Amidst probe of alleged sexual misconduct, AngelList partner Lee Jacobs on leaveAn investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at an event in 2013 has led to AngelList employee Lee Jacobs going on indefinite paid leave of absence, sources tell TechCrunch and the company has now confirmed. AngelList was informed of the incident two weeks ago. According to a source familiar with AngelList’s internal working, on July 13th, AngelList told employees via Slack that “Some of you have noticed that Lee is no longer available on email or Slack. He is on leave for personal reasons indefinitely and will be unavailable for contact. Jake and Parker are taking on his responsibilities temporarily while we figure out the longer term.” AngelList had yet to make any public statement about the situation. After several requests for comment, the company’s COO Graham Jenkin told TechCrunch “We’re investigating a report about an alleged incident that occurred before an employee joined the company. The report is from a third-party. The employee is on leave and we can’t comment further while we’re investigating.” [ Tech Crunch ] Rent The Runway CEO says she was harassed — and now she's calling for a mea culpa from VCs
BILLION-DOLLAR MAYO START-UP HAMPTON CREEK JUST LOST ITS ENTIRE BOARDThe corporate intrigues at Hampton Creek, America’s favorite scandal-plagued vegan mayo business, continue to deepen. Last month, the San Francisco start-up, which has raised $90 million in funding to produce a range of plant-based foods, survived an alleged coup attempt that resulted in three employees being fired. Now, Hampton Creek has lost its entire board of directors, with the exception of 37-year-old C.E.O. Josh Tetrick, under circumstances that have left a sprawling power vacuum at the billion-dollar company. [ Vanity Fair ] Make Money: Don’t Raise MoneyOver the last 10 years I’ve watched the tech and startup community go from a place where people were trying to build products for people to use and change the world, to people building businesses around those products, to people building financial arbitrage machines (i.e Amazon, Facebook and Google) to now people raising 6 million dollars for their bullshit idea. More and more, every day, I meet entrepreneurs who are really good at losing money, and then trying to raise more capital to lose more money each year. This culture of celebrating failure and raising 14 million dollars for an unprofitable idea is ludicrous to me and can’t be sustained. [ Gary Vaynerchuk ] How ‘Tourist Capital’ Is Screwing Up Tech InvestingThe tech boom means it's a great time to be a founder. Investors of all stripes, anxious not to miss out on the next Facebook or Uber, are lining up to throw money at young companies—but not everyone is happy about this. For seasoned venture capitalists and private equity firms, tech mania means a flood of dumb money is creating screwy valuations and power-mad founders. "There's too much tourist capital," said Mood Rowghani, a general partner at the VC firm Kleiner Perkins. "It's made a mockery of our craft because these people would write a check to anyone." A day-long “School Of Hustle” hosted by Instagram and apron startup Hedley & Bennett will help 200 entrepreneurs learn how to succeed in business.In a year of failures for art-related startups, Artsy CEO Carter Cleveland might be the last man standing. Walking into Artsy’s New York headquarters, 26 floors above Chinatown, feels like encountering a monumental blank canvas in a light-drenched artist’s studio. The walls are white. The furniture is white. On a bright spring morning, shadows slide across the desks of 140 employees as the sun traces Canal Street from east to west. [ Fast Company ] The top 7 VC investors in Series B rounds in the USA record amount of capital was invested in Series B rounds in the US during 2015, a trend that was likely driven by a surge in valuations. But that figure dropped slightly in 2016 and is on track to hold steady this year. Greylock and SoftBank are leading a $159 million round into a driverless-car tech startupGreylock Partners and SoftBank are leading a $159 series B round into auto-tech startup Nauto. As part of the investment, Greylock partner and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman as well as SoftBank partner Shu Nyatta will be joining the board. While Nauto is currently primarily focused on making professional drivers safer with its aftermarket device that uses an inward-facing camera to detect things like distracted driving, the company has already started working with its automaker partners to begin developing the deep-learning algorithms that will enable the cars to drive autonomously. The company wouldn’t go into much detail about exactly what that development effort with the automakers entailed. However, some of the automaker partners include Nauto’s previous investors — that have also participated in this round — General Motors Ventures, BMW iVentures, Toyota AI Ventures and a few others, Nauto CEO Stefan Heck told Recode. Andy Rubin’s Playground Global also previously led a $12 million round into the company. [ Recode ] There’s an Investor Raising Money for Startups That Don’t Sell OutMangrove Capital Partners, the Luxembourg-based venture capital firm, has raised a $170 million fund to invest in European startups. But its outspoken founder has no interest in startups looking for a quick buck. The fund, which is Mangrove’s fifth since its founding 17 years ago, will invest in early stage companies, said co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Tluszcz in an interview. Mangrove was one of the first investors in Skype, turning a $2 million investment into a $200 million gain, according to the firm. It was also an early backer of Israeli-based Wix.com, which helps small businesses manage websites. Mangrove’s initial $8 million investment in Wix.com was worth $550 million after its initial public offering on Nasdaq in 2013, Mangrove said. Mangrove remains Wix.com’s biggest shareholder and Tluszcz serves as the company’s chairman. [ Bloomberg ] |