Lyft valuation hits $15.1 billion after fresh $600 million in fundingLyft has raised an additional $600 million in a Series I financing round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, pushing its post-money valuation to $15.1 billion. The company’s value has more than doubled in the past 14 months. Senator Investment Group LP joined Fidelity in the capital raise. Fidelity has poured more than $800 million into the ride-hailing company, making it one of Lyft’s largest investors. [ Tech Crunch ] Chernin Plans New $500 Million-Plus FundMedia mogul Peter Chernin is planning to raise a new media investment fund of more than $500 million, said three people familiar with the situation, giving the media investor more fuel for his digital media engine. Word of the new fund follows a report last week that AT&T planned to buy full ownership of its online video joint venture with Mr. Chernin, Otter Media, in a deal that valued Otter over $1 billion. Otter Media owns a variety of video companies including subscription Anime streaming service Crunchyroll and digital media firm Fullscreen. AT&T declined to comment. [ The Information ] Late-Stage Drives Sequoia Capital’s Growing Funds In the world of venture capital portfolio theory, it’s said that portfolio returns follow a power law distribution: roughly 90 percent of the gains come from 10 percent of the portfolio’s positions. And, increasingly, it feels like venture capital firms’ LP capital raises follow a similar pattern. It seems like there’s a lot of money sloshing around the market, but the bulk of it is going to a relatively small number of firms. [ Crunchbase ] Coinbase CEO unveils crypto charity fund targeted at $1 billionHot on the heels of Coinbase expanding its crypto fund to U.S.-based investors, the company’s own CEO has unveiled a fund of his own but this time it is focused on philanthropy. GiveCrypto.org is aiming to raise $10 million by the end of this year — it has already secured $3.5 million — with a view to growing its total pot to $1 billion over the next two years. [ Tech Crunch ] 'What the hell do you do with them?': Venture capitalists are still trying to figure out their crypto strategy
First, I Lost on 'Shark Tank.' Then, I Sold My Startup for Over $1 BillionIn late 2013, all the Sharks on Shark Tank declined to invest in Jamie Siminoff's Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell company, which he started in his garage in Los Angeles. This February, Amazon announced that it would acquire Ring in a deal reported to be worth more than $1 billion. --As told to Emily Canal. [ INC ] IQ Capital is raising £125M to invest in deep tech startups in the UKThe rapid pace of technology innovation and applications in recent decades — you could argue that just about every kind of business is a “tech” business these days — has spawned a sea of tech startups and larger businesses that are focused on serving that market, and equally demanding consumers, on a daily basis. Today, a venture capital firm in the UK is announcing a fund aimed at helping to grow the technologies that will underpin a lot of those daily applications. [ Tech Crunch] From startup to upstart: 5 VC tips for scaling your businessFounders with a vision, bursting with energy and a seemingly endless string of disruptive ideas, receive a lot of attention—and in some cases a lot of capital, too. Starting a company is—to an extent—fairly easy. But how do you take a small business that has gained some traction and possibly even turned a profit to the next level? How do you scale up? At the BVCA's High Growth event in London last week, five UK private market investors shared their tips and insights on what it takes to go from startup to scale-up. [ Pitchbook ] Henrique Dubugras and Anu Hariharan Discuss Brex's Corporate Card For StartupsHenrique Dubugras - https://twitter.com/hdubugras - is the cofounder of Brex - https://brex.com/ - which provides corporate cards for startups. Anu Hariharan is a Partner at YC - https://twitter.com/anuhariharan Brex went through YC in the Winter 2017 batch and just closed their Series B, which was led by YC Continuity - https://www.ycombinator.com/continuity/ In addition to discussing how the Brex team built out their service, Anu and Henrique also cover the specifics of what it takes to build a fintech startup in 2018. And Henrique shares advice for young founders, as he started his first company at 16. How the entrepreneurs behind Chicago's top exits are fueling the next startup waveA UK venture capital firm that specialises in deeptech investment has held the first close of its third £125m fundQuestions remain after the CEO of fintech VC Anthemis resignsUA-Related Firms Receive First Local Venture Capital InvestmentsHighland Europe, the venture capital firm behind Matchesfashion.com, Bitmovin and Malwarebytes, has closed its third fund for European tech startups at €463mIT and tech firm UST Global raises $250M from Temasek at a valuation of over $1B |