Why a veteran lawyer made the jump to seed investingRecently, Cowboy Ventures—a seed-stage VC founded in 2012 by Aileen Lee (a Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers veteran of nearly 13 years and the originator of the term “unicorn”)—announced its latest addition, a person that took a road less traveled to the venture industry and sticks out as a bit of an outlier in Cowboy’s management. Ted Wang, a name well known and respected in The Valley, became the firm’s second general partner and only male, or white, executive. 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. [ TC ] A New Robo-Adviser Lets You Build Portfolios That Shun Guns and Oil SharesStartup OpenInvest aims to build portfolios tailored to its customers’ values. For many people, passively managed index funds have a powerful appeal: Buy one fund and be done. The 3,500-company Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, for example, beats most funds in its category by owning essentially everything. But everything can also be a problem for those who want to put their money only into companies that are consistent with their values. [ Bloomberg ] Engineers at $4 billion Magic Leap are 'scrambling' ahead of a big board meeting next weekThe future of Magic Leap, a quickly expanding startup valued at $4.5 billion that's developing a futuristic pair of computer glasses, depends on releasing its still-in-development, secret product to the public. For years, Magic Leap has promised to release a set of smart glasses that overlays computer graphics on the real world, a technology usually referred to in Silicon Valley as "augmented reality." [ Business Insider ] Y Combinator now lets anyone recommend startupsAfter years of accepting tips from alumni, Y Combinator has decided to open up its recommendation network to everyone. The goal is to help increase the number of startups connected to YC by allowing professors, mentors, early customers and anyone else familiar with a team to submit recommendations to YC on their behalf. Kat Manalac, a partner at YC, explained that a lot of founders are afraid to apply to the program because they fear they are either too far along or not far along enough to be accepted. YC wants to help founders, who might be on the fence about applying, commit to trying. Manalac added that a number of teams accepted to YC credit mentors and investors with convincing them to apply. [ TC ] LA vs NYCErin Griffith On-Demand Cools Down: Funding To On-Demand Startups Fell 35% In 2016Deals to on-demand startups fell to a two-and-a-half year low in Q4’16, continuing the contraction in activity from the category’s 2015 peak. On-demand startups globally attracted just 55 deals in Q4’16, compared to 78 deals the prior quarter and 116 deals in the peak quarter of Q3’15. Funding dollars also fell by over 50% in Q4’16, to $1.7B from $3.7B in Q3’16. However, the category has managed to raise at least $1.5B every quarter since Q2’14. Before that pivotal quarter they never raised more than $500M. Feeling ‘Pressure All the Time’ on Europe’s Treadmill of Temporary WorkIn a typical week, Laura Hickey, 26, was spending three days working at a theater in Edinburgh under a contract with no guaranteed income. The rest of the week was devoted to sending out résumés and angling for interviews in a bid to nail an elusive permanent job. She worked at three companies, including a youth orchestra and an arts foundation, just in the past year.VC JOBS : |