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Steve Jurvetson on why he couldn’t join the board of secretive Zoox

Today at our TC Disrupt event in San Francisco, we had the chance to catch up with investor Steve Jurvetson about a wide number of things that are sweeping across the startup landscape (and might fundamentally change it), from ICOs to Softbank’s giant Vision Fund to AI to Elon Musk’s new Boring Company. Jurvetson had plenty of interesting insights about all, unsurprisingly. He somewhat famously graduated from Stanford in 2.5 years, at the top of his class, and has led early investments in many pioneering companies, from Hotmail to SpaceX and Tesla. (He sits on the boards of the last two, alongside Musk.) [ Tech Crunch ]

A new female-led private equity firm focusing on beauty, health and lifestyle has launched a £65m fund

Private equity may be one of the worst financial services sectors for promoting gender diversity, but today has seen the launch of the first female-founded specialist firm. Vaultier7, led by dealmakers Montse Suarez and Anna Sweeting, will focus on the beauty and personal care, health and wellness and lifestyle sectors.

They have already launched a £65m fund, City A.M. understands, backed by the wealthy Puig family who own the eponymous Spanish fashion and fragrance powerhouse. It aims to make growth investments in the UK and Europe.

Developing a Tough, Time-Consuming Technology? This Investor Is Interested

Katie Rae, the president and managing partner, says the fund will provide its startups with long-term capital, lab equipment, expert lectures, and a network of advisors. She talked to MIT Technology Review about the challenges of investing in capital- and time-intensive technologies, why the Engine represents a unique venture capital model, and how she believes the strategy will pay off for investors. [ MIT Technology Review ]

Patreon, one of the most interesting media startups of the last few years, has raised $60 million

Patreon, which helps fans fund their favorite podcasters, video makers and other content creators, is getting new funding itself. The four-year-old startup has raised $60 million from a group led by Thrive Capital, which is re-joined by other previous backers including Index, CRV and Freestyle Capital. DFJ Growth is the new money in this round. Patreon won’t release a valuation but says the $450 million TechCrunch floated last week is incorrect. My semi-educated hunch is that it’s not far off — perhaps it’s 10 percent too high. [ Recode ]

Shasta Ventures debuts fund focused on AR/VR

Shasta Ventures, known for its early investments in companies like Nest, is debuting a new investment initiative dubbed the Shasta Camera Fund. Principal Jacob Mullins unveiled the fund on Monday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.

Through the new fund, the firm is going after the recent boom in apps and tools focused on photos, videos, and augmented reality. Major social media companies like Snap and Facebook have already declared the camera as the next frontier, and with tools like Apple's ARKit and Google's ARCore, among other tools, it's easier than ever for entrepreneurs to build these new media experiences. [ Axios ]

Fixing the ‘Brain Damage’ Caused by the I.P.O. Process

Eric Ries, an entrepreneur in San Francisco, is leading efforts to start a new Long-Term Stock Exchange, which has backing from venture-capital investors like Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman and Steve Case. [ NY Times ]

Ethereum will match Visa in scale in a ‘couple of years’ says founder

The mind behind Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, is matter-of-fact about the crypto. In short, he believes what interviewer Naval Ravikant called “brain virus” is the true future of security and economics and, with the right incentives, Ethereum can replace things like credit card networks and even gaming servers. Buterin separates the world into two kinds of people. [ Tech Crunch ]

Silicon Valley engineers are 'entitled,' so this tech CEO is looking elsewhere

The CEO of a cloud start-up says Silicon Valley workers feel 'entitled,' looks elsewhere for talent.
Egnyte CEO Vineet Jain says coming expansion will be focused outside the company's home base in Mountain View, California, which is also home to Alphabet, one of its early investors.
Company is hiring in half-dozen location as it mulls a 2019 IPO, Jain told CNBC.

The CEO and co-founder of a file sharing start-up based in Alphabet's hometown says his company is expanding only in other locations because Silicon Valley workers have "a sense of entitlement" and competing to hire them is a near-impossible task. [ CNBC ]

The International Unicorn Club: 107 Private Companies Outside The US Valued At $1B+

Today’s global unicorn club is comprised of 215 private companies that are each valued at $1B+. Collectively, this cohort of the world’s most valuable private enterprises is worth approximately $747B. The lion’s share of that value is held by companies that are located in the US. In fact, just over 50% of the world’s unicorn companies are located in the US, and US unicorns comprise 51% of the cumulative valuation of the global unicorn club. [ CBInsights ]