A longtime VC on the virtues of not swinging for the fencesThere’s a winner-take-all mentality in Silicon Valley. Unfortunately, it has distorted the thinking of countless entrepreneurs who’d likely be better off running smaller companies — and giving up less ownership to investors in the process. While funding announcements are widely celebrated as milestones, the reality is that founders often wind up with far less than their investors, and in plenty of cases, they can sell a company and make almost no money at all. [ Tech Crunch ] VENTURE CAPITAL IS ONE HELL OF A DRUG, WHAT VCS EXPECT FROM FOUNDERS ONCE THEY HAVE RAISED & WHY CUSTOMERS VALIDATE YOUR BUSINESS NOT VENTURE CAPITAL WITH ERIC PALEY, MANAGING PARTNEREric Paley is the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, one of the world’s most successful seed funds with investments in the likes of Uber, Hunch, Makerbot and About.me. Prior to Founder Collective, Eric was the Co-Founder and CEO of Brontes Technologies, later acquired by 3M for $95m. Following it’s acquisition Eric began making angel investments and it was not long before Eric and David, ‘super angel’ at the time, saw the potential for a Founder First seed fund and Founder Collective was born. [ 20 Min. VC ] 10 Startups To Work At In 2017 - Li Jiang of GSVIn 2017, we’ll likely see the IPO of Snap, the relaunch of SpaceX Falcon 9/Heavy, and maybe, just maybe, even the first Hyperloop trip. But if you are looking to get in early on the next amazing company with a ton of upside, you’ll have to look at earlier ideas. Here are my list of startups to work at in 2017, balancing both stability (i.e. they’ve raised a round) and upside (i.e. it’s still not too big yet). [ Medium ] Instagram Building E-Commerce Team in NYCThe company is exploring ways to let users shop in the app. Instagram has had an engineering office in New York City since the beginning of this year, but in recent months, the company has been quietly hiring people to work on an e-commerce initiative, Fortune has learned. Product director Blake Barnes has been involved in the hiring. The group will include up to 50 people working on designing what e-commerce will look like on Instagram. [ Fortune ] PODCAST - Redfin Glenn Kelman reinvents RE for consumer; Pear Pejman Nozad selling carpets to $20b portfolio Filmed at 2016 LAUNCH SCALE, Glenn Kelman of Redfin and Pejman Nozad of Pear.vc sit down with Jason and share how their stories of staying obsessively focused and persistent led them to building great companies. Glenn Kelman demonstrates how Redfin is reinventing real estate in the consumer’s favor, with the goal of restoring honor to the otherwise underappreciated profession. Then, Pejman Nozad takes us on his 20-year journey that started when he got a job at a car wash in San Jose while living in an attic above a yogurt shop, to then selling rugs, closing sales — $8 million worth of rugs in his best year — and starting a tech venture fund. LATEST FUNDING Knowlarity raises $20 million from Dubai’s Delta, othersCloud telephony provider Knowlarity Communications Pvt. Ltd said it has raised $20 million in a series C round of funding led by Dubai-based private equity investor Delta Partners, a new investor, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Mayfield Fund. [ Live Mint ] Instaclustr closes $7m private round to fuel its expansion plansInstaclustr has closed a $7m investment round, led by Bailador Technology Investments (ASX: BTI). BTI invested $4m, alongside $2m from new incoming investor Our Innovation Fund, LP and existing investor ANU Connect Ventures, the Fund Manager for the ANU-MTAA Super Venture Capital Partnership, and others, investing the balance of $1m. [ prwire ] Singapore’s Spacemob lands $5.5M to expand its co-working spaces across Asia PacificCo-working spaces are becoming a serious business in Asia. WeWork entered the region via China earlier this year, but there are numerous others across the continent. Singapore-based Spacemob is one such contender, and today it announced a $5.5 million seed round to expand its reach across Asia Pacific. [ Tech Crunch ] Zola wedding registry lands $25 million led by LightspeedZola, the smarter wedding gift registry, has signed term sheets on a $25 million Series C round of funding, according to sources close to the matter. Sources say that Lightspeed led the round, and that Zola’s pre-funding valuation was at $200 million. [ Tech Crunch ] Gay Social Network, Hornet, Raises $8 Million In Series A FundingHornet, the world's second largest gay social network, announced today that it has raised its first round of institutional funding led by Ventech China to support rapid business growth and user adoption across the globe. Hornet is committed to strengthening the gay community by providing quality social interactions with more ways to meet and engage in local gay communities. [ vca online ] Shockwave Medical Raises $45 Million in Series C Financing to Further Advance Novel Lithoplasty Treatment for Calcified ArteriesShockwave Medical, a pioneer in the treatment of calcified cardiovascular disease, today announced the closing of $45 million in Series C financing led by Sectoral Asset Management, with participation from mutual funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and returning investors including Sofinnova Partners, Venrock, RA Capital, Deerfield, Ally Bridge Group and others. [ Business Wire ] Soul Machines Raises $7.5M in Series A Funding Soul Machines, an Auckland, New Zealand-based developer of intelligent, emotionally responsive avatars, raised $7.5m in Series A financing. The round led by Horizons Ventures with participation from Iconiq Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Phil Chen of Horizons Ventures, joined Soul Machines as executive chairman. [ Finsmes ] Banking-as-a-Service platform figo raises €6.8 million in a funding round led by Deutsche Börse GroupDB1 Ventures, the Venture Capital arm of Deutsche Börse Group, has participated in the Series B financing round of the Hamburg-based FinTech company figo and is investing a seven-digit amount for a significant minority stake. Further investors are a group of unnamed business angels from Germany. figo raised €6.8 million in total in the current financing round. [ EU-startups ] Ex-Flipsters’ Udaan raises $10mn Series A funding led by LightSpeed VenturesUdaan, a B2B platform that makes trading simple, safe and convenient, today confirmed that it has raised Series A funding of $10 million in a round led by LightSpeed Ventures. For close to a year now, Sujeet Kumar, who led WS Retail Pvt. Ltd at Flipkart, Amod Malviya, ex-CTO of Flipkart, and Vaibhav Gupta, former Senior VP at Flipkart, have been putting their heads together and working on Udaan. [ Your story ] Berlin startup Cashboard raises €3 million as German fintech momentum continuesBerlin-based online investment startup Cashboard has raised €3 million (£2.5 million), as Germany's fintech industry continues to flourish. Cashboard, a marketplace for investment products, has raised the sum from Digital Space Ventures, a $50 million (£40.2 million) fintech fund headquartered in Luxembourg. Existing investors Redalpine Capital and Earlybird also to part in the round. Albert raises $2.5 million for its finance app that helps you save moneyEveryone knows the basics of how to improve their financial health: put money into savings, track your spending, reduce your debt, look for ways to save on your monthly bills, and make smart investments. Where people struggle is translating that knowledge into specific actions you can take today. MORE LATEST FUNDING Korean payroll app Albam closes $1.6m series A led by Capstone Partners |