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Silicon Valley and the Search for Meatless Meat

In August one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups closed a $17 million round of funding. The Series A had attracted some of the biggest names in tech. “I got closed out because of Richard Branson and Bill Gates,” bemoaned Jody Rasch, the managing trustee of an angel fund that wasn’t able to buy in. Venture capital firm DFJ—which has backed the likes of Tesla and SpaceX—led the round, with one of its then-partners calling the nascent company’s work an “enormous technological shift.” [ Fortune ]

HQ Trivia was getting ready to raise money at a $100 million valuation, but some investors are reportedly backing off after learning about a founder's 'creepy' behavior

• The company that makes the HQ trivia app has been taking meetings with investors, hoping to raise money at a $100 million valuation.
• But some investors are concerned about the startup's management, including one cofounder's behavior at a previous job, and they decided not to participate in the funding round, Recode reported on Monday. [ Business Insider ]

Softbank leads a $120 million round for insurance startup Lemonade

The SoftBank Group has finally made a good tech investment around real estate.

After investing $4.4 billion in what is essentially a bespoke office space rental business(WeWork) and another $450 million in Zillow for rich people (Compass), the gargantuan Japanese tech investor is leading a $120 million round of funding for Lemonade, a startup providing renters and homeowners insurance. [ Tech Crunch ]

Aspect Ventures promotes Lauren Kolodny to partner

Aspect Ventures has another lady atop its female-led venture investment team. Lauren Kolodny has been promoted to partner after spending 3.5 years at Aspect. She joined shortly after the firm started. In her role as principal, Kolodny led or co-led investments in The Muse, Chime, Gusto, TalkIQ and others. [ Tech Crunch ]

2017 Year in Review: Top 5 global VC deals, exits & funds

This year, China cemented its presence in venture capital. Chinese firms participated in more than 100 VC deals for US-based companies, and five of the 10 largest VC deals worldwide in 2017 were for companies headquartered in the Asian country.

When it comes to exits, however, US companies still dominate deal value. The five largest VC-backed exits this year, including Snap's IPO, were US-based. And, aside from SoftBank's behemoth Vision Fund, the two largest VC funds of the year—NEA and IVP both closed their sixteenth flagship vehicles on more than $1 billion—came from US-based investors.

Here's a look at the five largest VC deals, exits and funds of 2017. [ PitchBook ]

Venture Capitalists Warming Up to Cryptocurrency Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)

The next wave in Silicon Valley's path of disruption could upend the way start-ups raise money from investors, and some VC's are starting to get with the program.

Bitcoin's meteoric rise has fueled new excitement around initial coin offerings, a controversial fundraising mechanism in which startups create and sell their own currency to investors, which typically buy the tokens using bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. [ The Street ]

Robert Bosch Venture Capital Makes First Investment In Distributed Ledger Technology

As the year draws to a close there seems to be no let-up in the furore and mania surrounding cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin may have stabilised to a certain extent, but other currencies such as Ethereum, ZCash, Ripple and Litecoin have soared as critical mass has been established. Crypto conversations in coffeeshops are now commonplace.

Some talk of tulips, others of new reserve currencies and digital gold standards, but the juggernaut continues; nobody knows what will happen in 2018. What has become clear, however, is that the existing financial ecosystem is not turning a blind eye to the possibilities and disruptions of cryptocurrencies. [ Forbes ]

Startup Accelerators Hold The Keys To Gender Equity In Tech

As a female entrepreneur, I've become accustomed to being one of the few women in a room full of men — and knowing that my odds of success aren’t just startup slim, they are near impossible. But I've never been one to focus on ‘what is’ because I prefer ‘what could be.’ When I quit my job on Wall Street to launch Invibed, I heard every reason why my idea wasn't going to work. Millennials don't care about money. Really smart people have already tried to solve this problem and failed. And of course, only 3% of venture capital goes to female founders.

A few months ago, my co-founder and I were on a business trip when we received a call. We were one of 12 startups accepted into the NYU Steinhardt EdTech Accelerator powered by StartEd. Being accepted meant we would participate in a three-month immersive program in New York City and that we were eligible for up to $170,000 in investment, funded by Rethink Education. We had just become part of the 3%. [ Forbes ]

Two years on, Modi’s Startup India plan is still mostly just that—a plan

Launched in January 2016, the Narendra Modi government’s Startup India campaign initially drew applause from both founders and investors. The tax exemptions, patent reforms, and incubation programmes under this scheme were aimed at encouraging budding entrepreneurs. A single point of contact, the Startup India hub, was also established for the entire ecosystem. The burdensome red tape was reduced, too.

These steps have also encouraged several state governments also to support entrepreneurship in the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. But nearly two years since it’s launch, the programme has had a pretty underwhelming success. [ QZ ]

E785: News Roundtable 2017 Top Tech, 2018 Predictions w/Ryan Hoover Product Hunt Adam Ludwin Chain

News Roundtable: Top Tech 2017 edition! @jason, @rrhoover @ProductHunt & @adamludwin @chain take on net neutrality & fallout, crypto craze & FOMO, hottest products & predictions for biggest stories of 2018. 

Karlie Kloss on Coding, Women in Tech, and Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Coding is the language of the future. It’s the first step to launching that innovative app or program that will change the world, but as Karlie Kloss discovered, not enough women speak it. In an effort to create a level playing field, she launched Kode With Klossy, an organization that arms women with the tools they need to enter the tech world. What started as a free summer coding camp became a powerful network uniting women in tech. Now it awards career scholarships to young female developers and touts itself as a national community. Kode With Klossy’s success proves what we’ve known all along: When women support each other, incredible things can happen. In a candid conversation with Kode With Klossy camper Torie Pfau, 18, Karlie shares her thoughts on coding, succeeding in a male-dominated field, and why it’s important to get into your panic zone. [ TeenVoge]

Where’s the Next Silicon Valley? This VC is Betting on the Midwest

In 2013, venture capitalist Chris Olsen, a former partner at Sequoia Capital, left Silicon Valley to move to Ohio, where he’d just started Drive Capital. Even his movers thought he was nuts for leaving California for Ohio. “They were like, ‘Oh, sorry, man,’” he says.

Just a year or two earlier, Olsen would have agreed with them. When I was at Sequoia, he says, “We passed on a company that was in Petaluma because that was too far from Silicon Valley.” (Petaluma is about 40 miles north of San Francisco.)

It’s moving slowly, but Pinterest and other tech companies are becoming less white and less male

lowly but surely, Pinterest is getting more diverse. The company released its annual workforce diversity report on Tuesday, and claims that underrepresented minorities now make up 9 percent of its workforce, up from just 7 percent in 2016. Pinterest is also hiring more female employees: Women account for 45 percent of Pinterest’s workforce, up from 44 percent last year, according to this latest report.[ Re/Code ]

Silicon Valley's Dumbest 'Inventions' of 2017

Airwallex raises follow-on US$6 million in Series A funding from Square Peg Capital 

How to Help a Social Startup Thrive

The hidden benefits of being a woman in tech

Startup Of The Week: Sevenly

Caveat Entrepreneur: When Passion is a Problem

This is a short warning to entrepreneurs. Founders often start a company based on their passion for something. That’s fine as long as they are also solving a problem or otherwise addressing the needs of a clearly defined target market.

The advice that is dispensed too often these days is to pursue your passion, do something you love. That’s all well and good as long as your passion intersects with a problem that customers will pay you to solve. But don’t start a business for the sole purpose of pursuing something you’re passionate about. That’s called a hobby. Hobbies are great, but don’t pitch me on investing in yours. [ Phil Nadel, Founder, Forefront Venture Partners ]