Another Social Capital Partner Departs Venture Capital FirmAnother partner is leaving Social Capital, marking the latest in a series of defections from the young venture firm known for its early bets on Yammer Inc. and Slack Technologies Inc. Arjun Sethi will depart the company in a year’s time, said Social Capital spokeswoman Ashley Mayer. Sethi will retain his board seats for that period with companies including Carta, Relativity Space, Cover and CryptoMove while he raises his own fund. Sethi, who joined in 2016, was not immediately available for comment. [ Bloomberg ] Our Investment In KustomerWe’re excited to announce our partnership with and investment in Kustomer. Kustomer is a New York City-based company building the next-generation of customer support platform. In my first role at Google, I provided account management and customer support to internet publishers. [ Tomasz Tunguz ] A reality dating show contestant says he's a VC. If that's true, he's the most secretive VC in the worldMuch to my excitement (and the excitement of certain other PitchBook writers who won't admit they're excited), one of the contestants on this season of "The Bachelorette" is a venture capitalist. Or maybe he's in private equity. But he's definitely an investor in the private markets. I think. Probably. Maybe. [ Pitchbook ] Yen Bond Investors Worry About a Future SoftBank Without Masayoshi SonMasayoshi Son is fond of talking about his 300-year vision for SoftBank Group Corp. but some Japanese bond investors are already pondering an earlier event -- what will the technology giant be like without its founder? [ Bloomberg ] 11 World Cup stars hoping to score with VC investmentsThe Portuguese phenomenon has been heralded as one of the greatest players of his generation. However, his investing career got off to a somewhat less-than-stellar start. Ronaldo backed Mobitto, a mobile marketing startup from his home country, in 2012. Despite this, the company seems to have gone out of business less than two years later. [ Pitchbook ] India Probes Sequoia's Role in Alleged Money LaunderingIndia is probing whether Sequoia Capital had any role in an alleged money laundering case involving a former minister’s son, according to people with knowledge of the matter. [ Bloomberg ] WeWork’s $20 Billion Dream: The Lavishly Funded Startup That Could Disrupt Commercial Real EstateWith over $4B in funding, WeWork is expanding aggressively at home and abroad and pursuing diverse investments that have raised eyebrows. But its real-estate-as-a-service offering and trove of data on optimal office design could make the company's value prop far more than a marketing ploy. [ CB Insights ] Why We’re Growing the First Round Team in New YorkOver the last year, we’ve double downed on our efforts to work with founders and startups in New York. We spun up the Product Co-op, launched the Product Program, and held our first NY Founder Summit. Last week alone we hosted nine events in our office, ranging from an intimate CEO discussion about coaching to a 75-person breakfast for women in tech sales and marketing. We continue to experiment and iterate to figure out what we can do to contribute in a meaningful way to this community. [ Medium ] As Thai Startups Rise, 500 TukTuks Targets $20 Million For Second Fund Asia is one of the most important startup and technology markets in the world. The leader in the region is China with its ruthlessly competitive ride-sharing market, a surging venture investment ecosystem shaped by corporate giants and the governmentalike, and a surprisingly large crop of still-private companies valued at billions of dollars. [ Crunchbase] Trump Throws a Wrench Into Qualcomm's NXP DealFor a brief moment in the depths of the European night, it looked like NXP Semiconductors NV's stint as a political bargaining chip was finally over. It could only dream. Chinese regulators were set to approve the Dutch chipmaker's $43 billion takeover by Qualcomm Inc., according to South China Morning Post. NXP jumped as much as 12 percent in after-hours trading, peaking just $2 short of the $127.50 offer price.[ Bloomberg ] Women in NYC Tech: Madeline Fedorova of Anxiety RelieverAre you a woman in NYC Tech and interested in participating in this series? Make sure to read the whole article… Much has been said and written about the lack of women in the tech sector, be it as investors (or associates), founders, or in management positions at major companies. Is the problem the old boys network – or that success in technology is seen as a young man’s game? In this series, we speak with some of the top women in tech in New York as they discuss the challenges they face, the perceptions that need to be changed and the work that’s being done – or not – to help to promote women in tech. [ Alley Watch ] Bird is the fastest startup ever to reach a $1 billion valuationElectric scooter startup Bird is the fastest company to reach a valuation of $1 billion. Bird, one of many scooter startups currently sweeping the US, was last valued at $400 million after closing $100 million in series B funding in early March. In late May, Bird was reported to be raising $150 million in series C funding led by Sequoia Capital, at a $1 billion valuation. [ QZ ] Founder of 'revolutionary' US blood-testing startup once valued at $9bn charged with fraudThe chiefs of a medical startup company once worth billions of dollars have been charged with fraud in the US. Theranos was established by Elizabeth Holmes in 2003 when she was just a 19-year-old Stanford drop out. Within a year it had won $6m (£4.5m) backing from investors attracted by Ms Holmes’s desire to disrupt the industry monopoly over blood tests – and she was toasted as a rising star of Silicon Valley. [ Independent ] YC alum Modern Health, a startup focused on emotional wellbeing, gets $2.26M seed fundingE829 All AskJason! Leveling up, data dilemmas, Masayoshi Son, investing, valuations, pizza, patience All #AskJason! Leveling up teams, data collection dilemmas, Masayoshi Son $100b, getting into investing in SV & beyond, valuations, pizza, China, unemployment, startup patience & more Matt Harbaugh, Mike Green team up to form new venture fundFord Unit Teams With Startup Developing ‘Waze’ for Self-Driving CarsAdobe could be the next $10 billion softwareMarketing startup Influential raises $12M from WME and othersUK report warns DeepMind Health could gain ‘excessive monopoly power’Union wins right to challenge Deliveroo on human rights groundsWith A Part Of His Team Working Remotely, This Founder's Startup Is Online 24/7Mubadala to Launch $400M European Tech Venture Capital FundMy dad's favorite startupsApple poaches top Waymo engineer to catch up in the self-driving car raceTFO Synapse Venture Fund raises $18 mln toward venture-capital fundSilicon Valley Bank CEO Says He’s Bullish on TechnologyNet-a-Porter founder launches venture capital firmMORE BLACK WOMEN FOUNDERS ARE RAISING $1 MILLION IN VENTURE CAPITAL: REPORTBlack women-led startups receive huge venture capital influx, but ‘long way to go’You're twice as likely to found a successful startup when you're 40 than when you're 25Hipcamp Raises $9.5 Million for Campsite Booking: Travel Startup Funding This WeekMobile phone explosion kills Malaysian venture capital firm's CEOHow I Navigate Silicon Valley as a Female EntrepreneurCogX 2018 - Investing in AI – Seed to Series CCapital Ideas TV, Episode 48: CEOs of Lexagene, Village Farms, Generation Mining & First CobaltLessons Learned from Enterprise Leaders on Growing and Evolving $1M to $100M ARRThe Basics of Funding by Tan Soon LiangVideo from Startup Funding 2.0 event at DocuSign |