Bill Gurley plans to step down from Uber’s board of directorsHours after Uber CEO Travis Kalanick gave in to investor pressure to resign, one of those investors has decided to step down from the board of directors. Benchmark Capital partner Bill Gurley is in talks to give up his board seat, Recode has confirmed. He will be replaced by his partner at the firm, Matt Cohler. Gurley, along with four other major shareholders in the ride-hail company, sent Kalanick a letter demanding his resignation earlier this week. Bloomberg first reported the news of Gurley’s departure. [ Re/Code ] [ Bloomberg ] How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups? – Jeff Bussgang and Michael SeibelJack Ma's Ant Financial Nearly Doubles Profits Amid Deal PushAnt Financial, the financial affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., almost doubled earnings in fiscal 2017 as it expanded its footprint in wealth management and overseas markets. The company controlled by Alibaba’s billionaire co-founder Jack Ma racked up an 86 percent jump in pretax profit to 5.56 billion yuan ($814 million) in the year ended March, according to Bloomberg’s calculations from an Alibaba filing. Ant Financial declined to comment in an email. [ Bloomberg ] Founder who started her $470 million business in a rigorous NYC tech accelerator explains how to get inWhat's the best way to get an application to stand out? According to ClassPass founder Payal Kadakia, it's all about your references. Kadakia joined Business Insider US editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell on Business Insider's podcast, "Success! How I Did It," and explained how she got into Tech Stars, a rigorous tech accelerator program in New York City. ClassPass is currently valued at about $470 million. [ Business Insider ] Bitcoin Startup Blockchain Takes $40 Million in New FundingBlockchain, the Luxembourg-based bitcoin currency service provider, has raised $40 million of fresh funding, led by Lakestar, representing one of the largest investment rounds in the financial technology sector since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. New investors in the company, which provides technology such as virtual bitcoin wallets and analytical tools for the digital currency’s underlying system, including Google’s GV, as well as new financing from existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sir Richard Branson. [ Bloomberg ] The Job of a CFO at a Scaling Company with Sarah Friar and Jason Child | The Scaleup Offsite 2017Snap Is Buying Mapping Startup Zenly for $200 Million Snap Inc. acquired Zenly, a French startup that makes a social map so people can see where their friends are hanging out, for $200 million in cash plus additional stock awards, according to a person familiar with the matter. Los Angeles-based Snap bought Zenly in late May, according to the person, and has already turned the product into a feature on its main Snapchat application that lets users see friends’ photo and video posts by location. [ Bloomberg ] To Grow Faster, Hit Pause — and Ask These Questions from Stripe’s COOStripe is growing at breakneck speed, and it has been for years. At the beginning of last year, it had 350 employees. Now, having freshly moved into Dropbox’s old digs South of Market, it’s at 750. But according to COO Claire Hughes Johnson, the biggest challenge the company faces isn’t bringing enough new people on board. It’s integrating them into a complex organism that can’t stop/won’t stop moving forward. Figuring this out (continuously) is her mandate, and there are few people in tech operating at her level. [ First Round ] JD.com invests $397M into luxury marketplace Farfetch as part of a new strategic partnershipJD.com, China’s second-largest e-commerce company after Alibaba, is pumping $397 million into Farfetch, a marketplace for luxury brands, as part of a new strategic partnership. JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu will take a seat on Farfetch’s board as part of the deal, which makes JD.com one of its largest shareholders. [ Tech Crunch ] How to bootstrap your startup’s early marketingWhen we started Sleeping Duck, we had a tiny amount of bootstrapped capital that we had raised from running some online retail businesses. When it came to solving that great first question that any startup faces – what problem are you solving? – we were on strong ground. People need a good night’s sleep and hate being pressure sold and ripped off in traditional bricks and mortar retailers. [ Startup Daily ] Sizing Up BuzzFeed: Could This Unicorn Ever Go Public?Samsara Raises $40M in Series C Growth FinancingThis is who’s running Uber now that CEO Travis Kalanick has resignedAltice Raises $1.9 Billion in Year's Second-Biggest U.S. IPOThis startup makes money from other people’s closetsSoftBank Invests $100 Million in Security Startup CybereasonFrom Singapore to China to IPOIris Capital closes its €250 million European investment fund IrisNextThe End of Car OwnershipA former Eventbrite Australia boss was just appointed to lead 500 Startups AustraliaUnicorn watch: Meet this year's 24 new billion-dollar startupsTantan, China’s top dating app, raises $70M for monetization push and overseas expansionWith her blog post about toxic bro-culture at Uber, Susan Fowler proved that one person can make a difference |