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Brian O’Malley Sticks With Consumer for New Firm
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By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Former Forerunner Ventures managing partner Brian O’Malley is betting on the consumer sector with his new venture firm when many venture investors are fixated on AI and enterprise software.
O’Malley is raising about $100 million for the initial fund at Tactile, a firm he is setting up to invest in early-stage consumer startups, according to people familiar with the situation.
O’Malley didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The consumer sector, while a massive part of the American economy, has lost favor with venture capitalists. Consumer internet companies received just 6% of venture dollars from the top 100 most active venture firms last year, down from a third in 2016, according to a recent report by Silicon Valley Bank.
O’Malley was a managing partner at Forerunner Ventures between 2018 and late last year. Forerunner, led by founder and partner Kirsten Green, is one of the largest early-stage consumer-focused venture firms in the U.S., having reached close to $3 billion in assets under management last year. Before Forerunner, O’Malley was a partner at venture firms Accel and Battery Ventures.
Read the rest of the article at this link.
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And now on to the news...
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Island’s purpose-built enterprise browser allows security teams to wall off a company’s software tools. PHOTO: TIM GOODE/ZUMA PRESS
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Secure bowsing. Island, a Dallas-based startup whose enterprise web browser bakes in cybersecurity for online business apps, on Wednesday plans to announce $250 million in new venture funding, WSJ Pro’s Angus Loten reports.
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The round will lift the five-year-old startup’s market valuation to $4.8 billion, bringing Island’s total venture-capital funding to roughly $730 million since 2020. It has some 450 business customers, including financial services firms, universities, manufacturers and retailers.
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12 years
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The Conference Board’s monthly survey showed that forward-looking expectations for income, business and labor-market conditions dropped to the lowest level in 12 years.
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Ex-Tesla CFO Leads Employee-Rewards Startup’s Funding Round
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Former Tesla finance chief Zach Kirkhorn led a recent funding round in Jolly, a startup that aims to help companies improve employee productivity through rewards, and joined its board in his first major venture since leaving the automaker in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Kirkhorn served as the lead investor in Jolly’s $16.5 million Series A round in January, marking his first time leading funding for a company, and the board appointment signaled his continuing involvement with the startup that was founded in 2022 by a former Tesla intern, Dean Zimberg.
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Want to Invest in a Private Company? All It Takes Is $5,000
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It is getting easier to invest in high-risk, high-reward private companies, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Now, all it takes is $5,000 to buy a stake in a firm like artificial intelligence platform Glean or crypto exchange Kraken. EquityZen and Forge Global, which are marketplaces for trading shares of private companies, are lowering the minimum investment from tens of thousands of dollars, the companies said.
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The two marketplaces are also launching a partnership with Yahoo Finance, in which they share their data on roughly 100 pre-IPO companies on the website.
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Funds
San Francisco-based Emergence scored $1 billion for its Fund VII to back early-stage B2B startups focusing on the future of work.
Daphni held the first close of Blue, its third fund, at €200 million. The new vehicle will invest in European startups focusing on sustainability, and hopes to have a final close of €250 million by the end of the year.
People
Deep tech-focused Celesta Capital added Charles Lespérance as partner. He previously co-founded and served as partner at BDC’s Deep Tech Venture Fund.
Jump Capital said Aqil Pasha joined the firm as a vice president based in New York, where he will focus on investments in data infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Software supply chain security startup Lineaje appointed Intekhab Nazeer as chief financial officer and Mikala Vidal as head of growth.
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Nexthop AI, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup building artificial intelligence infrastructure for cloud companies, launched from stealth with $110 million in funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
N8n, a Berlin-headquartered workflow automation platform, scored €55 million in Series B funding led by Highland Europe.
Capital Markets Gateway, a New York-based startup whose technology streamlines equity capital markets workflows, closed a $30 million Series C round led by StageDotO Ventures.
Arcade, a San Francisco-based AI product creation platform, landed $25 million in Series A funding from investors including Canaan Partners and Forerunner Ventures.
Dyna Robotics, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup making AI robots for businesses, was seeded with a $23.5 million investment co-led by CRV and First Round Capital.
Paid, a business platform for AI agents, picked up a €10 million pre-seed investment from EQT Ventures, Sequoia Capital and GTMFund.
Topanga, a kitchen intelligence platform for foodservice teams, secured $8 million in Series A financing led by Blue Bear Capital.
SplxAI, a Dover, Del.-based startup offering continuous security testing for AI assistants and agents, completed a $7 million seed round led by LAUNCHub Ventures. In addition to the funding, Sandy Dunn is joining the company as chief information security officer, while LAUNCHub General Partner Stan Sirakov will join the board.
Hook, a provider of AI-powered tools enabling users to create new versions of their favorite songs for use on social media, added $3 million in funding from investors including Khosla Ventures.
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The staff page on the World Liberty Financial website last month. PHOTO: GABBY JONES/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Napster pioneered music sharing over 25 years ago. It just got bought for $207 million. (CNBC)
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Synthesia offers shares to actors who help create its AI models (FT)
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