Hampton Creek CEO Fires Top Execs After Fundraising Struggles
Hampton Creek Inc. has struggled to line up funding, and its management is in turmoil. The venture-backed vegan food company has brought in a fraction of the funding it’s been trying to raise for the better part of a year, a slowdown from the rapid pace at which it was able to lure cash from investors in its early years as a startup. [ Bloomberg ] Favorite to be France’s next president is a big Silicon Valley fanFrench voters will return to the ballot box this Sunday to choose a new president in a second round of voting that will pit far-right Marine Le Pen against centrist Emmanuel Macron. Polls have shown Macron with a pretty steady 60 percent lead over Le Pen since the first round of voting made them the two finalists. While the campaign has been heated, and will likely remain so this week, Macron seems like a good bet to win. [ Venture Beat ] At Facebook, women coders are judged by a harsher standard: ReportWomen engineers at the social networking company say their code faces stricter standards than that of their male counterparts, according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal. The report cites an analysis of five years worth of data by a female Facebook employee who discovered that code written by women was rejected 35% more than code written by men. [ Fast Company ] Etsy has ousted its CEO and is laying off 8 percent of its staffEtsy announced a major corporate shake-up on Tuesday, saying it was changing its CEO and slashing 8 percent of its staff in a cost-cutting move. The struggling online crafts marketplace is replacing longtime CEO Chad Dickerson with Josh Silverman, an Etsy board member who was previously CEO of Skype and eBay’s Shopping.com. The company is also laying off 80 employees. [ Re/Code ] Why these two women started their own venture capital firmIn meeting Maia Heymann and Nilanjana Bhowmik I’ve done it. I think I now have met nearly all the women in venture capital who are doing major technology deals in Boston. I already know the other key players: Maria Cirino, cofounder of .406 Ventures, and Rudina Seseri, a founder of Glasswing Ventures. Now there are other women in town working at VC firms. Some are doing life-sciences investments, like Jean George at Lightstone Ventures and Abby Celniker at Third Rock Ventures; others are in senior roles but not focused on deal-making. [ Boston Globe ] How to Build a Product IV - Jan KoumDocker replaces CEO Ben Golub with former Concur cofounder and CEO Steve SinghDocker, the high-flying startup behind an open-source platform that helps developers build and ship distributed applications, has announced that CEO Ben Golub is stepping aside and will be replaced by Concur cofounder and CEO Steve Singh. Golub, who has served as CEO of Docker since 2013, will remain as a director on Docker’s board, while Singh will continue to serve as chairman of the board. [ Venture Beat ] Airbnb acquired its React Native partner Deco Software, Deco IDE goes open source Airbnb — the peer-to-peer platform where people rent accommodation and now do other travel-related business — has made an acquisition to expand its platform and how it works with developers to build services on it. It has acquired Deco Software, which had developed an integrated development environment (IDE) to build React Native apps, specifically with the aim of developers working more closely with designers on building native mobile apps for iOS and Android more easily. [ Tech Crunch ] The nation's biggest real estate companies are trusting two men in Venice to find them the next Airbnb or WeWorkTwo real estate software start-ups were neck-and-neck until one landed an investment and partnership deal with Blackstone Group. The firms merged last year, but the one with Blackstone’s backing got to keep its name and chief executive. [ LA Times ] Moderne Ventures raises $33 millionModerne Ventures, one of Chicago's only women-run venture capital firms, closed its first fund at $33 million. The fund, launched by Constance Freedman, invests in real estate, finance, insurance and home services markets. Freedmanpreviously ran a venture fund and accelerator for the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors. [ CNBC ] zipMoney partners with Shopify to roll out buy now, pay later solution to global merchantsASX-listed Sydney fintech zipMoney has announced a strategic partnership with global ecommerce tool Shopify, which will see the startup’s digital wallet solution rolled out to Shopify’s network of merchants. zipMoney had been working with Shopify prior to the partnership, integrating its ‘zipPay’ digital wallet into hundreds of Australian Shopify-powered stores to give shoppers the option to buy now, pay later at the online checkout. [ Startup Daily ] In Response To President Donald Trump, Silicon Valley Creates 'Tech PledgeA small working group of entrepreneurs with deep Silicon Valley roots is about to ask every major tech company a simple question: Are you with us? "The Tech Pledge," as it's called now, is a list of core values that the group hopes will elicit a 'Yes' response from the biggest names in tech. On Tuesday afternoon, a draft version of the pledge was posted to a new website, thetechpledge.com, inviting feedback as well as which companies should be approached to sign on. [ Forbes ] How HelloFresh, Blue Apron and Martha & Marley Spoon try to stand out in a crowded meal-kit marketToday it may not be a surprise to see your inbox, Google search and Facebook News Feed filled with ads from meal-kit services with messages like, “Don’t miss out on next week’s recipes” or “Get up to 50 percent off of your first box.” The concept of offering customers a box of fresh ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes has been a hit. [ Digiday ] |