1.
Why WeWork founder Adam Neumann is getting $1.7 billion to leave the company he ran into the ground
WeWork founder and former CEO Adam Neumann drove his coworking company’s valuation to a whopping $47 billion by selling investors on his personality and the idea that he was revolutionizing real estate through tech. He also steered the company — through a series of poor and avoidable decisions — into near oblivion. Now the company’s biggest investor, Softbank, is paying him $1.7 billion to leave the company and most of his stock behind. [ Vox ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
2.
SoftBank backer Mubadala commits to backing venture firm DCVC
One of the SoftBank Vision Fund's top backers said Monday it's investing in Silicon Valley venture firm DCVC and a Dubai-based software company as the government-funded investor revealed plans for $250 million worth of tech investments.
Mubadala, which is owned by the United Arab Emirates and headquartered in Abu Dhabi, has earmarked $150 million for a fund-of-funds strategy targeting funds that will invest in the Abu Dhabi-based Hub71 regional tech ecosystem. Another $100 million in Mubadala capital has been set aside for direct investments into early-stage tech companies aligned with Hub71, which is named after the UAE's formation in 1971. Mubadala committed $15 billion to the $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017. [ Pitchbook ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
3.
Winnie Raises $9M Series A For Childcare, Preschool Platform
There are many challenges that come with being a parent, many of which you don’t know about until you’re, well, actually a parent. One of those is finding quality child care. Finding a place you can trust to leave your most prized possessions while you work (or do whatever) is not easy. [ Crunchbase ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
4.
Rapper Snoop Dogg Partners With Israeli Cannabis Company Seedo
American rapper Snoop Dogg is the new brand ambassador of Seedo, an at-home automated cannabis growing device developed by Haifa-headquartered startup Seedo, incorporated as Eroll Grow Tech Ltd., the company announced Monday. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed. [ Calcalistech ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
5.
Penske is getting into the car-sharing business, starting with Washington, DC
Transportation services giant Penske Corp. is backing a new car-sharing service called Penske Dash that launched Tuesday in Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Va. The service is debuting at an awkward time for the industry. While some car-sharing operations, particularly peer-to-peer services, have expanded, others have struggled in the past year. GM’s Maven, BMW’s ReachNow, Car2Go and Lime are among the car-sharing companies that have scaled
back or closed their businesses altogether. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
6.
Australian fintech startup Athena closes $70M Series C round to fund its expansion into home loans
Athena Home Loans, an Australian fintech startup that offers refinancing for home loans, has closed $70 million Series C round to fund its expansion into home loans. The round was led by existing investors Square Peg Capital, AirTree Ventures and Hostplus. AustralianSuper also came on board as an investor, making it its first early stage start-up investment. According to Australian Financial Review, this is “the largest capital raise ever led by local venture funds.” [ Crunchbase ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
7.
Scoop: Adam Neumann will determine WeWork's fate
Japanese investment firm SoftBank will pay former WeWork CEO and current non-executive chairman Adam Neumann around $200 million to leave the board of directors, give up his voting shares and support SoftBank's takeover, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. [ Axios ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
8.
Don’t wait to plan your exit, even if it’s years away
Startup founders have a million things to worry about every day. Finding product-market fit, great talent and and a sustainable plan for constant growth are top of mind, but perhaps most importantly, they need to keep the lights on, whether it’s by raising venture capital or managing cash flows while bootstrapping. The flip side to thinking about fundraising and growth, however, is skipping ahead to the final chapter — whether that involves M&A, an IPO or
perhaps a bankruptcy, eventually all startups come to an end. [ Tech Crunch ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
9.
The way forward for Me Too, according to founder Tarana Burke
It’s been two years since #MeToo became part of the zeitgeist. There have been many stories, personal and in the media, that have motivated the public to confront workplace dynamics between men and women, consent, and the nature of sex itself. While these often-devastating narratives from survivors can inspire us into action or paralyze our senses, there is still much more work to be done. [ Vox ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
10.
IPOs are the beginning, not the end
Earlier this month at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, we sat down with Box’s Aaron Levie and PagerDuty’s Jennifer Tejada to discuss their respective companies’ paths to an IPO, the general IPO landscape and the pros and cons of going public. With a lot of recent IPOs faltering and increased pressure on startup valuations, now is as good a time as ever to think about the role IPOs play in a company’s lifespan.[ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
11.
Big-data firm Databricks bags $400M late-stage funding round
Investors are upping their stakes in the big data company Databricks Inc., which today said it has bagged a massive $400 million round of funding. The Series F round was led by Andreessen Horowitz’s Late Stage Venture Fund and saw participation from new investors BlackRock Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. and Tiger Capital Management. The round means Databricks is now valued at an astounding $6.2 billion. [ Silicon Angle ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
12.
Where top VCs are investing in edtech
Education is a $4 trillion market globally in urgent need of an overhaul — so where within education are top venture capitalists optimistic about startups building large businesses by providing new solutions? [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
13.
Instabase tops $1B valuation with app-building tool suite
Four years ago, Anant Bhardwaj abandoned his doctoral work at MIT to be a startup founder. Today, he runs a data solutions company that just earned a valuation north of $1 billion.
Instabase announced Monday that it has raised $105 million in a Series B led by Index Ventures. Other VC stalwarts including Greylock, NEA and Andreessen Horowitz also participated in the round. The San Francisco-based company, which has raised $132 million in VC financing to date, has logged a valuation roughly eight times the $125 million valuation it reached in 2017. [ Pitchbook ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
14.
Marc Benioff, Founder, Chairman & Co-CEO, Salesforce
15.
Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake & More Invest Millions in Virtual Reality Startup Sandbox VR
Hong Kong-based virtual reality startup Sandbox VR has closed an $11 million funding round, bringing the company's reported total to $83 million in 2019 following a Series A round earlier this year. [ billboard ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
16.
Upstream Security raises $30 million to protect connected cars from cyberattacks
Upstream Security, a cloud-based cybersecurity platform for connected cars, has raised $30 million in a series B round of funding led by Alliance Ventures, an automotive alliance constituting Renault, Mitsubishi, and Nissan. Volvo Group, Hyundai, CRV, Glilot Capital, Maniv Mobility, and Nationwide also participated in the round. [ Venture Beat ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
17.
Instabase Achieves Unicorn Status and Finally Explains What It Does
Silicon Valley got another addition to its stable of unicorns on Monday: Instabase Inc. The business tools company said it has raised $105 million at a $1.05 billion valuation. But most people won’t have heard of the company. Until today, Instabase’s website offered only a single sentence saying it helps “solve problems” and “create new breakthroughs.” [ Bloomberg ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
18.
Fireside Chat: Nicola Korzenko, PodFund (FirstMark's Design Driven NYC)
Nicola Korzenko, General Manager at PodFund, spoke at Design Driven in September 2019. Engagement was on her mind. Korzenko is charged with finding and cultivating the next generation of podcast talent, and she discussed how the booming podcast market can be a minefield for talent looking to find an audience. “Only 1% of podcasts make more than $100k per year,” Korzenko said, doing some quick financial calculus onstage. And even with the rise of alternative funding models like memberships,
tipping, licensing, and live events, many podcasters aren’t able to make ends meet just by creating content.
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
19.
Greylock GP Sarah Guo is as bullish on SaaS as ever
E991: #StartupTuneup w/Urban-X: Waste-reducing marketplace, traffic safety, sharing spaces & more
|