The AI gig economy is coming for youThe artificial-intelligence industry runs on the invisible labor of humans working in isolated and often terrible conditions—and the model is spreading to more and more businesses. On Wednesday, the Guardian published an article about the realities of producing Google Assistant. Behind the “magic” of its ability to interpret 26 languages is a huge team of linguists, working as subcontractors, who must tediously label the training data for it to work. They earn low wages and are routinely forced to work unpaid overtime. Their concerns over working conditions have been repeatedly dismissed. [ MIT Technology Review ]To Follow-on or Not to Follow-on, Part 2 of Un-learnings from a VC-Turned-LPIn the investment world, FOMO, fear of missing out, runs rampant. VCs and LPs both dread “missing out” on those asymmetric exits that generate millions or billions of dollars. When it comes to investment psychology, Kauffman Fellow Ben Choi (Class 11) borrows from a distinct series of experiences as both a Limited Partner and a VC. Choi is currently an LP at Legacy Venture, a venture capital fund-of-funds, which aggregates nearly $2 billion from over 500 philanthropic investors. [ Kauffman Fellows ] “Investing in the Podcasting Ecosystem in 2019”: Slide Deck Want VC? Be Ready to Go BigThis post is a continuation of my series of key segments from my book, The Fundraising Rules.The size of exit should also dictate whether an entrepreneur takes the VC route. Generally speaking, venture capitalists need their portfolio companies to exit for very large values in order to meaningfully impact their returns. Typically this means eight- or, better yet, nine-figure exits (tens or hundreds of millions of dollars) are required to “move the needle.” As a result, VCs may often opt to pass up opportunities to sell their portfolio companies that are showing strong potential for seven or even eight-figure valuations — they’ll want to hold out for the bigger exit. Doing so usually helps maximize returns for all parties (including the entrepreneur); however, it requires more patience and a stronger stomach for risk. [ Medium ] Laura Deming: ‘I Wanted to Work on the World’s Most Important Problem’I arrive at the vast, noisy dining room of the Tartine Manufactory a couple of minutes early, but Laura Deming is already there, bent over a book. Bathed in the light streaming through the giant windows of the former factory in San Francisco’s hipster Mission district, the venture capitalist is managing to concentrate despite the buzz of conversation. [ Medium ] OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will tell Disrupt about tomorrow’s jobsOpenAI’s co-founders Greg Brockman and Sam Altman aren’t afraid of Terminator robots. At TechCrunch Disrupt SF in October, they’ll tell our audience why it’s the more subtle repercussions of artificial general intelligence — like its impact on employment, cyberwarfare and concentration of power — that shake the duo. [ Tech Crunch ] Fintech startup Cowrywise now helps Nigerians invest in mutual fundsNigerian fintech startup Cowrywise has launched a new feature that allows users to invest in mutual funds with as little as NGN100 (US$0.30). Launched in 2017, Cowrywise is a secure automated service that helps users save money and enjoy high returns from risk-free investments in Nigeria, with zero fees. The startup, which last year raised funding from early-stage VC firm Microtraction and took part in the Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator programme, now also allows Nigerians to invest in mutual funds, financial vehicles whereby multiple investors pool funds to invest in securities such as stocks and bonds. [ disrupt-africa ] Where are all the biotech startups raising?Where are all the biotechnology companies raising these days? We crunched some numbers to arrive at an answer.Using funding rounds data from Crunchbase, we plotted the count of venture capital funding rounds raised by companies in the fairly expansive biotechnology category in Crunchbase. Click the chart below and you can hover over individual data points to see the number of venture rounds raised in a given metro area between the start of 2018 and late May 2019 (as of publication). Although there are biotechnology companies located throughout the world, we focused here on just the U.S. [ Tech Crunch ] 2019 Class Day Distinguished Speaker Michael R. BloombergMichael R. Bloomberg (MBA 1966), founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term mayor of New York City and one of this year’s Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award recipients, speaks to the MBA Class of 2019. Reid Hoffman: ‘You Can’t Just Sit on the Sidelines’ Reid Hoffman’s fingerprints are all over Silicon Valley. A Bay Area native, Mr. Hoffman was drawn to technology at an early age. After studying symbolic systems and philosophy in college and graduate school, he took a job at Apple in 1994. He went on to start one of the earliest social networks, SocialNet.com, in 1997, then joined PayPal as chief operating officer