Podcasts about left lane capital

Hirezon , a in cloud-based HR technology for higher education, announced the launch of an enhanced version of MyReferred™, a new referral platform. Refined based on customer feedback, MyReferred™ helps employee referral programs by shifting from a reactive process to a proactive, strategic hiring approach. The platform enables higher education institutions to leverage internal networks—including employees, students and alumni —to build a sustainable talent pipeline. https://hrtechfeed.com/hirezon-launches-referral-platform-for-higher-education/ CHICAGO — Professional Diversity Network, Inc., a developer and operator of online and in-person networks that provide access to networking, training, educational, and employment opportunities for diverse individuals, today announced a strategic $1.3 million investment in AI Geometric Ltd., securing a 13% equity stake as of January 27, 2025. https://hrtechfeed.com/talentally-invests-1-3-million-in-ai-to-power-its-recruitment-platform/ Employ Inc., a leading provider of people-first recruiting and talent acquisition solutions, including JazzHR, Lever and Jobvite, today announced the details of its Winter 2025 product release.  https://hrtechfeed.com/employ-announces-winter-2025-product-release/ SEATTLE — ConverzAI, the leading innovator in AI-driven recruitment solutions, announced a $16M Series A funding round to accelerate product innovation and expand go-to-market strategy. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, and joined by Left Lane Capital.   https://hrtechfeed.com/virtual-ai-recruiter-tech-lands-16m-series-a/ Appcast, the leading recruitment marketing platform powered by programmatic, is proud to announce the release of its ninth annual Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report. This comprehensive annual report offers critical insights into the current state of the labor market and recruitment marketing trends, helping employers navigate the ever-changing hiring landscape. https://recruitingheadlines.com/the-2025-recruitment-marketing-benchmark-report-is-here/  

Gregory Dray is the Co-Founder of Animaj, a next-generation, digital-first media company that owns, manages and delivers engaging and premium brands to kids and families everywhere. Launched in May 2022, Animaj identifies the highest-quality independent IPs with solid awareness and engagement with kids that have yet to become global hits; buys and federates them; and uses a digital-first approach, leveraging data, technology, and distribution capabilities to transform them into multi-platform global franchises. From series and movies to L&M deals; location-based experiences to content distribution across 100+ platforms worldwide (incl. YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Max, RAI, Clan, ABC Australia, Roku, Youku), the company's brands live everywhere kids and families are, all at once. To bring this vision to life, Animaj has so far raised €100 million, building a portfolio of 3 owned-and-operated IPs: the iconic and award-winning Pocoyo, leading digital-native brands Kidibli and HeyKids; as well as Rabbids, a partnership with Ubisoft Entertainment. Animaj's lead investor is Left Lane Capital, a US-based, global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in high-growth internet and consumer technology companies that are fundamental to the lives of customers. With 20+ years of experience in the international media industry, Greg has built a remarkable track record of driving growth in global and rapidly evolving environments. He is recognized as an effective leader and operator, having successfully run both creative/content engines and business operations within major media/tech companies such as Google/YouTube, Lagardère Group, and Time Warner.

