Upfront Ventures raising pair of funds targeted at $500 millionUpfront Ventures announced it is raising a sixth fund targeted at $380 million and a second opportunity fund targeted at $120 million, according to two separate regulatory
filings. The Santa Monica, California-based firm raised $280 million for its fifth fund in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters. Upfront is led by Mark Suster and Yves Sisteron and invests in such fields as SaaS, digital media, and food and agriculture, according to its website. No investor commitments are listed on the filings. [ PE Hub ] Why France Is Taking a Lesson in Culture From Silicon ValleyA new start-up incubator in Paris symbolizes France’s tech ambitions, but can the land of the 35-hour workweek overcome its cultural and regulatory barriers to surpass London and other tech hubs? [ NY Times ] The Muse acquires Brand Amper to “amp” up its insight into hiring companiesIt’s hard to know what’s happening inside a company. Those best-places-to-work lists are helpful, but what’s great for one person might not be so great for another. The Muse, a content-rich recruitment site whose growth depends on its ability to match job seekers and companies, knows well the challenge of getting the “full story.” Though it counts more than 500 companies as clients, and though it sends videographers into many of these companies’ offices in an attempt to capture their look and feel and fit, learning what these businesses are truly like — compared with the perception they project to the world — is challenging. [ Tech Crunch ] The NYSE Is ‘Basically A Museum’: Robinhood’s Tenev On The Road Ahead And The Startup’s Plan To Make MoneyRobinhood has seen a banner year in 2017, pulling in a $110 Series C that vaulted the company into the unicorn club of private companies valued at $1B or more. With so much runway and growing valuation, the company’s future is “less as an investing company and more as a provider of consumer-friendly services for every financial need,” said Robinhood co-founder Vladimir Tenev speaking with Fortune’s Jen Wieczner at the CB Insights Future of Fintech Conference. [ CB Insights ] Market Research Startups Attract Funding, But Investor Interest May Have Already PeakedUsing Crunchbase data, we analyzed global VC deals made into market-research-focused startups from 2014 through 2017 to date. We limited our results to companies that facilitated gathering survey data, automated tasks in the marketing research process, or helped marketers interpret market research data. [ Crunchbase ] "They don’t want you to be too much of a career girl... You have to be the party girl..." Women speak about Caldbeck, Teo, and Binary's party cultureThe Binary Capital story took another weird turn on Monday when sole remaining partner, Jonathan Teo, posted a note on Facebook. In the note, Teo reversed his stance on The Information’s original story and his partner’s predatory treatment of women… for a third time. What were once false allegations made against his pal who had "in the past occasionally dated or flirted with women he met in a professional capacity" were now shocking truths that had rocked him to the core. [ Pando Daily ] Steve Case: 'Third wave' of Internet will help Middle America businessSteve Case, who helped foment the Internet age as AOL's co-founder, has crisscrossed the country the last few years championing a new revolution: the third wave of the Internet. Just as the technology boom lifted the economies of Silicon Valley, New York and other coastal cities, its latest iteration will benefit the Midwest and other pockets of the U.S. as health care, energy, agriculture, education and other industries become ripe for disruption. [ USA Today ] There's A Fight Brewing Between The NYPD And Silicon Valley's PalantirA showdown over law enforcement information — and who controls it — is taking place between the New York Police Department and Palantir Technologies, the $20 billion Silicon Valley startup that for years has analyzed data for New York City's cops, BuzzFeed News has learned. California Today: Should a Tech Whiz Be in Charge?At 32, Sam Altman is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential voices. He presides over Y Combinator, the start-up incubator that has nurtured companies with an estimated combined value of more than $85 billion. Lately, he’s drawn attention for his ideas on fixing the world’s problems, such as the fallout from jobs being steamrollered by automation. “A lot of people in tech say they take the long view, but Sam seems to really mean it,” Farhad Manjoo, the New York Times technology columnist, said in an email. [ NY Times ] A leading Silicon Valley engineer explains why every tech worker needs a humanities educationIn 2005, the late writer David Foster Wallace delivered a now-famous commencement address. It starts with the story of the fish in water, who spend their lives not even knowing what water is. They are naively unaware of the ocean that permits their existence, and the currents that carry them. The most important education we can receive, Wallace goes on to explain, “isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.” He talks about finding appreciation for the richness of humanity and society. But it is the core concept of meta-cognition, of examining and editing what it is that we choose to contemplate, that has fixated me as someone who works in the tech industry. [ QZ ] As the beloved meditation startup pulls back on its marketing efforts, at least 13 staff positions are axed. At least 13 staffers (out of a total of 170) have been laid off by Headspace, the app-based mindfulness startup headquartered in Los Angeles. The layoffs came earlier this month amid a department reshuffling that has left employees feeling stressed out, sources tell Fast Company. The app, which offers users guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, has been considered one of the most successful companies in its space, with Forbesrecently estimating that Headspace was valued at more than $250 million. [ Fast Company ] YC - Female Founders Conference 2017 |