Mithril Capital promised to be the “capstone” to Peter Thiel’s investment empire. It ended up as a major distractionSeven years ago, a smooth-talking associate of Peter Thiel promised that he had launched the “capstone” to Thiel’s investment empire, naming their new firm after a mythical metal in Lord of the Rings because it was flashy yet permanent. “It’s invaluable,” leader Ajay Royan told one interviewer about Mithril Capital. “It’s lifesaving. It’s sustainable. It has all of the things we’d like to be associated with.” But Mithril Capital is primarily associated with some other things these days: drama, disarray, and unanswered questions about its finances. [ Re/Code ] Announcing our $75m funding round to open up access to our global bank debit networkWe’re incredibly excited to announce a new investment round of $75 million, led by new investors Adams Street Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Salesforce Ventures, as well as existing investors: Accel, Balderton Capital, Notion Capital and Passion Capital. [ Go Cardless Blog ] SoftBank invests in Mubadala's new $400 million European tech fund: sourceJapan’s SoftBank Group has provided nearly half of the cash for Abu Dhabi’s state investor Mubadala Investment Co’s new $400 million fund investing in European start-ups, a source familiar with the matter said. Mubadala, which has committed to invest $15 billion in SoftBank’s Vision Fund, last week announced that Mubadala Ventures was planning to launch a $400 million technology-focused European fund this year. [ Reuters ] This Startup Is Creating A Real-Time Data Map Of The Global Economy. BlackRock And PayPal Are Buying It
How much did the federal government shutdown cost? After 35 days of deadlock, $6,354,845,148 in wages had gone unpaid to 747,573 federal employees. Every second that ticked by added $2,118 to the figure. Some staffers were furloughed; many more worked without pay. At the Department of Homeland Security, for example, some 245,405 employees were unpaid and 32,706 furloughed. At Treasury, 36,309 workers were furloughed and 82,336 worked unpaid. At the Environmental Protection Agency, 52% of its staffers worked without compensation. [ Forbes ] British small business lender iwoca secures £150 millionLondon-based small business lender iwoca has raised £150 million. The round supposedly consists of £20 million in equity funding from Augmentum Fintech and Prime Ventures and £130 million in debt capital from NIBC Bank, City A.M. reported. The former part includes an earlier £7.5 million capital injection by Augmentum Fintech announced in Janu. [ Tech.Eu ] How Scopely hit a $400 million run rate with mobile games like Star Trek: Fleet CommandScopely isn’t the most well-known mobile game company. But it scored a couple of hits with Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem and Star Trek: Fleet Command in 2018, and that gave it an 80 percent revenue jump last year. The company is now on a $400 million run rate, based on its revenues in its most recent month. Star Trek: Fleet Command saw more than 100 million battles played in its first 10 days, with more than 90 percent of players coming back five days a week. (Yesterday, Scopely announced musician Steve Aoki will be a playable character in the game.) And more than 1 million played Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem in a day and more than five million played the game in less than a month. [ Venture Beat ] "Launch your startup in 48 hours" by Côme Courteault, Growth Hacker at TheFamilyIt's easy to spend months working on the perfect product, only to launch and then... nothing happens. You can avoid this and save time by testing your ideas quickly. How? By creating a "fake product" and measuring the results. Confront your product idea to the real world, and see if there's really a market for it! [ Deal Room ] 4 Startling Insights Into Elizabeth Holmes From Psychiatrist Who's Known Her Since ChildhoodBefore blood testing startup, Theranos' founder Elizabeth Holmes began appearing on magazine front pages, she was an emotionally withdrawn child of a once-illustrious family being driven by a jealous mother who wanted her daughter to make a name for herself. [ Forbes ] Artesian Venture Partners launches $50 million agtech fund GrainInnovateArtesian Venture Partners has partnered with the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) to launch GrainInnovate, a $50 million fund aimed at agtech startups. With a $25 million cornerstone investment from the GRDC, the fund will invest in startups developing software, hardware, or new business models applicable to Australia’s grain growers. Particular areas of interest include task automation, crop management logistics, crop and environmental sensing, and
renewable technologies. [ CB Insights ] The era of the all-powerful tech CEO has only just begun, even though Facebook and Snap show why that's a bad thingIf anyone thought the problem of unaccountable tech CEOs was going to go away anytime soon, think again.In reality, it's likely to get much worse before it gets any better, especially with a new wave of tech companies preparing to hit the public markets. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the founders of one of those companies — Lyft — are working on a plan that would give them near-majority control of the app-based car ride firm after its initial public offering. [ Startup Daily ] How Marie Kondo Is Really Cleaning Up (at the Bank)On a cold January afternoon in Manhattan, Riley Soloner was visiting the Upper East Side outpost of the Container Store, a retailer that specializes in goods to help customers better organize the messes of modern life. Soloner was searching for a new laundry hamper because his old one no longer brought him joy. For many, that wouldn’t be adequate reason to consign it to the trash heap. But for adherents of Japanese home organization guru Marie Kondo—including Soloner, 30, who has watched her popular show on Netflix and read her best-selling books—even a mundane hamper is expected to bring happiness to its owner or be discarded. “I’m getting a
