Co-Founder of Airbnb Thinks SoVenture capital is known to be a boys’ club—and while a few women have managed to join in, others are asking, “Why don’t we just start our own?” The Helm is one such attempt. Launching to the public today, the idea behind the female-led firm is to create a “venture community” in lieu of a traditional fund. It’s not just a matter of taxonomy, says co-founder and CEO Lindsey Taylor Wood. By making VC investing a much more hands-on, inclusive, and social experience, she hopes to attract a broader range of investors (as in, not just white men in tech). [ Fortune ] Ex-Googler Bet Her Own House on Podcasts and Raised $13 MillionWang Xiaoyu literally bet the house on making her startup work, quitting a lucrative job at Google in late 2015 and selling her home to build a podcast app. Two years on, she still sleeps in shifts on a communal bed at her Beijing office and has yet to take a day off. [ Bloomberg ] Sheryl Sandberg Blitzes Washington in P.R. Push for FacebookFor months, Facebook has been trying to counter criticism about its influence on the 2016 presidential election. The company has hired three crisis communications firms and has bought digital and newspaper ads. Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, has posted live video to the social network to explain how much he cared about election integrity. This week, it sent Sheryl Sandberg to Washington to charm Congress and the public. Ms. Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, acted as the giant tech company’s chief ambassador in the capital on Wednesday and Thursday — shuttling around to talk with dozens of lawmakers, and making numerous promises about how the company would change. [ NY Times ] Atomic, a startup studio backed by Peter Thiel, ups its ambitionsAtomic isn’t a household brand, but Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen know it fairly intimately. The two billionaire investors, along with the venture firm Felicis Ventures, were among the earliest investors in the four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup studio, which closed its debut fund with $20 million. Now Atomic is looking to raise five times that much capital for its follow-on effort, shows an SEC filing. The company declined our request for an interview earlier today, but given its traction so far, don’t be surprised if it lands there quickly. [ TechCrunch ] E769: #TWiSTLive@WSGR: Balaji Srinivasan (21.co, a16z): crypto tokens, ICOs, longevity, future techInfographic: Google’s Biggest AcquisitionsAfrican startup founders can finally start looking for big-ticket funding nearer homeMeet the start-up making it easier to buy and sell shares in private companiesAirbnb Tackles Home ImprovementsFor years, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has told employees that one of his regrets about how he shaped the company was that it didn’t vet hosts to make sure their homes were high quality, two people who spoke with him said. Now that the company plans to launch a program that will spotlight hand-picked homes, it is grappling with how to manage the risks and execute the details of the service’s high standards without alienating factions of its hosts. Backed by Temasek, Wavemaker closes $66m venture fund for Southeast AsiaEXCLUSIVE: Birchbox Cofounder Buys $14M Manhattan CondoVC investment: On pace to reach decade high this year [datagraphic] |