Pan-European seed fund firstminute hits a final fund close of $100MNew UK early stage VC firstminute Capital launched in June last year to the tune of $60m, with European VC Atomico as its first cornerstone investor. They were joined by 30 unicorns founders from Europe and the US. Last September they brought in the huge China-based company, Tencent reaching a fund size of $85m. Today firstminute capital, the London-based pan-European seed fund announced a final close of $100m, and detailed its first batch of early-stage investments made since September. [ TechCrunch ] ‘Female Viagra’ Founder Is Back as CEO After Valeant Gave the Billion-Dollar Drug Back for FreeCindy Eckert (previously Cindy Whitehead) is back at the helm of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the company behind female libido drug Addyi. This marks Eckert’s second round as CEO of Sprout, the Raleigh, N.C.-based developer of a drug intended to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder in pre-menopausal women. Under her leadership, the company raised nearly $100 million in venture funding and was approved by the FDA after two failed attempts. [ Fortune ] Oculus founder Palmer Luckey's defense startup rounded up high-profile investors to build a high-tech border wallPalmer Luckey, the controversial Oculus VR founder who departed the company for unknown reasons a couple of years after it was acquired by Facebook, has founded another virtually-inspired startup. His lastest venture, Anduril, named after a magical sword in Lord of the Rings, is creating a high-tech "virtual" border wall for government defense that relies on artificial intelligence. [ Business Insider] Seven Strategic Rationales For The Microsoft/Github AcquisitionLast week, Microsoft acquired it would acquire Github for $7.5B. It’s a massive acquisition at a massive price relative to other software acquisitions. Why is Microsoft willing to pay so much? [ TOMASZ TUNGUZ ] Chinese electric car startup Byton raises $500 millionByton, a Chinese electric car startup, has secured a $500 million Series B funding round to fuel the development of smart, connected cars. Investors include FAW Group, Tus-Holdings and CATL. Byton also announced the opening of a new HQ in Nanjing, China. This is on top of Byton’s research and development center in Santa Clara, Calif. “By combining our expertise in R&D and traditional car-making with innovative Internet technologies, we aspire to pioneer a smart mobility revolution,” Byton CEO and co-founder Dr. Carsten Breitfeld said in a statement. [ TechCrunch ] Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and the Feud Over Killer RobotsMark Zuckerberg thought his fellow Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk was behaving like an alarmist. Mr. Musk, the entrepreneur behind SpaceX and the electric-car maker Tesla, had taken it upon himself to warn the world that artificial intelligence was “potentially more dangerous than nukes” in televisioninterviews and on social media. [ NY Times ] Kevin Hartz Is Stepping Down as Partner at Founders FundKevin Hartz is leaving his role as a partner at San Francisco-based venture capital firm Founders Fund. “After nearly two years with Founders Fund, Kevin is ready for a new challenge. He remains a friend of the firm and we’re excited to see what he does next,” said a Founders Fund spokesperson. [ Fortune ] Media startup Prøhbtd raises $8M to help bring cannabis to the mainstreamJack Ma's Chinese Fintech Firm Just Raised So Much Money It's Now Worth More Than Goldman SachsCaisse, Sun Life backing new $75 million fintech venture capital fundHow A Love For Math Turned Into A Career In Venture Capital (And How This VC Spends Her Days)Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is reportedly seeking Silicon Valley investors for a new companyHow going by the book helped Hong Kong start-up VCredit weather China’s breakneck consumer finance marketSquare’s Caviar agrees to pay $2.2 million to settle class-action lawsuit over gratuityWhy Silicon Valley CEOs now have France on their to-do listsMilken Institute - Trends in Venture Capital #Sky9 Capital #Ron CaoIt’s Billionaires at the Gate as Ultra-Rich Muscle In on Private EquityAmerica’s last Gilded Age had its “List of 400”: the people said to be worthy enough, or at least rich enough, to climb the pinnacles of high society. Today, in an age of affluence not even the Astors and Vanderbilts might have imagined, there is something closer to a List of 55. [ Bloomberg ] E827 News Roundtable Lon Harris Sarah Cooper: Sonic attacks, scooters yell, data detox, Trump blocksyNews Roundtable! Lon Harris & Sarah Cooper: Mystery sonic attacks in Cuba & China, SF's belligerent police-calling scooters, social media data detox attempts, Trumps twitter blocks, Oculus Go steps it up, Elon takes on fake news Memrise raises $15.5M as its AI-based language-learning app passes 35M usersXiaomi posts $1.1B quarterly loss ahead of much-anticipated IPOMore signs of bike-sharing’s alleged cash crunch as oBike, Ofo feel the heat in SingaporeWorkday acquires financial modelling startup Adaptive Insights for $1.55BGoldman Sachs is backing a London startup that uses AI to read complex legal documentsSplunk to Acquire Software Problem-Solver VictorOps for $120 MillionInvestors share their predictions on agtech and its bottlenecksSoftBank Vision Fund leads $250M Series D for Cohesity’s hyperconverged data platform |