Summary In this conversation, Yong-Soo Chung shares his journey into entrepreneurship, discussing her early aspirations, the importance of building a strong team, and the evolution of his businesses. He emphasizes the significance of curiosity and adaptability in his career. He talks about the creation of a personal holding company. While there are challenges with managing remote teams, Yong-Soo shares his creative hiring process. More, he touches on his experience as a content creator and how he encourages people to start today. Takeaways I always knew that I was going to start a business. Finding good people is how you're going to scale. Clarity is kindness when it comes to working with our colleagues. Emotional intelligence is crucial in hiring decisions. Building an online brand requires patience and consistency. Perceived authority differs from actual authority in content creation. Resilience is key when building a network from scratch. Focus on personal values when navigating online spaces. Life's too short to stress over external validation. Chapters 00:00 The Journey to Entrepreneurship 07:47 Building a Business Framework 14:04 The Importance of Good People 20:12 Managing Remote Teams Effectively 25:55 Hiring and Assessing Talent 29:59 Innovative Interview Techniques 38:06 Building an Online Brand 49:00 Strategies for Content Creation 56:44 Resilience in Building Networks Connect with Yong-Soo Chung here https://x.com/YongSooChung https://www.linkedin.com/in/yongsoo/ About Sabrina Wang Hi! I'm Sabrina. I was born and raised in Chengdu, China. I moved to LA at 16 years old to attend USC with a scholarship. My mom ran a business called "Sabrina's Country Store" selling American groceries to expats in China. I've been involved in our business since elementary school - from mopping doors to training employees - which taught me invaluable lessons about entrepreneurship and people, two pillars of my current coaching career. Now, I run Evergrowth Coaching where I specialize in coaching CEOs of 8-9 figure revenue. My clients include CEOs and founders from top tech companies like Wayflyer, Synchron, Opswerks, Code States, Ownwell, Tribe, and RevenueCat. I also worked with investors from YC Continuity, General Catalyst, Left Lane Capital, and Innovation Endeavors. Before Evergrowth, I was the Head of Coaching at Mochary Method, created by CEO coach Matt Mochary who coached Sam Altman, Naval, and other leading CEOs. I have a strong background in GTM, product, and design, having worked at Headspace for Work on B2B SaaS products that reached over a million users. Today, I work with solopreneurs to unicorn founders - whoever is inspired by a big mission to make the world a better place with their gifts. We work together to cut through blocks and procrastination, so they can learn to lead and create from an effortlessly authentic place. Follow me on LinkedIn here: www.linkedin.com/in/sabrina-ziqin-wang/

Summary In this conversation, Sabrina Wang and Amanda Goez delve into the complexities of leadership, self-worth, and emotional awareness. They explore the concept of blind spots, the importance of depth in both personal and professional realms, and the balance between vulnerability and oversharing in leadership roles. Amanda shares her journey of self-discovery and the significance of routine in fostering creativity. The discussion emphasizes the need for leaders to connect with their teams and build supportive communities, especially for those navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship and parenthood. Takeaways Blind spots often stem from unresolved childhood issues. Depth in leadership fosters emotional connection. Routine is essential for creativity and self-reflection. Emotional awareness is crucial for personal growth. Vulnerability must be balanced with professional boundaries. Self-worth is independent of external validation. Leaders should prioritize team connection and transparency. Community support is vital for solopreneurs and parents. Understanding one's role in a team is key to effective leadership. Creating a safe space for sharing emotions enhances connection. Chapters 00:00Understanding Blind Spots and Subconscious Patterns 02:25The Importance of Depth in Leadership and Content Creation 05:30Routine and Creativity: Finding Your Space 09:18Emotional Awareness and Self-Reflection 13:39Defining and Navigating Blind Spots 20:46The Journey to Self-Worth 28:25Vulnerability vs. Oversharing in Leadership 34:03The Role