Benchmark has hired Sarah Tavel, its first woman partnerThe venture capital firms that back Silicon Valley’s major startups are still mostly white and mostly male. But today, Benchmark took a step toward gender diversity with the hire of Sarah Tavel as a general partner. That means the now six-person partnership went from 0 percent women to 16 percent women in one fell swoop. Tavel is no token female. Her resume spans Bessemer Venture Partners, Pinterest and Greylock Partners, and, according to Benchmark’s Bill Gurley, she “has shown a remarkable ability to spot new companies and markets.” [ Re/Code ] Apple just got its highest price target ever — and it values the company at more than $1 trillion (AAPL)Apple stock is up 2.42% at 152.57 as of 12:20 p.m. ET on Monday. Shares of the tech giant are rallying following an extremely bullish analyst report from investment bank Drexel Hamilton. Equity analyst Brian White sent out a note to clients that said that shares will reach $202, giving the company a valuation of $1.053 trillion in the next twelve months. That's the highest price target on Wall Street and implies a 32% potential upside for investors. The analyst previously had a price target of $185. [ Business Insider ] SoftBank Said to Near Closing Technology Fund With $95 Billion
SoftBank Group Corp. is close to announcing commitments of as much as $95 billion for its technology fund, people familiar with the matter said. The fundraising close will be announced as soon as next week, said the people, asking not to be identified as the information is private. A representative for Tokyo-based SoftBank declined to comment. [ Bloomberg ] Stripe has hired renowned security researcher Peiter ‘Mudge’ ZatkoStripe, the payments startup valued at $9 billion, has hired famed hacker and security expertPeiter “Mudge” Zatko as its new head of security, the company told Recode. Over the past decade, Zatko has worked at DARPA, the research arm of the Department of Defense, and also spent time at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group. [ Re/Code ] Deliveroo earns unicorn status with $275M Series EOn-demand food delivery service Deliveroo has announced a $275 million (£210M) Series E financing that is rumored to value the company at north of $1 billion. The round was co-led by Bridgepoint, DST Global and General Catalyst, with participation from Greenoaks Capital. Deliveroo has now raised roughly £332 million in funding, which includes a £62.8 million Series D round in November 2015 that valued the company at £375.7 million. [ PitchBook ] Two of the biggest questions hanging over Uber's legal fight with Google are 'likely' be decided this weekThis week could be pivotal in the case that has pitted two of Silicon Valley's largest tech companies against each other as a federal judge has warned that his decisions on two important matters to the case are "very likely" to be filed this week. Up in the air are two major decisions: whether Waymo will win a preliminary injunction to ban Uber from using its trade secrets and halting parts of its research, and Uber's argument that the case should not be heard in open courts in the first place. [ Business Insider ] IS THE GIG ECONOMY WORKING?Not long ago, I moved apartments, and beneath the weight of work and lethargy a number of small, nagging tasks remained undone. Some art work had to be hung from wall moldings, using wire. In the bedroom, a round mirror needed mounting beside the door. Just about anything that called for careful measuring or stud-hammering I had failed to get around to—which was why my office walls were bare, no pots yet dangled from the dangly-pot thing in the kitchen, and my bedside shelf was still a doorstop. There are surely reasons that some of us resist being wholly settled, but when the ballast of incompletion grew too much for me I logged on to TaskRabbit to finish what I had failed to start. [ NewYorker ] E730: LAUNCH Incubator PT1: Transported: Real Estate VR & FitBod: Machine learning strength-training E730: LAUNCH Incubator pitches & insights PT2: Ready, Keepster, Genius Link & PoppinsCabify nets $100M to take on Uber in Latin America, reportedly raising $400M moreOne more regional on-demand transport startup is raising a big round of funding to fortify itself for the next phase of competition against the likes of Uber and incumbent taxi firms. Cabify, the ride-sharing startup that operates in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, has raised just under $100 million in new funding ($99,999,994 to be exact), according to a Form D SEC filing for Maxi Mobility, as the company is officially called. The money is reportedly part of a total of $500 million that the company hopes to raise in a Series D round. [ Tech Crunch ] The Kushner Project Touted in China Is in Trouble at Home
