Coursera has ousted several senior executives along with rank-and-file staffersCoursera, the online education company that has raised more than $200 million in venture capital, has quietly ousted several top-level executives, including the chief marketing and financial officers, as well as letting go a number of staffers, according to a source. A much-buzzed-about online education platform, Coursera only five months ago announced it had received over $60 million in new investments and that 26 million people worldwide had registered for courses. Led by new CEO Jeff Maggioncalda, the company is reportedly valued at around $800 million and backers have included top Silicon Valley venture firms like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and NEA. [ Recode ] Spotify, Deliveroo & beyond: An interactive map of top startups across EuropeAlmost everyone knows Spotify and Deliveroo, two of Europe's most valuable private companies. But what about the rest of the continent? We've combed through the PitchBook Platform to come up with the most valuable venture-backed company in dozens of countries in Europe and turned the results into an interactive graphic. The sexism and funding gap facing women entrepreneurs is well-documented. Women receive a paltry 3% of all venture-capital funding, and the numbers are getting worse. As Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and cofounder of Ellevest, the investment platform for women, points out that investors “are doling out their money to VC firms that are 96% male on average, and 98% of their money goes to white and Asian men, so it’s their responsibility to change things.” Speaking with Krawcheck at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, Elizabeth Gore agrees. “The ecosystem needs to change,” says Gore, who serves as board chairman of Alice, a machine-learning tool for entrepreneurs. “From banks to seed funders to series C, they need make a commitment to diversity.” [ Fast Company ] 2017's a record year for Silicon Valley cash going into UK tech startupsIt's already a record year when it comes to the amount of cash being invested in the UK's technology startups from Silicon Valley. More than $1bn has been raised so far in 2017, double the amount raised in both the two years prior. And UK startups have raised raised more venture capital cash from the west coast than France, Germany and Ireland combined, according to figures from London and Partners, the mayor's promotional arm, and Pitchbook. [ City AM ] Elon Musk gave a glimpse of his tunnel under Los Angeles
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave the public a glimpse of his tunnel under Los Angeles this weekend. Musk posted a photo on Saturday showing the tunnel dug by the Boring Company, the serial entrepreneur's latest venture. Musk's ultimate goal for the city of LA is to build a network of tunnels that can transport cars and help alleviate traffic in the most-congested US city. [ Business Insider ] Verily co-founder jumps to health care venture firmVikram Bajaj, the former co-founder of Google life sciences startup Verily and chief scientific officer of cancer biotech company Grail, has joined Foresite Capital as a managing director. Foresite is a venture capital and private equity firm that invests in health care companies. Looking ahead: Bajaj will help identify companies that personalize medicine and treatment based on people's individual genetic code. Jim Tananbaum, Foresite's CEO, told Axios that hiring Bajaj and others is about expanding the scope of investable companies. "The world is going to favor the superior product, clinically, and the product that reduces costs to the system," Tananbaum said. [ Axios ] Small startup shows us the wrong way to incentivize programmersA small Los Angeles-based company, Bee Technologies, recently made a stir on Reddit by asking potential unpaid interns to complete a fairly complex software product before they were “hired.” The resulting conversation is interesting simply because it shows where “passion” for a job stops and “ridiculousness” starts. The exchange began innocuously enough. A programmer, Sina Astani, applied to the unpaid internship, fully willing to take a quick salary hit to try something new. Bee’s response was this: Thank you for applying for the Back End Software Development Intern position. Before we we get you in for an interview, you will need to pass this development test: Project Guideline: Here at Bee we are content heavy, so this project is designed to test how well you can manage content. Here, the front-end would like to send a JSON encoded API request to your server in order to upload a photo to the site. It is on you to create an endpoint that can handle this upload, then find a way to view all the photos that have been uploaded to the site in an efficient manner. [ TechCrunch ] The Origins Of Silicon Valley's Office PlayGround The relaxed, colourful work environments of Silicon Valley have come to define the creative atmosphere of the internet age. Casual dress, flexible working hours and quirky job titles at internet giants such as Google and Facebook suggest a laid-back work culture. But that belies a high intensity work environment where pressure for improvement is often self-imposed. These companies focus on empowering employees to bring their best efforts and thinking to work, free from bureaucracy and heavy-handed management. But where did this informal culture obsessed with technological innovation originate? [ BBC ] Important Changes In Revenue And Profitability Definitions For SaaS CompaniesStarting in January, public software companies will report their financials using ASC 606. Normally, accounting changes are not that interesting, but ASC 606 will change several of the key attributes and benchmarks SaaS startups use. The two most important changes are changes to revenue and profitability. Today, all software revenue is recognized ratably over the contract period. If a business finds a 12 month contract for $12,000, the company record $1000 of revenue for each month. Under ASC 606, hosted revenue recognition doesn’t change. [ TOMASZ TUNGUZ ] ICOs Race Ahead As Seed Capital FaltersTwo trends are combining to create an interesting market moment: As seed-stage capital in the United States slips, ICOs are forging ahead. The dynamic is notable as it shows that as some investors are pulling back from super early-stage investments, amateur investors are piling into new funding mechanisms for nascent projects. [ CrunchBase News ] $10 billion Australian software giant Atlassian is invading Silicon Valley to fortify its position against MicrosoftRothenberg Ventures founder Mike Rothenberg ordered to pay former CFO $166K in damagesBlueChilli’s Alan Jones joins KPMG’s High Growth Ventures division as Entrepreneur in ResidenceSXSW ACCELERATOR PITCH EVENT REPORT |