high and mighty feeling over people [who are] just doing this now,” says Soloner, who is on his second round of winnowing down the possessions in his home. [ Bloomberg ] SoftBank and Mubadala grow closerThe Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi state investment company, have a closely intertwined relationship, and it’s one that the two are further cementing. According to the Financial Times, SoftBank has just committed half the capital for a new $400 million fund from Mubadala that aims to back European startups. Industry observers might remember that Mubadala committed $15 billion to SoftBank’s massive Vision Fund as
it was first being put together in 2017. Soon after, Mubadala opened a San Francisco office, as well as structured a $400 million fund designed to invest in early-stage startups to which SoftBank committed some capital. [ Tech Crunch ] Singapore Budget 2019: Singapore sees over 220 venture capital deals, worth US$4.2b, a yearSINGAPORE'S start-up eco-system is flourishing, boasting of more than 220 venture capital deals per year, worth close to US$4.2 billion, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in Parliament. This is a significant rise from the 80 deals worth US$136 million in 2012, he said. More than 150 global venture capital fund, incubators and accelerators are based in Singapore, supporting start-ups here and in the region. Melbourne startup Mentorloop gears up for UK expansionMelbourne-founded Mentorloop, a platform making it easier for companies to run and measure internal mentoring programs, is gearing up to set up shop in the UK. It follows strong growth for the startup over the last 12 months. Since raising $725,000 in seed funding in late 2017, the startup has almost doubled its full time headcount from 6 to 11, grown its client base from 30 to 55, and tripled its annual revenue. Lucy Lloyd, cofounder and CEO of Mentorloop, said the decision to set up a base in the UK follows strong organic growth in the market. [ Startup Daily ] The art of sales by Luca BovoneLuca Bovone is the founder and CEO of PROJECTS, one of the leading co-living providers in Europe. Before launching PROJECTS, Luca was one of the first hires of Dropbox in Europe. There, after opening several markets in the SMB and Mid-market segments, he focused on selling into large-scale organizations, managing to close some of Dropbox's largest deals globally. The Future Of Personal Finance: Fintech 50 2019Almost every personal finance company on Forbes’ 2019 Fintech 50 list is betting on the insights of behavioral finance to take their company to the next level. List returnees Lemonade and Acorns have been doing this successfully for years. Our three newcomers on the list (Chime, Even and Root Insurance) are doing this with the goal of helping the under-served save more. And all of them allow you to save, invest or insure conveniently and quickly from your cellphone. [ Forbes ] Mambu raises $34M for expansion of banking platformMambu, a Berlin-based fintech, raised $34 million (30 million euros) in a funding round led by U.S. investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners, according to a company release. Action Capital, CommerzVentures, Point Nine Capital and Runa Capital participated in the round. Mambu provides cloud-based software to legacy banks, startup fintechs and others to help them expand lending and full-service banking to mobile customers. [ mobile payments today ] Alan raises another $45 million for its health insurance productParis-based startup Alan has raised a Series B round of funding of $45 million (€40 million). Index Ventures is once again leading the round, with partners of DST Global also participating. The company had raised a $28 million funding round only 10 months ago. [ Tech Crunch ] InReach Ventures, which uses AI to find the next big European startups, closes $60 million fundA quick scan of the venture capital (VC) landscape reveals that many funds differentiate by their area of focus. Some are focused on one specific region, for example, while others are geared toward a particular kind of technology or a stage-specific company. [ Venture Beat ] How This Entrepreneur Went From Living In His Office For Years To Landing $4 Billion In FundingDavid Klein’s startup CommonBond has raised over $4 billion in capital. From that $130 million is equity and the rest has been debt capital or lending capital. In essence, it’s a startup journey that reveals all the best of student loans, and how to turn them into your own unicorn startup. [ Forbes ] This enterprise software startup has VCs literally knocking on its doors to invest, but for now, it's not interestedWhen the work management software startup Notion moved offices recently, it didn't update its address on Google Maps. The reason: VCs were literally knocking on its doors to discuss potential investments. "We still haven't updated our office address from the old one," Notion CEO Ivan Zhao told Business Insider in a recent interview. "We're thinking of switching to a PO Box." Zhao says that even though drop-ins aren't as frequent at the new office, he still receives multiple calls a day from venture capitalists vying for a chance to invest. [ Business Insider ] |