Andreessen Horowitz has a new, $450 million bio fundAlmost exactly two years ago, the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz took the wraps off a $200 million “biofund” that aimed to invest at the intersection of biology and engineering and was being led by its (then) new general partner, Vijay Pande. Pande argued at the time that it was finally possible to invest in software-enabled biotech ideas — without having to wait eons for them to pan out — thanks largely to the growing ubiquity of machine learning and the falling cost of computing. [ Tech Crunch ] Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso just raised venture funding for her new companySophia Amoruso famously founded the retailer Nasty Gal, growing it from an eBay store that sold vintage items to a darling of the fashion world that was seeing more than $300 million in sales at one point. Somewhere along the way,
however, Nasty Gal lost its way. After raising $65 million over its 10 years of operation — including from Index Ventures and renowned retail executive Ron Johnson — the company last November filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in part to address “immediate liquidity issues.” Target is acquiring Instacart competitor Shipt for $550 million to fight back against AmazonAnother domino just fell in the wake of the Amazon-Whole Foods acquisition. Target announced on Wednesday morning that it plans to make one of its biggest acquisitions in recent history by purchasing Shipt, a startup that delivers groceries on the same day customers place an order, for $550 million in cash. [ Recode ] Lily raises $2M from NEA and others for a personal stylist service that considers feelings, not just fitOne of the reasons recently IPO’d Stitch Fix became so popular among female shoppers is because of how it pairs the convenience of home try-on for clothing and accessories with a personal styling service that adapts to your tastes over time. But often, personal stylists bring their own subjective takes on fashion to their customers. A new startup called Lily aims to offer a more personalized service that takes into account not just what’s on trend or what looks good, but also how women feel about their bodies and how the right clothing can impact those perceptions. [ Tech Crunch ] The Biggest Tech Failures and Successes of 2017Let’s face it: Technology this year was one big “fail” after another. And the biggest loser from all of this was you. It’s easy to count the ways that tech did you wrong, especially when it came to information security. On the other hand, there was also plenty of good technology this year that worked well and offered benefits for your money. So here’s a review of the tech in 2017 that needed the most fixing, and the tech that was actually fixed. [ NY Times ] Uber is Going to 0, and Benchmark Knows It!On the surface this seems contrarian. When is being last better than being first? Steve Jobs understood this. Apple didn’t make the 1st MP3 player or the 1st smartphone. Yet in consumer tech, Apple is synonymous with both. Apple Has A History Of Choosing Cash Over StartupsApple has more cash than any other technology company on the planet. Yet, to date, that hasn’t translated into spending on acquisitions. Over the past five years, Apple has spent the least on M&A out of all the “Big Five” most valuable U.S. technology companies, a Crunchbase News analysis finds. That’s despite the fact that it is estimated to have more than $260 billion in cash and cash equivalents, including money parked in overseas accounts. So is it buying time yet? While this week’s $400 million acquisition of music discovery app Shazam indicates a willingness to make big-ticket purchases, history shows Apple has made these kinds of large deals pretty rarely. [ CrunchBase ] Who Should Be on the Mt. Rushmore of Venture Capital? VoteGeorges Doriot, a Harvard professor and World War II military quartermaster, founded the country’s first venture capital firm in Boston in 1946. Doriot may have been first, but he is not the most famous. While researching a recent feature about longtime VC Alan Patricof and his firm Greycroft, Fortune asked venture capitalists and founders who they would put on the “Mount Rushmore of Venture Capital.” The four most common responses in this very informal survey are listed below. But we thought it would be fun to ask Fortune readers to weigh in too: Do you agree with these choices? Or would you replace one of them with someone else? Scroll down to the polls below and have your say. [ Fortune ] Women in STEM 2017 Session videos -Venture Capital Beyond Tech InnovationApple didn't make an equity investment in FinisarOn Wednesday, Apple announced that it had given a chip and laser manufacturer, Finisar, $390 million out of its "Advanced Manufacturing Fund." The stock soared as investors believed that Apple had taken a stake in the company, and multiple outlets reported the announcement as an "investment." CNBC's Jim Cramer, for example, called it a "fantastic" deal and said it turned the chipmaker into an "entirely different company" in a bullish take on the deal. Apple announced its manufacturing fund on Cramer's show in May. [ Business Insider ] Commerce platform iZettle raises $47M at a $950M valuationiZettle — the commerce platform based out of Stockholm that competes against companies like Square, Paypal and SumUp to provide card transactions using smartphones and tablets as well as related accounting services — has raised another €40 million ($47 million) as it approaches a $1 billion valuation. CEO and co-founder Jacob de Geer told TechCrunch the money will go towards expanding into more markets beyond the 12 where it currently operates in Europe and Latin America. The company declined to disclose its valuation, which last was at €500 million (about $584 million) in its Series D. [ TechCrunch ] NPC 2017 - Venture Capital Investments in Frontier Technologies: VC Panel‘Top Gun’ star Tom Skerritt raises more cash for entertainment startup as it ‘takes aim at Hollywood’How Bitcoin Lost Its Way As A Means Of ExchangeBe Wary of Solving a Small, Rare Problem - Des Traynor of IntercomAlan Jones joins QUT Creative Enterprise Australia as Entrepreneur in Residence for Collider acceleratorFormer Facebook Exec Chamath Palihapitiya On Social Media, Bitcoin, And Elon Musk (Full) | CNBCSpace Startup Raises $90 Million to Start Moon Ads by 2020The crypto factor: Experts weigh in on tokenisation and venture capital |