Zynga founder Mark Pincus is raising up to $700 million for an investment fundZynga founder Mark Pincus is raising up to $700 million for a new investment fund that will focus on publicly traded tech companies in need of strategic restructuring, according to a new report in Axios. It says his new firm is called Reinvent Capital and that Pincus is founding the outfit with hedge fund manager Michael Thompson, who has been steering his own New York-based firm, BHR Capital, for the last nine years. Reinvest’s plans, says Axios, involve investing in up to 15 internet, software and media companies, adding that the firm will be “size agnostic,” working with small, medium and large-cap companies. [ Tech Crunch ] US government v Silicon Valley: Oracle said to owe $400m to women and minoritiesThe US Department of Labor (DoL) has accused the tech firm Oracle of widespread discrimination against women and people of color, including more than $400m in lost wages and rampant exclusion of black and Hispanic people in hiring. A federal complaint filed Tuesday said that out of roughly 500 people hired into technical jobs over a four-year period, only five were Hispanic and only six were African American. The DoL has also alleged that more than 5,000 women have been underpaid, with disparities as high as 20%, and that more than 11,000 Asian employees have been underpaid, with gaps as high as 8%. [ The Guardian ] 7 Reasons Why You Should Jump On The Anti-VC Bandwagon
VCs give us their predictions for startups and tech in Southeast Asia in 2019The new year is well underway and, before January is out, we polled VCs in Southeast Asia to get their thoughts on what to expect in 2019. The number of VCs in the region has increased massively in recent years, in no small part due to forecasts of growth in the tech space as internet access continues to shoot up among Southeast Asia’s cumulative population of more than 600 million consumers. There are other factors, including economic growth and emerging middle classes, but with more than 3.8 million people becoming first-time internet users each month — thanks to smartphones — Southeast Asia’s ‘digital economy’ is tipped to more than triple to reach $240 billion by 2025. That leaves plenty of opportunity for tech and online businesses and, by extension, venture capitalists. [ Tech Crunch ] 6 Little-Known Startups Where Jeff Bezos Has Invested MillionsJeff Bezos is not only the world's richest man, he's also a very smart investor. That's especially true when he invests in startups. Over the past few years, he's put money into several new companies that turned out to be phenomenally successful, including Airbnb, Uber, General Assembly, MakerBot, and Lookout. Where is Bezos putting his money these days? Into a handful of companies you've probably never heard of. But chances are you will, especially now that they have the Amazon founder's money and smarts backing them. The personal finance site GOBankingRates has done the research and identified 15 companies Bezos has poured money into over the last decade. You can find the full list here. These are some of his most recent investments. [ Inc. ] JP Morgan Alums Launch 'Blockchain as a Service' on AWS Does the world need another private blockchain? A startup called Kadena thinks the answer is yes, releasing a new version of blockchain—a tamper proof ledger system run across multiple computers—for free on Amazon Web Services on Wednesday. The founders of Kadena, who helped lead JP Morgan’s once-buzzy blockchain group before striking out on their own in 2016, say their version of a blockchain, ScalableBFT, is superior to the alternatives offered by IBM and others. [ Fortune ] NYC VC and Angel 2019 Kickoff EventWe are kicking off the 2019 NYC Venture Conference Series with our first VC and Angel conference on Jan 24 2019! At this event we're going turn the tables! We will be having a representative from over a dozen local Angel Groups, Seed VCs, & Angel Funds give 1 minute fast pitches to the audience! E896 NURX Hans Gangeskar home delivery birth control, HIV prevention, HPV test/"Guess Fake Startup!"NURX Co-founder & CEO Hans Gangeskar makes healthcare accessible with home delivery of birth control, HIV prevention & now an HPV testing kit, connects customers to an integrated network of doctors & pharmacies for direct control // Join Jason for "Guess the Fake Startup!": which D2C company is too outrageous to exist? SoftBank Commits $396 Mn To Firstcry In Series E RoundAfter months of speculations, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has committed $395.7 Mn (INR 2,824 Cr) in a Series E round of Pune-based online baby products omnicommerce retailer Firstcry. [ INC42 ] VCs give us their predictions for startups and tech in Southeast Asia in 2019he new year is well underway and, before January is out, we polled VCs in Southeast Asia to get their thoughts on what to expect in 2019. The number of VCs in the region has increased massively in recent years, in no small part due to forecasts of growth in the tech space as internet access continues to shoot up among Southeast Asia’s cumulative population of more than 600 million consumers. [ Tech Crunch ] Foreign VC investment in the UK since the Brexit referendumBritish entrepreneurs have defied the political and economic tensions over the past year, as the UK saw a record number of new startups in 2018. The country registered more than 663,000 new businesses last year, according to the Centre for Entrepreneurs, a 5.7% increase over 2017—and a portion will inevitably, at some point, be looking to the venture capital industry for funding. [ Pitchbook ] Groww, an investment app for millennials in India, raises $6.2M Groww, a startup hoping to make saving and investment opportunities more widely available to young people in India, has closed a $6.2 million Series A to grow its business. Founded in 2017, the Bengaluru-based company was part of Y Combinator in the U.S. last year and it went on to raise a $1.6 million “pre-Series A” round in June of last year. Groww was started by four ex-Flipkart staffers — Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal — who realized how difficult investing in India is, particularly among young people. [ Tech Crunch ] |