Announcing $1.65B in new funds to back entrepreneurs with global ambitionsWhen Index held its annual meeting in London back in April, we were all in agreement that it was time to raise new funds. By the end of June, we’d secured $1.65 billion — $650 million for our ninth venture fund to support businesses in the earlier stages, and $1 billion for our fourth growth fund to help them scale. We joked that it took us either a few weeks or 22 years to raise the money, depending on how you look at it.There’s a new, $100 million fund expressly for women founders of colorWhen Richelieu Dennis came to the U.S. from his home in Liberia to attend Babson College, he wasn’t expecting to stay. But unable to return home owing to the first Liberian civil war, stay he did, building the personal care products company SheaMoisture with his college roommate Nyema Tubman in Harlem and later establishing a larger holding company, Sundial Brands, that would oversee a suite of product lines focused on women of color. [ Tech Crunch ] Groupon is looking for a buyerGroupon’s 10-year run as an independent company could be coming to an end. Groupon executives — as well as bankers who represent the company — have contacted several public companies in the past month to try to drum up interest in acquiring the Chicago-based company that pioneered the local commerce category known as daily deals, two people briefed on these approaches told Recode. [ Recode ] Shoe startups aren’t dragging their feetGood thing Carrie Bradshaw, the shoe-loving heroine of Sex and the City, wasn’t a footwear venture capitalist. The high-heeled, high-priced and hard-to-walk-in pairs beloved by the TV icon are pretty much the least fundable concept in the shoe startup space lately. Instead, when they do dip their toe in the footwear space, venture investors have been putting a premium on comfort. [ Tech Crunch ] Mapping the Draper family's deals across generationsThird-generation venture capitalist Tim Draper and his family have invested in hundreds of companies over the years. To visualize the deals, we've put together an interactive graphic illustrating each family member's investments. Hover over the bubbles to learn more about each deal. To filter out deals by each family member, click on a person's name to remove his/her investments. All data is sourced from the PitchBook Platform. [ PitchBook ] Global VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners has closed its second India fund with a corpus of $175 Mn. The Silicon Valley-based firm is now looking to invest in another batch of early-stage startups. The investors in the second India fund include limited partners, companies that invest in venture capital firms, in the US and East Asia. Fresh venture capital to provide access for Series A fundsTHE Sunway Group is expanding its foothold in the startup scene with the recent establishment of a new venture capital fund, Sun SEA Capital LP. The conglomerate, via it’s wholly-owned subsidiary Sunway City Sdn Bhd, signed an Initial Exempted Limited Partner Agreement last week to set up the fund with a proposed investment of US$5mil. [ The Star ] The newest entries to China's growing unicorn herdIncreased venture capital investment in companies headquartered in China, coupled with the ongoing trade war spearheaded by the Trump Administration's tariffs, the first of which would take effect Friday and hit $34 billion worth of Chinese imports, has put China in the spotlight in 2018. [ Pitchbook ] A Milk Startup Takes On 300 Million CowsThis startup streamlines the pro bono work of lawyers, including those fighting for immigrants at the border Why Silicon Valley Doesn’t Mind Rising Gas PricesStartups Aim to Disrupt $15B Mattress Industry The enterprise tech market is on fire: These 23 venture capitalists are picking the winners and shaping the future of workStartups In Eugene Embrace The RAINMelbourne fintech Airwallex raises US$80 million to push international expansionFormer Jefferies Asia CEO to Lead $1 Billion EOS VC Arm |