Uber investor Pishevar takes another shot — this time legal — at BenchmarkUber investor Shervin Pishevar has filed a legal documents and also sent a letter to the board of the car-hailing company today, saying he had to “intervene” in the lawsuit brought by Benchmark against ousted CEO Travis Kalanick. Yes, more mess at Uber, which must come as a shock to one and all. You can read the legal docs he has filed below, which call for the litigation to be sent to arbitration, among other things. Pishevar has previously sent a letter asking for Benchmark to step down from Uber’s board and also offering to buy a big part of its stake. He alleged in the new missive that the Silicon Valley venture firm is plotting to take over the board, is messing with governance rules and is trying to push through its own CEO candidate, Meg Whitman. [ Recode ] SoftBank pours $4.4B into WeWorkWeWork just announced that it’s receiving a massive $4.4 billion investment from SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund. It’s been less than a month since WeWork announced $500 million in funding for a standalone WeWork China business, which SoftBank participated in. It’s also launching in Japan through a joint venture with SoftBank — so this funding deepens an already-strong relationship between the coworking company and the Japanese giant. [ Tech Crunch ] Facebook's most successful alum hopes to help ordinary investors make money on startups
Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of VC firm Social Capital, is setting himself up to become the Warren Buffett of tech investing. To that end, he has launched a new "blank-check" company in partnership with London-based VC firm Hedosophia, aptly named Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. Social Capital Hedosophia has filed paperwork for a $500 million IPO although it makes no products, has no customers, and owns nothing ... yet. It plans to raise the money first and then go out and buy stakes in private tech companies, ranging from minority stakes to controlling interests to full ownership. [ Business Insider ] First-time VC fundraisers on pace for record year For first-time VC fundraisers, 2017 has been a banner year. Through the first seven months of the year, the amount raised is set to outpace the high-water mark set in 2008—and it's already exceeded full-year totals for 2012 through 2014, according to data from the most recent PitchBook PE & VC Fundraising Report. WHAT ARE THE BIG QUESTIONS ENTREPRENEURS & VCS MUST ASK CORPORATE VCS, WHY CORPORATE VCS ARE NOT YOUR BEST LEAD FOR SERIES A & WHY THE “YOU HAVE TO NETWORK YOUR WAY TO US’ IS WRONG WITH ALLISON GOLDBERG, MANAGING DIRECTOR @ TIME WARNER INVESTMENTSAllison Goldberg is a Managing Director & Senior Vice President @ Time Warner Investments, focusing on investment opportunities that directly enhance Time Warner’s ability to meet specific strategic goals. Their portfolio consists of the likes of Mashable, Discord, Admeld (acq by Google) and Mic just to name a few. Allison also directly sits on the boards of Outpost Games, Yieldmo, Bustle and Mic. Prior to Time Warner, Allison cut her teeth in the finance industry with a stint at Morgan Stanley. [ 20 VC ]Baidu and China Life to launch $1 billion technology investment fundChina Life and Baidu will form a 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) private equity fund, targeting internet and other technology investments, China Life’s listed arm said on Thursday. The Baidu Fund Partnership will be capitalized by China Life through a special partnership, which will contribute up to 5.6 billion yuan, China Life said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange statement. Baidu, the Chinese language internet search provider, will contribute as much as 1.4 billion yuan. Wall Street alum Sallie Krawcheck just raised $32 million for her investing platform — here's what it's like to use itInvesting — when done right — is one of the best ways to make your money work for you, and it's critical for retiring comfortably. But the uncertainty and risk that comes with the markets is very often a major deterrent, especially for women, who invest at a much lower rate than men in the US. To combat this, former Wall Street executive Sallie Krawcheck launched Ellevest in 2016, a digital investing platform that puts female investors' money in low-cost ETFs based on a pick-and-choose set of goals, like starting a business, buying a home, having children, and retiring comfortably. [ Business Insider ] Mortgage technology provider Blend raised another $100 million led by GreylockSan Francisco-based Blend is simplifying the process of mortgage applications for both borrowers and lenders, but is looking to expand into other lending products. To do that the company has raised $100 million in new funding led by Greylock, with participation from a bunch of existing investors. Founded in 2012 by a group of Palantir veterans, Blend builds technology used by multiple big banks to help collect and evaluate information in their mortgage underwriting processes. [ Tech Crunch ] Mark Cuban is trying to fix social media's biggest problems by backing a company mixing bitcoin technology with messagingVCs Temper Interest As Apparel Startup Exits DisappointUber’s board continues to bicker over its CEO choice as it gathers tomorrow in a continued selection effortAmazon cuts Whole Food prices in clear signal of sweeping changes to come |