of a Leader in Fostering Connection 39:42Building Community and Supporting Others Ways to find Amanda: X LinkedIn Newsletter Website About Sabrina Wang Hi! I'm Sabrina. I was born and raised in Chengdu, China. I moved to LA at 16 years old to attend USC with a scholarship. My mom ran a business called "Sabrina's Country Store" selling American groceries to expats in China. I've been involved in our business since elementary school - from mopping doors to training employees - which taught me invaluable lessons about entrepreneurship and people, two pillars of my current coaching career. Now, I run Evergrowth Coaching (www.myevergrowth.com) where I specialize in coaching CEOs of 8-9 figure revenue. My clients include CEOs and founders from top tech companies like Wayflyer, Synchron, Opswerks, Code States, Ownwell, Tread.io, Tribe, and RevenueCat. I also worked with investors from YC Continuity, General Catalyst, Left Lane Capital, and Innovation Endeavors. Before Evergrowth, I was the Head of Coaching at Mochary Method, created by CEO coach Matt Mochary who coached Sam Altman, Naval, and other leading CEOs. I have a strong background in GTM, product, and design, having worked at Headspace for Work on B2B SaaS products that reached over a million users. Today, I work with solopreneurs to unicorn founders - whoever is inspired by a big mission to make the world a better place with their gifts. We work together to cut through blocks and procrastination, so they can learn to lead and create from an effortlessly authentic place. Follow me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrina-ziqin-wang/

This week's Espresso covers news from Beep Saúde, Atomic Kitchens, Ualá, and more!Outline of this episode:[00:28] – Beep Saúde raises $18M in a round led by Lightsmith[00:44] – Ualá launches a secured credit card[01:01] – Atomic Kitchens raises $750K from Manutara Ventures[01:14] – Finkargo raises a $95M Series A extension round[01:30] – Yolo Bank raises a $500K pre-seed round[01:43] – Koggi raises $3M from Second Century Ventures[01:56] – Koltin raises $7.3M Series A led by Left Lane Capital[02:11] – Mevo raises a $20M Series B round[02:24] – Cayena raises a $55M Series B round led by Bicycle Capital[02:37] – Mercado Libre secures $250M credit line from JPMorgan[02:53] – MeetRox raises a $460K seed round[03:08] – Interview with Facundo Turconi, CEO of MoonflowResources & people mentioned:Startups: Beep Saúde, Ualá, Atomic Kitchens, Finkargo, Yolo Bank, Koggi, Koltin, Mevo, Cayena, MeetRox,  Mercado Libre, Moonflow, VCs: Lightsmith, Manutara Ventures, Marathon Ventures, Second Century Ventures, Left Lane Capital, Matrix, Bicycle Capital, Stamina VC, JPMorgan People: Facundo Turconi

In this episode, Managing Partner Vinny Pujji discusses the strategic positioning and innovative approaches of Left Lane Capital. The conversation digs into the specialized data analysis that sets them apart from other investment firms. Vinny also charts out the future of Left Lane and breaks down how he approached several of their investments including ChargeBee, Astrotalk, Takai Tree, and more.

Remote, the leader in building, managing, and supporting globally distributed workforces, has completed the acquisition of Easop, a compliance solution for businesses with international talent to grant and manage equity to their teams across 70+ countries.  https://hrtechfeed.com/remote-com-acquires-equity-compensation-tool/ ClearanceJobs, the leading online community for security-cleared professionals, has launched the ability to stream live videos to its platform with the introduction of ClearanceJobs Live. https://hrtechfeed.com/clearancejobs-adds-live-streaming-for-employers/ Employ Inc., the parent company of JazzHR, Lever, Jobvite and NXTThing RPO, announced the appointment of Steve Cox as CEO, effective April 1, 2024. Cox succeeds former CEO, Pete Lamson.- who decided to step down,  the company told me. https://hrtechfeed.com/employ-inc-has-new-ceo/ SAN MATEO, Calif.,— Modal, a leading skills development platform for data and analytics professionals, today announced a $25 million Series A. The round is led by Left Lane Capital and Ensemble VC with participation from leading investment firms Signalfire and Learn Capital.  https://hrtechfeed.com/modal-announces-25-million-series-a-to-upskill-employees-in-ai/ Indeed, the world's #1 job site1 and a global job matching and hiring platform, today introduces Smart Sourcing, a new AI-powered suite of products to make the hiring process faster, simpler and more efficient for both employers and job seekers. https://hrtechfeed.com/indeed-launches-ai-powered-smart-sourcing/ https://youtu.be/pduqHwS_J58?si=V9GzlMv16YHjjf4A

