Ex-Time Warner execs launch venture capital firmRachel Lam (ex-Time Warner Investments) and Dick Parsons (ex-CEO of Timer Warner) have teamed up to form venture firm Imagination Capital, which will focus on institutional seed deals for startups in the digital media, e-sports and big data sectors. Key differentiator: The capital will come equally from Lam and Parsons, rather than via outside limited partners. "Dick didn't want to be a fiduciary," Lam explains.
Sarah Catanzaro joins Amplify as principalMenlo Park, California-based Amplify Partners has hired Sarah Catanzaro as a principal. Catanzaro was previously a data partner at Canvas Ventures, which she joined in mid-2016. Prior to joining the firm, she was head of data at Mattermark. She said she left Canvas after a year-and-a-half to focus more on her passions of machine intelligence and enterprise infrastructure, specialized sectors that are more in line with what Amplify focuses on. Leading Amplify as general partners are Sunil Dhaliwaland Mike Dauber. The firm raised $125 million for its second seed and early-stage fund in 2015. [ PEHub ]
Former Uber board member and VC Bill Gurley says it’s time for Silicon Valley’s unicorns to ‘grow up’ and get profitable
Silicon Valley's most valuable startups are realizing that they need to "grow up," according to longtime tech VC Bill Gurley. "As many of the unicorns mature in age, many are coming to the recognition that they need to grow up, get profitable, go public, or do something along those lines," Gurley said during an interview on CNBC on Friday, referring to the 'unicorn' startups that are valued by private investors at $1 billion or more. [ Business Insider ] Ev Williams Predicts Tech Firms Will Compete on TrustMajor tech companies are going to start competing on whose brand can be trusted the most, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams said, by seeking to limit misinformation from spreading in an unverified way on the internet. “Silicon Valley was kind of caught with their pants down” by the revelations of “manipulation and the degree of abuse” on digital platforms, said Mr. Williams at The Information’s Silicon Valley Meets Hollywood event in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. But, he said, “everybody is extremely focused on this issue now. The major platforms have major teams looking at this. These are smart people who are well-intentioned.” [ The Information ] Shasta Ventures promotes three to partnerShasta Ventures is promoting three of its principals to partner. Nikhil Basu Trivedi, Jacob Mullins and Nitin Chopra have all made it to this coveted venture capital milestone. Shasta has about $1.3 billion under management across its five funds. Notable exits include Dollar Shave Club, Nest, Apptio, SteelBrick and Skycure. The group likes to invest in Series A rounds and places a particular focus on enterprise, consumer and emerging technology like virtual reality. Each of its new partners has an expertise in one of these categories. [ Tech Crunch ] How a guy who sold phones at a Sprint store landed his dream job in venture capital with just 1 tweet
Silicon Valley could be the next hotspot for SEC whistleblowersIn recent years, the SEC has had greater success policing wrongdoing due in large part to the implementation of its whistleblower program, which allows individuals to anonymously sound the alarm against corruption while benefiting from robust employment protections and monetary incentives. But the whistleblowers’ crosshairs are not limited to Wall Street. Individuals are beginning to come forward in a new sphere of the business world, one with its own reputation of a problematic, win-at-all-cost culture: Silicon Valley. [ Tech Crunch ] Stitch Fix’s Katrina Lake Did More With Less CashFemale entrepreneurs often raise less money from VCs than men, forcing them to run their startups more efficiently. Katrina Lake became the first female chief executive officer to take a company public in the U.S. this year when Stitch Fix Inc. started trading on Friday. Almost more unusual is the fact she did it with a fraction of the cash of most venture-backed companies: The online subscription apparel retailer had raised just $42 million. Lake had to do more with less because female entrepreneurs are at a disadvantage when raising money from mostly male venture capitalists. A Bloomberg study last year showed that women founders got about $3 for every $4 that male founders raised. Just 7 percent of founders are women. [ Bloomberg ] Steve Jurvetson was pushed out of his firm as the lines between personal and professional crossedSteve Jurvetson, who started his career in Silicon Valley as a wunderkind founder of one of its marquee venture capital firms, has become one of its highest-profile investors, palling around with its most flamboyant tech superstars and backing its edgiest startups. [ Recode ] |