Tim Draper keeps defending TheranosTheranos has become compagnia non grata in Silicon Valley, a troubled reminder that not even multi-billion dollar valuations can save a startup from its own short-cuts. But it still has at least one vocal defender: Venture capitalist Tim Draper, an old family friend of Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who led an early $1 million investment into the company (split between two investment firms). In short, he believes the attacks on Theranos are "a witch hunt." Draper recently spoke to Axios about why he believes Holmes, not his fellow investors or the company's users, are the real victims. [ Axios Interview ] VC Funding for Mobile Health Apps Hit an All-Time Record in 2016Health IT venture funding came roaring back to life in 2016 after a slight dip in the previous year, according to a new report from market intelligence firm Mercom Capital Group. And mobile health apps drew in more cash than ever before. Total global health care IT funding crossed the $5 billion mark (not including bioinformatics or medical devices) while mobile health raised a record $1.3 billion. Volume swelled, too, with 622 deals completed in 2016 compared with 574 deals that raised $4.6 billion in 2015. [ Fortune ] Venture capital in 2017 is when the rubber hits the road for returnsIn the United States, VC funds raised a whopping $40.6 billion in 2016[1]. It was the largest year for VC fundraising since 2000 when the venture industry raked in a jaw dropping $101.4 billion[1]. Yet the 2016 exit market was a mixed bag. Despite many forecasting (hoping?) that herds of unicorns would enter the public market in 2016, the IPO market was lackluster at best. There were only 31 U.S. VC-backed IPOs, down from 76 in 2015 and 121 in 2014[2] (by far the highest number of offerings in recent history). For first time since 2008, not a single IPO in 2016 saw more than $250 million raised, and only four offerings raised more than $100 million[1]. [ Tech Crunch ] Why Atlassian will be a $50+ billion company in 10 yearsLast week, Atlassian made a very smart move by acquiring Trello. While $425 million implies a high multiple (given Trello’s revenue run rate was around $10 million last year), I believe it positions Atlassian to become the next big enterprise software company. I project it will reach a $50 billion market cap in 10 years by taking over software for teams. [ Venture Beat ] 500’s Women Invest Initiative By 500 Startups500 Startups has always been in the business of challenging conventional wisdom in the venture capital industry. Since our inception, we’ve focused on taking our expertise wherever there is talent. That’s taken us to some flung corners of the earth and compelled us to look in oft-overlooked places in our own communities. We’ve baked this diversity into our DNA, trying our hardest to be champions of the world, not as it is, but as we’d like to see it. Don’t be mistaken. We don’t do this for charity, or to boost our social profile, or even to make ourselves sleep better at night (although those are obvious benefits.) We do it because it just makes sense.$1B+ Market Map: The World’s 186 Unicorn Companies In One InfographicThere are 186 private companies around the world as of 1/18/2017 that are valued at $1B+, all tracked on our real-time unicorn tracker. Collectively, these companies are worth approximately $656B. Combined, they have raised approximately $126B. Forty-two of these private companies became unicorns worth $1B+ or more last year. For more on what happened in unicorn land in 2016, check out the $1B recap. Using the CB Insights database, we mapped global unicorn companies valued at $1B+ according to the markets in which they operate. [ CB Insights ] A marriage of Twitter and The Economist’: How Axios is serving up news for social media addictsThe rise of social media has turned us into a legion of swipers and scrollers who rarely reach the end of a story. The team behind Axios, a new startup from the founders of Politico, knows this. That's why they've built a product designed to resemble a cross between Twitter and The Economist. "It really seemed like the stream — the same thing Facebook and Twitter do — was a good way to consume a lot of information very quickly," said Roy Schwartz, co-founder and president of Axios. VC JOBS Investment Analyst at Village Capital, Washington, US. Research Engineer at Lurkin, Los Angeles, US Account Executive at Lurkin,Los Angeles, US.Corporate Counsel at EQUIDATE, San Francisc, US.Sales Executive at Merrill Corporation, San Francisco, US.Senior Sales Agent at Silent Models, NY, US.Medical Cannabis Careers at Medical Marijuana Career Center, Pennsylvania, US.VP Engineering at EQUIDATE, San Francisco, US.UX/UI Designer at True North Business Exchange, San Francisco, US.Deep Learning Engineer Phd at 26 Venture, San Francisco, US.Investment Analyst at LaunchCapital,New Haven, US.Growth Hacker at Lurkin,Los Angeles, US.Strategy & Operations at EQUIDATE, San Francisco, US.Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase,
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