A reminder for new readers. That Was The Week collects the best writing on critical issues in tech, startups, and venture capital. I selected the articles because they are of interest. The selections often include things I entirely disagree with. But they express common opinions, or they provoke me to think. The articles are only snippets. Click on the headline to go to the original. I express my point of view in the editorial and the weekly video below.Thanks To This Week's Contributors: @TEDchris, @LilyWhitsitt, @RocketToLulu, @saeedtaji, @geneteare, @EricNewcomer, @jeffbeckervc, @jasonlk, @elonmusk, @benshapiro, @StevenLevy, @apple, @bheater, @bmw, @Growcoot, @illscience, @venturetwins, @omooretweets, @conniechanContents* Editorial: Civility and Civilization* Essays of the Week* US Seed Investment Actually Held Up Pretty Well For The Past 2 Years. Here's What That Means For 2024* Lower Valuations, Higher Bar: What It's Like To Raise A Seed Round In 2024 * Unicorns & Inevitabilities* Sequoia, Founders Fund, USV, Elad Gil & Benchmark Top Venture Manager Survey* Why 2024 May Be Tougher on Venture Capital Than 2023* Video of the Week* The Mac at 40* AI of the Week* BMW will deploy Figure's humanoid robot at South Carolina plant* Google's New AI Video Generator Looks Incredible* OpenAI's Sam Altman seeks funds for AI chip factories as demands surge* The Future of Prosumer: The Rise of “AI Native” Workflows* Andreessen Horowitz's Connie Chan to Leave as Consumer Focus Shifts to AI* OpenAI Is a (Relative) Steal* News Of the Week* Ted fellows resign from organisation after Bill Ackman named as speaker* Tesla's Slowdown Disqualifies It From ‘Magnificent Seven' Group* TikTok's Testing 30 Minute Uploads as It Looks To Expand Its Content Options* Instagram to scan under-18s' messages to protect against ‘inappropriate images'* Tiger Global Investor Relations Staff Depart After Fundraising Challenges* Worldcoin hints at new Orb for a friendlier iris-scanning experience* Startup of the Week* Loyalty Startup Bilt Rewards Hits $3.1B Valuation After $200M Round* X of the Week* Elon Musk visits Auschwitz with Ben ShapiroEditorialThere is a lot to digest in this week's newsletter. Gené Teare's two essays on Seed investing head up the Essays of the Week, along with Jeff Becker talking about unicorns and inevitabilities, Eric Newcomer on who are the top investors and Jason Lemkin on the reasons 2024 might be harder for Venture Capital than 2023.But my attention was distracted from venture capital by a Guardian article announcing (triumphantly, I might add) that several TED fellows had resigned from the organization due to an invite to Bill Ackman to speak at this year's TED event in Vancouver.“Lucianne Walkowicz and Saeed Taji Farouky accuse Ted of taking anti-Palestinian stand over controversial billionaire's inclusion”It seems Ackman is not alone. They also object to Bari Weiss being invited. The leavers are also not alone; up to 30 others have signed a “solidarity” letter.The accusations echo much of the discussion around the medieval assassination of Jews on 7 October and Israel's efforts to defeat Hamas in the aftermath. Because these speakers are against anti-Semitism and so supportive of Israel's war against Hamas, they are accused of the ridiculous claim of supporting “Genocide” against Palestinians.“We refuse for our work and identities to be exploited to promote the Ted brand while the organisation and its speakers generate income and advance their careers through dehumanising Palestinians and justifying their genocide,” the pair said.It probably will not surprise readers of this newsletter that I applaud TED curators Chris Anderson and Lily James Olds for not backing down on the invitations. Whatever one believes about the current conflict in Israel, it is clear that banning opponents of anti-Semitism because of their stance is not a solution to anything. I believe the cause of fighting anti-Semitism should be close to the heart of any progressive person. It is not anti-Palestinian to support Jews against being slaughtered in the street, to oppose anti-Semitism, or to condemn Hamas as anti-Jewish murderers. Supporting Jews against slaughter by Hamas is not incompatible with supporting Palestinians. The Guardian reported that Ackman responded to the resignations