This Amazon-backed media startup has raised $15 million to make a big bet on commerceClique Media Group, an 11-year-old fashion startup that is part media company, part consumer product house, has raised a new round of $15 million. The series C investment, which was co-led by Greycroft and E.ventures, was an intentionally modest sum for this stage of a company, Clique’s CEO Katherine Power said in an interview. That’s because Clique has been profitable for three years, and only previously raised around $13 million, including a previous round led by Amazon. [ Re/Code ] Meet the Woman Funding the Valley’s Hottest Shopping StartupsAt age 18, Kirsten Green sold women’s clothes at the Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, Calif. Twenty years later, the retailer backed her fund, Forerunner Ventures. Green, 45, has made a name by investing in a handful of e-commerce supernovas, including razor-delivery startup Dollar Shave Club, which was acquired by Unilever in 2016 for $1 billion and e-commerce marketplace Jet.com, bought by Walmart (WMT, +0.66%) for $3.3 billion. Green started as a retail analyst and always felt “safe in numbers.” Eventually she took more risk and in 2002 invested in a little-known company called Deckers Brands, which owned Teva sandals and had acquired a boot company called Ugg. Within a year, the stock jumped fifteen fold in a year. [ Fortune ] A second wind: VC investment in edtech is rising again [datagraphic]The edtech industry is experiencing a resurgence so far this year. VC investment in US-based edtech startups is on pace to reach nearly $1.4 billion this year, a steep increase from last year's levels and almost equal to those seen in 2015, which was a banner year for the sector. Conventional Wisdom Says 90% of Startups Fail. Data Says Otherwise.When entering an unfamiliar society, it is wise to learn the local customs, the unspoken rules, and the names of its heroes, villains, and gods. The same rule applies to Startup Land. To an outsider, the world of venture-backed startups might feel impenetrable. But don’t despair: The Internet is littered with free guides to The Startup Way. Look first to the luminaries known by their acronyms: PG, TK, @AVC, a16z. (That would be Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.) Follow their blogs, listen to their podcasts, repeat their catchphrases, learn the Acronymed Ones’ acronyms. (FNAC stands for “feature, not a company.” HENRY means “high earner, not rich yet.”) You can even consume precious nuggets of startup wisdom through mobile push notifications thanks to products like Startup Funding Bot, Startup Patterns, Startup Quotes, and the website Great Fucking Startup Advice. (Sample counsel: “Don’t ask for permission, ask for fucking forgiveness.”) [ Fortune ] Ethereum - The SelloffMy oldest daughter Jessica send me a message last night “what’s going on with Ethereum?”. I told her it was a selloff. I said that people who had made a ton of money in the run up over the last six months were taking profits and I thought it could go on for a while. She said she was going to buy some more. I told her that was fine, but if I was going to buy, I would buy a little bit every week and not a whole bunch right now. As I have said on this blog so many times, I am a fan of dollar cost averaging and building a position over time, sometimes a long time. I have been buying Bitcoin since early 2013 and Ethereum since last year. I keep buying but never that much at one time. Just a little bit every week. You can build a pretty big position that way, but you have to be patient and you have to keep at it. [ AVC ] Investors Moving to Pull Out of BinaryA group of major investors behind Binary Capital were pushing late Monday to withdraw funding commitments for the venture firm, which has been caught up in a controversy over unwanted and inappropriate advances made to seven Silicon Valley women by Binary co-founder Justin Caldbeck. Cancellation of funding commitments would prevent Binary from making any new investments, according to a person familiar with the situation. The firm has arranged $175 million in commitments for a second fund, following its earlier $125 million fund which has been mostly invested. [ The Information ] Kevin Rose PT2: Best ways to pitch, GV lessons, cryptocurrency, housing, tech & politicsKevin Rose is an angel investor, venture capitalist, podcaster, and serial entrepreneur best known for building companies like Digg, Revision3, and Milk. In this Part 2 episode, Jason and Kevin continue their discussion of what they look for in a startup founder and lessons learned in early stage investing. Then, they explore their favorite apps, issues around the cryptocurrency and housing markets, and theories around the political side of Zuckerberg. [ Video - This Week In Startups ] Ludlow Ventures has closed its second fund with $45 millionLudlow Ventures, a young, early-stage venture firm in Detroit, has closed its second venture fund with $45 million in capital commitments, founder and managing partner Jonathon Triest tells us. Ludlow’s team, which includes partner Brett deMarrais and associate Blake Robbins, was originally targeting $40 million; its investors, or limited partners, include four institutions, along with numerous family offices and high-net-worth individuals. One of them is Stemcentrx co-founder Dan Reiner, whose company was acquired last year for $10.2 billion. [ Tech Crunch ] Adena Friedman, the first woman to run a U.S. stock exchange, needs to look for growth outside of Nasdaq’s comfort zone. [ Fast Company ]Why Uber’s Investors Ousted Travis KalanickThe Uber power struggle that culminated in the resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick on Tuesday night was largely motivated by shareholders’ concerns that Mr. Kalanick wouldn’t be able to hire a “CEO-caliber” executive as chief operating officer who would stabilize the company and keep Mr. Kalanick in check, according to a major investor involved in the shake-up who spoke to The Information. “It felt like Travis [Kalanick], despite his many talents and incredible work ethic, in so many ways...was not going to be the one that understood deeply the magnitude of what needs to change,” the investor said. [ The Information ] Smart Money VCs Bet On Discount E-Commerce Startups Wish And HollarRecently, there’s been increased interest in e-commerce platforms selling discounted items through a direct-from-manufacturer model. Wish and Hollar are two of the most prominent companies offering e-commerce platforms that sell lower-cost goods directly from manufacturers, often based in Asia. This direct-from-manufacturer model is noteworthy because it completely cuts out middlemen, thus allowing products to be sold at a highly discounted price, without the markups typically found on products sold by retailers. Using CB Insights data, we looked at the considerable investor interest in Wish and Hollar over the last few years. [ CB Insights ] Cover Story: Serena Williams’s Love MatchLightspeed says it ‘should have done more’ when one of its entrepreneurs complained about Justin CaldbeckLightspeed Venture Partners, the venture capital firm where disgraced startup investor Justin Caldbeck once worked, says “it should have done more” when one of its portfolio companies approached them with a complaint. Caldbeck worked at Lightspeed from 2011 to the first half of 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile, and later co-founded a new firm, Binary Capital, in 2014, but has since resigned. |