Fidelity funds high on hot startupsThey’re the hottest deals in the venture capital world — startups like Uber and Snapchat owner Snap Inc., whose values soar beyond $1 billion long before going public. In recent years, there’s been increasing competition to get in on these investments, known as “unicorns,” especially among mutual fund companies looking to gain an edge on investment returns. And according to a paper cowritten by Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner, Boston’s Fidelity Investments has been the most active fund company in unicorn deals. [ The Boston Globe ] Forward, a $149 per month medical startup, aims to be the Apple Store of doctor’s officesWhat will the doctor’s office of the future look like? Forward, a new type of medical startup in San Francisco, shows us what it could be using A.I. and connected tools. Related : Meet Forward, An Ex-Googler's Plan To Reinvent Healthcare With A Dose Of Apple, Netflix And AI WHY IS SNAPCHAT BEING SO SECRETIVE ABOUT ITS I.P.O.?Tech companies often develop their own cultures of secrecy. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberghas weekly all-hands meetings with all 16,000 of his employees, and when the rare company secret does leak to the press, the culprit is liable to face summary termination. Apple, under the tenure of founder Steve Jobs, famously made its employees test the iPad in a secluded room with blacked-out windows. And Snapchat parent company Snap‘s C.E.O., Evan Spiegel,apparently runs his company no differently: the $17 billion Los Angeles–based messaging company is based on a culture of extreme secrecy. [ Vanity Fair ] Peak Pitch is back, and applications are now open for NYC-based entrepreneurs! Peak Pitch, which will take place on Friday, March 3, is an invite-only event hosted by Primary Venture Partners at Hunter Mountain. It’s an action-packed day where entrepreneurs pitch investors as they ride the chairlift together to the top of the mountain. Past years' events have been very successful, and we expect this year to be even bigger, with over 100 entrepreneurs and 75 investors in attendance. To apply, entrepreneurs must complete this form by Friday, January 27. Applicants will be chosen on a rolling basis, and spots fill up quickly! Only one entrepreneur per team will be accepted. Zoom video conferencing service raises $100 million from Sequoia on billion-dollar valuationZoom, the cloud video conferencing service, announced a $100 million Series D round, entirely funded by Sequoia. The company now boasts a $1 billion valuation, putting it in the vaunted unicorn club. [ Tech Crunch ] Facebook Is Launching Its First Official Startup IncubatorAs if you needed another reason to move to Paris. Today, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg announced that the tech giant will be opening “Startup Garage” in Paris’s Station F, the world’s largest startup campus. Station F is a 366,000 square-foot campus designed to host a startup ecosystem under one roof. Set to open in April, the facility will host more than 3,000 desks that founders can rent for €195 (or about $208) per month. Startup Garage will have 80 desks inside the facility. Every six months, the social media giant will work directly with 10 to 15 data-driven startups and allow the founders to learn from Facebook engineers. [ Fortune ] Ten years ago, Netflix launched streaming video and changed the way we watch everythingWould you believe that Netflix is almost 20 years old? Though it launched in 1998, it was only in 2007 that Netflix came up with the idea that would change the way we watch everything. With its DVD-by-mail rental business faltering due to competition from Apple, Walmart, and Amazon (paywall) in digital downloads, Netflix launched the then-revolutionary concept of delivering movies directly to customers’ computers, eliminating the wait time and hassle of receiving and returning discs via post. [ QZ ] In an attempt to regain its reputation after months of controversy and layoffs, blood-testing startup Theranos is appointing an advisory board of pharmaceutical and medical device experts to work alongside its scientific advisors. [ Fast Company ] Jessica Livingston of YC Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase,
AngelList ] |