in 2000. Months after selling the company to eBay in 2002, he co-founded LinkedIn and became its chief executive. Along the way, Mr. Hoffman became one of the technology industry’s most prolific networkers. He arranged the first meeting between Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, an important early investor in Facebook, and is constantly making connections between entrepreneurs, engineers and investors. [ NY Times ] Seed Fundraising — Meeting RequirementsSeed Fundraising is extremely competitive but you can make the task much easier by managing your meetings properly; these small tactical changes can have a big influence on your efficiency and outcomes. [ Medium ] Twitter's Jack Dorsey And Square Are Making Mass Bitcoin Adoption 'Inevitable'Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of micro-blogging social network Twitter, is taking further steps toward incorporating bitcoin and cryptocurrencies into his payments business, Square. Bitcoin, which Dorsey has previously heaped praise upon, has experienced a resurgence recently with the bitcoin price doubling so far in 2019, lifting most other major cryptocurrencies along with it. Now, Square has said it plans to "improve money" though its bitcoin and crypto development, while Square Crypto is poised to hire its first dedicated employee—with many bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors hoping Square will lead a wave of fresh bitcoin adoption. [ Forbes ] SoftBank Joins Record Indonesia-Focused Growth Venture FundFollow Bloomberg on LINE messenger for all the business news and analysis you need. SoftBank Group Corp. has joined other backers in a $200 million venture capital fund that will focus on unearthing promising startups in Indonesia. [ Bloomberg ] Why Your Mortgage Is So Complicated: The History and Opportunity of the Modern MortgageWhy on earth is the modern mortgage so damn complicated? In this short animated video, a16z General Partner Alex Rampell takes us through the history of the American mortgage, all the different processes and players that the mortgage today entails (a lot more than you think!), why it got so complex—and what the opportunities for innovation are. Unsafe NotesI was reminded yesterday how much of a shit show raising seed capital via SAFE notes is. I can’t and won’t get into why I was reminded of that, but let’s just say nobody wants to go there. [ AVC ] Peterborough bio-tech startup Noblegen secures $25 million in Series B financingPeterborough bio-tech startup Noblegen announced on Thursday (May 30) that it has secured $25 million in private investment financing. The Series B financing, led by Richardson Ventures Inc. and BDC’s Cleantech Practice, follows a successful Series A funding round in 2016 and brings Noblegen’s total funding to date to $42.5 million. “Noblegen is extremely excited to begin on its next stage of growth,” says Noblegen CEO and Chairman Adam Noble. “Both Richardson Ventures Inc. and BDC share our vision to transform the global ingredients market by producing raw materials that are both healthy for consumers and healthy for our planet.” [ kawartha now ] How Venture Capitalists Make MoneyAs careers go, venture capital can seem an enviable one. Like Hollywood casting directors, VCs spend part of most days dressed casually, sitting around a conference table and sipping bottled water, auditioning entrepreneurs one hour at a time. VCs boast that even when they’re meeting with companies they don’t end up funding, they get to spend their entire days meeting with intelligent, engaging people with unique ideas about the future. [ Medium ] The Crunchbase Unicorn Leaderboard is back, now with a record herd of 452 unicorns Sex parties, drugs, bondage, blackmail: It sounds like journalistic embellishments of Stephen Glass proportions, but according to long-time reporter and media personality Emily Chang, ethical debauchery has become a way of life in Silicon Valley. [ swaay ] Why you should never have a data room — the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever getI’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. If you stick through to the end I’m guessing I can persuade most of you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.” I have to back up and give you more context. When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about:
These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.” [ Medium ] Startups Weekly: Will the real unicorns please stand up?Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a newsletter published every Saturday that dives into the week’s noteworthy venture capital deals, funds and trends. Before I dive into this week’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I wrote about the sudden uptick in beverage startup rounds. Before that, I noted an alternative to venture capital fundraising called revenue-based financing. Remember, you can send me tips, suggestions and feedback to kate.clark@techcrunch.com or on Twitter @KateClarkTweets. [ Tech Crunch ] Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase, AngelList ] |