When Jared Kushner’s sister took the stage in two Chinese ballrooms over the weekend to urge investors to fund a New Jersey development through a controversial visa program, she mentioned her brother’s role in the White House and displayed a photo of President Donald Trump. It was a not-so-subtle signal that hers is a family company with connections. How Dell Is Using Machine Learning to Help Female EntrepreneursSay hello to Hello Alice. On Tuesday, the Dell and the Circular Board launched Hello Alice, a new machine-learning platform designed specifically for female entrepreneurs. The platform will connect users with information, mentors, referrals, and other resources. According to Dell, Alice will get "smarter" as more entrepreneurs join and use the service, ultimately getting to the point where it can predict users' needs and provide hyper-targeted content based on factors like the startup's stage, location, industry, and revenue. [ Fortune ] Three questions for Snap as it reports earnings this week for the first timeFacebook has spent the past nine months trying to kill off Snapchat — and at first glance back in February, it looked like the social network’s efforts to copy Snapchat’s best features may have significantly slowed the startup’s rapid growth. Snapchat, meanwhile, chalked up the slowdown to a technical issue with Android users that has since been fixed. We’ll soon know if that was the case: Snap, which just went public in early March, will report earnings for the first time on Wednesday, and that means we’ll get an update on Snapchat’s user growth, as well as its business growth over the first three months of 2017. [ Re/Code ] 17Capital closes latest fund on €1.2bn Micro-VC — Smaller is better, but the math is still really hardIn 2012, the Kauffman Foundation released a report titled “We have met the enemy and he is us”. The report highlighted the lack of performance within venture capital and placed culpability on the investors (LP’s) of venture capital funds. One of the key findings in the study was compelling data that venture funds <$250MM performed significantly better than venture funds >$250MM — Based on the report, 83% of large funds ($250MM+) exhibited a return multiple of less than 1.5X, while only 54% of sub-$250MM came in at a multiple of 1.5X or lower (clearly a huge delta, although perhaps a bit of “we suck less”). [ Medium ] Rothenberg Ventures is going back to the same old Rothenberg VenturesMike Rothenberg, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who took a reputational nose dive last year after several allegations came out against the way he was running his firm, is feeling bolder lately. One big clue, among others: After renaming his firm Frontier Tech Ventures last year, he plans to revert to the eponymous brand he originally used, Rothenberg Ventures. [ Tech Crunch ] City of Melbourne identifying Smart Cities opportunities with StartupbootcampInc.'s 12th annual 30 Under 30 list features the young founders taking on some of the world's biggest challenges. Here, meet Shippo. Like many entrepreneurs, Laura Behrens Wu started a business to solve a problem she herself faced--just not right away. In 2013, when Wu--a German graduate student and tech worker living in San Francisco--launched her online store, selling sustainable handbags, the whole process was relatively seamless. She used Shopify to process her sales and used Stripe for processing payments. The only problem was, her trips to the post office were becoming increasingly frequent and, as such, a major time suck. [ INC ] Stanford Seminar: Changing the World through Innovative Advising and InvestingSnapchat has almost as many teens as Facebook, despite being an eighth of its sizeSnapchat’s narrative has consistently been one of quality over quantity. Unlike Facebook, it isn’t aiming to sign up the whole world, but rather those in developed nations with expensive smartphones. Instead of focusing on huge subscriber numbers, Snapchat parent Snap touts its fervent user base. Its daily active users visit the app more than 18 times each day, according to its S-1 filing. Most importantly to a company that relies on ads for revenue, Snapchat bills itself as an app for the young — catnip for advertisers trying to reach hard-to-find millennials. [ Re/Code ] |