Dropbox sets IPO range $16-18, valuing it below $10B, as Salesforce ponies up $100M After announcing an IPO in February, today Dropbox updated its S-1 filing with pricing. The cloud services and storage company said that it expects to price its IPO at between
$16 and $18 per share when it sells 36,000,000 shares to raise $648 million as “DBX” on the Nasdaq exchange. Watch John Oliver explain Bitcoin using $15,000 Beanie Babies and rap videosJohn Oliver is known for his eloquent explanations of complex topics like net neutrality. Now, he’s turning his attention to the internet’s favorite topic of the moment: Bitcoin. It’s “everything you don’t understand about money combined with everything you don’t understand about computers,” quips Oliver, correctly. [ The Verge ] How a harshly-worded email from Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake convinced Uber investor Bill Gurley to push Travis Kalanick out
GV partner Lo Toney wants to raise $50 million to fund diverse investorsGV partner Lo Toney is looking to raise up to $50 million for his new fund, Plexo Capital, Axios first reported. Since 2017, Toney has been incubating Plexo Capital inside GV, formerly known as Google Ventures. The idea with Plexo Capital, which is backed by Alphabet, is to invest as a limited partner in seed funds led by people of color and/or female general partners, Toney said in an interview back in 2017 with Family Office Insights. There are very few black and Latinx investors, with only 2 percent of investment team members at VC firms identifying as black and just 1 percent identifying as Latinx, according to the National Venture Capital Association. Meanwhile, just 12 percent of investment professionals are women, according to Kapor Center for Social Impact’s latest report. [ TechCrunch ] When And Why Having An MBA Matters For Startup InvestorsIn a recent exploration of the educational backgrounds of professional venture capital investors for Crunchbase News, here’s what we found:
How this Singapore-based investor bought into Uber, Spotify, Alibaba, and other tech giantsK2 Global has been investing in startups since 2015, but the venture capital fund and its founder, Ozi Amanat, are seldom in the news. Singapore-based Amanat has been in the game for a decade or so. During that time, he’s been able to get into the cap tables of some of the most prominent tech companies in the world, ranging from Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, and Palantir to Alibaba and Paytm. He’s gathered support from high-profile limited partners, family offices, and investors. And he’s done it largely as a “one-man band,” as he puts it. [ Tech In Asia ] VCs have discovered the MidwestThe Midwest is back! At least, that’s the conclusion from a group of venture capitalists who went on a multi-day bus tour through the region recently. As Kevin Roose wrote in the New York Times this week, “The trip, which took place on a luxury bus outfitted with a supply of vegan doughnuts and coal-infused kombucha, was known as the ‘Comeback Cities Tour.” [ TechCrunch ] Ancient Nutrition Raises $103 Million From 100+ Investors To Heat The Bone Broth MarketKevin’s Week in Tech: Is Silicon Valley Really Over?Bose is carving out $50 million for startups using its new audio-focused AR techKobalt Invests $150 Million in its AWAL Recorded-Music OperationSimply SaaS Meetup with Viviana FagaViviana Faga is an Operating Partner at Emergence Capital. She has more than 15 years of experience designing and building brand categories for companies like Salesforce, Yammer, Platfora, and Zenefits. Viviana is a go-to-market expert, and continues to help create scalable growth engines that drive successful exits. She joined us early in the morning for our Simply SaaS Meetup with 30+ entrepreneurs eager to hear more about her journey. [ Atlanta Ventures ] L.A.'s Bird Hatches $100 Million Funding Round To Take Scooter Service NationwideAlibaba’s Jack Ma and Joe Tsai are pumping $20 million into Rent the Runway through their investment firmE801: Judd Schoenholtz' Open Listings is self-service R.E. market, returning agent costs to buyersE801: Open Listings CEO Judd Schoenholtz on creating a self-service real estate market, promoting affordability & returning agent costs to buyers, reducing legacy bad behavior, & driving the future of housing. [ This Week In Startups ]
Here’s how 20 different venture capital firms are policing sexual harassmentY Combinator’s 10 Biggest ExitsHow I Did It: Building Global Teams, Products, and Businesses at GoogleSilicon Valley VCs will not be riding to the rescue of the midwest’s startups anytime soon |