SoftBank set to invest more than $3 billion in WeWorkSoftBank is close to finalizing an investment in WeWork, a source close to the transaction tells CNBC. The deal is expected to be worth over $3 billion. The investment being discussed is a $2 billion primary tranche of funding, followed by a secondary round worth more than $1 billion. SoftBank may increase the size of the secondary investment to nearly $2 billion, the source said, for a total investment of nearly $4 billion in the shared space real estate startup. For WeWork insiders, there is a tender offer on the table at around $44.10 per internal share. Snapchat's earliest employees: Where are they now?In the last five years, Snapchat has gone from a sexting app built in a Stanford dorm to a business that could soon be worth $22 billion on the public market. Who are the early employees who've helped make the disappearing messaging app
such a hit? How HBO’s Silicon Valley Captures the Startup ExperienceWe catch up with the lead technical advisor of HBO’s Emmy-nominated comedy series about startups, to discuss how real-life experience informs their fictionalized version of the tech scene, what goes into making a season of the show, and the delicate balance between technical & emotional accuracy. Early Uber Investors Criticize Company’s ‘Toxic Patterns’Two early Uber investors are upset with the company over how it investigated recent allegations of sexual harassment and workplace abuse. Venture capitalists Mitch and Freada Kapor wrote a public letter to Uber on Thursday in which the two criticized “toxic patterns” within the ride-sharing startup’s company culture for allegedly ignoring workplace harassment. [ Fortune ] Restaurant Tech Startups See Annual Funding, Deals Hold SteadyThough deals fell in Q4'16 from their Q3 peak, the restaurant tech sector has attracted over $550M each year since 2014. [ CB Insights ] More bad news: JackThreads, Stayzilla shutting downJackThreads and Stayzilla are the latest VC-backed companies to lay off employees and move toward closing down the current iteration of their services. How I Built This | Lyft: John Zimmer Ridesharing wasn't a thing 12 years ago when John Zimmer was in college. But a class on green cities got him thinking about the glut of underused cars on the road, and eventually led him to co-found Lyft, a company that has helped make ... [ NPR Podcast ] OTC Exchange Network announces appointment of Blockchain architect Drew Rasmussen as CTOOTC Exchange Network announces appointment of Blockchain architect Drew Rasmussen as CTO. OTC Exchange Network ("OTCXN"), an institutional trading network and technology provider focused on using Blockchain technologies to solve the biggest problems in the largest markets in the world, has announced that it has appointed Drew Rasmussen as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the company. As OTCXN’s CTO, Rasmussen will be responsible for overseeing all technical design, technological resources, and technology development. Additionally, he will leverage his unique experiences for facilitating the overall architecture and development of the company’s proprietary Blockchain fabric, also known as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). He will report to Rosario M. Ingargiola, the company’s Founder and CEO. [ CoinDesk ] |