VCs are failing diverse founders; Elizabeth Warren wants to step inElizabeth Warren, who earlier this year confirmed her intent to run for president in 2020, has an ambitious plan to advance entrepreneurs of color. In a series of tweets published this morning, the Massachusetts senator proposed a $7 billion Small Business Equity Fund to provide grants to Black, Latinx, Native American and other minority entrepreneurs, if she’s elected president. The initiative will be covered by her “Ultra-Millionaire Tax,” a two-cent tax on every dollar of wealth above $50 million the presidential hopeful first outlined in January. [ Tech Crunch ] The electric scooter wars won’t endOn the heels of unveiling its pink-wheeled e-bikes for the San Francisco Bay Area, Lyft is doing the same for its electric scooters in Denver, Colo. Lyft says these scooters are designed to be more durable, and feature a more powerful battery and a hand brake. Upon first look, however, these scooters don’t appear particularly sturdier or more durable than Lyft’s first batch of scooters. But Lyft says these scooters don’t fold, they’re heavier, more stable and are made with aviation-grade aluminum. The scooters were built in partnership with Segway Ninebot, which unveiled the Model Max back in January. [ Tech Crunch] [INSIDE AI] Startup CompetitionColorado’s Venture Capital Scene Scales New PeaksAn awaited flood of GP stakes fundraising is beginning to take shape. The funds currently in the market will eventually amass more capital for the strategy than what was raised across the entire past decade, according to a recent PitchBook analyst note. The majority of those raises will be housed in three of the largest players in the market: Blackstone (aiming for $6 billion), Dyal Capital Partners (expecting to close on $7 billion) and Goldman Sachs (seeking $4 billion). [ Pitchbook ] German real estate investment platform Exporo raises €43 million to expand to neighbouring countriesExporo is Hamburg-based real estate crowdfunding platform that allows anyone to invest in real estate projects that were previously only accessible to institutional or professional investors, starting with as little as €500. Founded in 2014, Exporo is now planning to expand into international markets, and has raised a €43 million round in order to do so. [ EU.Startups ] 13 Aspects Of Business Every Startup Founder Should Focus On -- Before They LaunchGetting ready to open the doors to your new business? Before you get started, you may want to spend some time evaluating what is important to you and your company. There are a million details that need to be attended to as a new business owner, and setting yourself up for success means taking a thoughtful approach to each one. [ Forbes ] Elizabeth Warren isn’t Hillary ClintonMy old American Prospect editor Mark Schmitt had a maxim I always liked: “It’s not what you say about the issues; it’s what the issues say about you.” Mark’s line came to mind while I was interviewing Elizabeth Warren (you can listen to our conversation on my podcast, or read it here). I’ve seen a lot of nervous Democrats compareWarren to Hillary Clinton. After all, Clinton had plans too. Clinton was the most prepared candidate on the stage, too. And look how that ended. [ VOX ] BlackThorn bags $76M to push targeted treatments for brain disordersBlackThorn Therapeutics raised $76 million to push at least one of its targeted treatments for neurobehavioral disorders into phase 2 trials and to keep working on the machine learning-based technology that underlies its clinical pipeline. [ fiercebiotech ] Beyond the unicorn summerOn the morning of May 10, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi took a proffered gavel and, surrounded by a bevy of longtime employees, drivers and more, officially rang in the most anticipated initial public offering of 2019. Uber, the poster child of unicorns, was finally trading publicly. [ Pitchbook] Facebook’s First Indian Investment, 4-Year-Old Startup MeeshoFacebook, one of the social media giants battling regulation and privacy issues, has just made its first investment within India: Meesho, which helps people resell goods from home to make money. This could be part of Facebook’s broader push to get into e-commerce. As the Wall Street Journal reported last month, Facebook was in a series of talks with financial firms and online merchants to help support its blockchain-based payments network. [ Crunchbase ] PE shop gears up for fight to take Red Robin privateVintage Capital Management is eyeing some bottomless fries. And the private equity investor is apparently willing to go nuclear to get its hands on them. Last Week In Venture: Fish Cameras, Misfit Veggie Boxes, And Playing Millennial ThoreauHello and welcome back to Last Week In Venture, the weekly rundown of startup funding deals which may have flown under your radar. But first, some highlights from the Crunchbase News crew. We covered the buzz around bee-based startups, charted trends in Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report, revisited the podcasting sector, analyzed this year’s crop of unicorns, documented Salesforce’s latest major M&A deal, and covered the IPOs of Crowdstrike and Fiverr. [ Crunchbase ] Time to finance Asia's 3D printing revolutionImagine walking into a shop, having your body scanned and walking out a few hours later with a complete new outfit -- courtesy of a three-dimensional printer. It is by no means a fanciful notion. In the fashion industry, 3D printing was once the domain of high-end designers. Today it has moved beyond accessories to clothing, advancing from haute couture runways in Paris and Milan to online sales, albeit with a hefty price tag. [ asia.nikkei ] [INSIDE AI] David StromJames Cham on Venture Capital, Risk Taking, and the Future Impacts of AI - #12
James Cham is a partner at Bloomberg Beta, a venture capital firm focused on the future of work. James invests in companies applying machine intelligence to businesses and society. Prior to Bloomberg Beta, James was a Principal at Trinity Ventures and a VP at Bessemer Venture Partners. He was educated in computer science at Harvard and at the MIT Sloan School of Business. How to Get the Most from Your Board
If you've watched parts 1 and 2 of this 3-part series, you decided that venture capital is the best source of funding for your startup and you've successfully negotiated a term sheet and put money in your bank account. Congratulations! Now it's time to get the most of your venture investor (who will likely take a board set) and the rest of your board over the life of your company. (Sobering and perhaps terrifying statistic: the relationship you build with your venture investor is now on average longer than the length of a typical marriage in the United States.) Getting Funded - A View from VCs Investing in the Space - Panel Discussion - Crypto Compare SummitSVK Crypto's Co-Founder Shane Kehoe was invited to speak on a panel ' Getting Funded - A View from VCs Investing in the Space' at the Crypto Compare Summit in London. Panelists: Shane Kehoe, co-founder, SVK Crypto How to Raise Money from a Venture Investor
So you've decided raising venture capital is the best fundraising strategy for your startup. Now what? In this second of a 3-part series, a16z Managing Partner Scott Kupor shares actionable fundraising advice based on his experience of seeing thousands of startup pitches and working on all of a16z's investments. How to Understand and Choose a Venture Investor
Incentives matter. So understanding the incentives of venture capitalists will help you decide if raising money from a venture investor makes sense for your business. In this first of a 3-part series, a16z Managing Partner Scott Kupor talks with Frank Chen about how venture capital works: how the money flows, what Limited Partners (the organizations that invest in venture capitalists) are looking for, what differentiates the top investors, and what all of this means for an entrepreneur raising money. Corporate Venture Capital PanelFeaturing Leslie Bottorff, GE Ventures; Jonathan Drillings, Comcast Ventures; Chris Langford, Lowe's; Greg Lok, Konica Minolta; Will Morrow, HCA; Moderated by Geri Stengel, Forbes |