Venture Capital
AngelList, the LinkedIn for startups, just bought Product Hunt, the platform where people vote up or down on startup products. Product Hunt declined to comment on the selling price but a source close to the matter tells us it was about $20 million. Recode first reported that same price.
Under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, investment advisers, including advisers to hedge funds and private equity funds (often referred to as "private fund advisers") must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, certain private fund advisers are exempt from such registration.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/12/18/why-ohio-health-care-startups-saw-a-206-funding-increase-in-2017/
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Venture investors are also backing companies ahead of planned ICOs. Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square, and others invested $52 million into Protocol Labs, the company behind data-storage network Filecoin ahead of its ICO. The company went on to raise $257 million in the year’s largest ICO. If successful, Filecoin will allow people to buy and sell data storage using a blockchain.
Bain Capital Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz recently backed Basecoin, a “pre-ICO” startup that aims to tie the value of its tokens to traditional currency to lend it stability. The firms’ investments will give them coins when they’re created in Basecoin’s forthcoming ICO. And last month Orchid Labs, which is building a protocol to allow people to access the internet without censorship or surveillance, raised $4.7 million from nine venture funds.
Beyond hedge funds and pre-ICO deals, some firms are launching their own ICOs. In September, Science Inc. held an ICO, raising nearly $12 million as of press time. That money will help fund the firm’s incubator of blockchain-focused startups, many of which will hope to hold their own ICOs. Investors in the Science tokens will also get tokens from the startups in the incubator, Gilman says. Blockchain Capital also held an ICO in May as an experiment in managing a “liquid venture fund,” Stephens says. The firm raised $10 million in six hours.
IoT, AR, fintech, chatbots, and blockchain is this writer's top tech predictions for 2018.
The year 2017 has been a rather muted one for the Indian VC industry, with a lack of blockbuster exits, down rounds for the startup bellwethers (Ola, Flipkart), and downsizing or closure of high-profile startups (Snapdeal, Stayzilla, Taskbob). But it's not been all gloom and doom, with the fintech sector seeing significant activity, and players like Paytm, Policybazaar raising significant capital.
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there’s a market for digital-first brands in every consumer-product category. Mamoon Hamid, a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, says his firm will seek investments in what he calls “digitally native products,” citing venture-backed startups such as Nurx, for birth-control products; Curology, an acne-treatment startup; and SmileDirectClub, a teeth-straightening service, as examples of the trend.
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Unilever acquisition of subscription-razor company Dollar Shave Club.
Procter & Gamble’s purchase of natural-deodorant brand Native, and Unilever’s acquisition of household-care product maker Seventh Generation
Kamran Ansari, a venture partner at Greycroft, recently invested in Billie, an on-demand razor company aimed at women.
startups like Candid, which offers clear teeth straighteners, as well as generic Viagra to millennials—Roman, and Hims.
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between younger partners and their older colleagues. Venture capitalists make their living taking big risks, but when it comes to cryptocurrencies, most are proceeding cautiously. They’re reading books by bitcoin gurus, opening digital wallets on Coinbase, and dabbling in crypto speculation. They’ve assigned research projects to analysts and hired evangelists to give presentations. Several have purchased mining rigs for the office. But they’re not yet allocating any of their investors’ cash.
General Catalyst's partners recently heard a deep dive on blockchain technology,Hyped tech trends come and go with the wind in Silicon Valley, but this one is more complicated, more arcane, more legally dubious, and more glorified. Blockchain, the technology that powers digital currencies like bitcoin and ether, and its growing ecosystem of related software and startups, has been called a revolution, with growth opportunities comparable to those of the early consumer internet
Every party has to end sometime. That's the troubling thought that's been nagging at many investors this year, even as they've continued to profit from one of the longest-running bull markets for stocks in history. Positive economic trends and transformative changes in technology are helping many companies deliver standout returns-but is it time to get choosier about sorting winners from losers?
The digital age has led to the revolutionizing of many industries, given birth to new and exciting products for consumers, and created fresh avenues of interest for investors. These five technologies are the major tech investment trends for 2018. In the modern era, technology reigns supreme.
Paul Edmondson, CEO of HubPages.com - San Francisco Business ...
Jun 3, 2011 - 2010 revenue: About $10 million. Employees: 24. Founded: 2006. Source of start-upcapital: Series A round of $2 million from Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, and a Series B round of $8 million from Storm Ventures and Hummer Winblad. Age: 36. Residence: Burlingame. Web site: www.hubpages.com.
Bart Stephens has found himself in high demand lately. After four years of investing in cryptocurrency and preaching its gospel, his venture-capital peers are finally listening. During a recent briefing at a storied Silicon Valley venture-capital firm, the young analysts in the room nodded along to his words in excitement, Stephens says.
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Despite the ICO craze of 2017, cryptocurrency startups are still landing venture capital funding. Per the PitchBook Platform, global VC interest in the sector is increasing: 2017 has, unsurprisingly, brought a record amount of venture capital—more than $1 billion—to startups in the sector.
In the last two years, 179 US investors have participated in at least one VC deal for a crypto startup, according to PitchBook data. In the last week alone, Bitwise raised $4 million from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and others for its cryptocurrency index fund. BitGo, which helps businesses integrate cryptocurrencies into their financial systems, secured a $42.5 million Series B led by Valor Equity Partners. And bitcoin payments provider BitPay raised a $30 million Series B led by Aquiline Technology Growth.
The most active US-based investors in the space over the last two years are, for the most part, firms devoted to backing crypto startups, with the addition of a couple traditional VC investors who have undertaken their own forays into the bitcoin/blockchain universe.
Here's a look at the top eight, including investment count:
In the last two years, 179 US investors have participated in at least one VC deal for a crypto startup, according to PitchBook data. In the last week alone, Bitwise raised $4 million from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and others for its cryptocurrency index fund. BitGo, which helps businesses integrate cryptocurrencies into their financial systems, secured a $42.5 million Series B led by Valor Equity Partners. And bitcoin payments provider BitPay raised a $30 million Series B led by Aquiline Technology Growth.
The most active US-based investors in the space over the last two years are, for the most part, firms devoted to backing crypto startups, with the addition of a couple traditional VC investors who have undertaken their own forays into the bitcoin/blockchain universe.
Here's a look at the top eight, including investment count:
1. Digital Currency Group (40)
T-2. Pantera (8)
T-2. Hard Yaka (8)
T-2. Blockchain Capital (8)
T-3. Andreessen Horowitz (7)
T-3. Union Square Ventures (7)
T-3. Draper Associates (7)
T-3. Boost VC (7)
T-2. Pantera (8)
T-2. Hard Yaka (8)
T-2. Blockchain Capital (8)
T-3. Andreessen Horowitz (7)
T-3. Union Square Ventures (7)
T-3. Draper Associates (7)
T-3. Boost VC (7)
Read more of our crypto content here. Or view the full data on VC investors in crypto.
There's a trope that foreign startups can't innovate-they just copy ideas created in Silicon Valley. The success of China's dockless bike-sharing startups has flipped that script, and now US companies are scrambling to catch up. Bike-sharing programs have spread across the US in recent years, but slowly.