with a statement:“I stand unapologetically with Israel and against antisemitism and terrorism, while strongly supporting the Palestinian people. Attempts to cancel speech and eliminate the free and respectful exchange of ideas among people with differing views are driving much of the divisiveness that plagues our nation. Truth, wisdom and ultimately peace are the result of the free exchange of ideas and debate, precisely what Ted is all about. It is sad that this is not more widely understood,”Unsurprisingly, one of the resigners, Farouky, told the Guardian he did not regard the issue as freedom of speech. It clearly IS about freedom of speech. Speech only needs protecting when opinions are wide apart and strongly held.For example, here are my views on the actual issues:These are trying times. Over 25,000 deaths in Gaza are hard to comprehend. And I certainly cannot. But I can understand that Jews have to defend themselves. And I can understand that progressive thinkers MUST stand up to anti-Semitism, whatever form it takes.In case there is doubt about my support for Muslim victims of racism, my book Under Seige is about the attacks on Muslims in the UK between 1961 and 1981. It starts with recognizing that racism targets differences and that Jews and Muslims are both targets. Indeed, the very ghettoes that Pakistani and Bengali immigrants were being attacked in had earlier, in the 1930s, been inhabited by Jewish settlers fleeing pogroms. I am not Jewish, and I am not Muslim. But I will always be on both of their sides when they are attacked for their ethnic and racial origin.In Israel, Jews were killed for being Jews. Palestinians are being killed because Hamas is hiding in their cities and buildings. I do not consider Israel's response to be racist against Palestinians. I consider it reasonable in the context of 7 October. I consider that Hamas has done this to Palestinians and probably wanted that outcome. I am sad that Hamas has done this for the Palestinian victims. But I do not doubt that Hamas is to blame.My views may anger you. But do you want me banned or silenced?My title this week is Civility and Civilization. The TED events bring both to the fore. Like those I write here, opinions are there to be disagreed with, debated, and interrogated. Civilized behavior requires dialogue and civility within the dialogue. I certainly understand opinions I disagree with, and far from banning them or walking away so that I do not have to hear them, I want to hear them. We all should.This is a different editorial than usual. I hope the humanity of refusing to forget 7 October and the determination to preserve the view that fighting anti-Semitism is a non-negotiable minimum requirement of civilization are grasped. By the same token, Islamaphobia must be fought. But in Israel, there is no Islamophobia at work. Jews are simply reacting to an atrocity. They are right to blame Hamas.Essays of the WeekUS Seed Investment Actually Held Up Pretty Well For The Past 2 Years. Here's What That Means For 2024Gené Teare, January 24, 2024, @geneteareEditor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on the state of seed startup investing at the start of 2024. Check back tomorrow for Part 2.Despite a broad pullback in global startup investment over the past two years, investors say the U.S. seed funding environment was the most vibrant compared to other funding stages during the downturn.In fact, U.S. seed funding in 2022 grew by close to 10% in terms of dollars invested, in contrast to a downturn at all other funding stages. In 2023, U.S. seed funding fell 31% — a significant proportion — but still less than other funding stages year over year, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows. (It's also worth noting that those other stages had already experienced year-over-year declines in 2022.)In the current startup funding market, “we're seeing a lot more great talent excited about starting things,” said Renata Quintini, co-founder of Renegade Partners, a Bay Area-based investment firm that focuses on Series A companies and is therefore close to the seed ecosystem.Other investors share that enthusiasm. “Valuations are coming down, more talent is available in the market,” said Michael Cardamone of New York-based seed investor Forum Ventures. “A lot of these companies at seed and Series A are going to scale into what will likely be the next bull market.”Seed trends over the decadeSeed as an asset class, not surprisingly, has grown in the U.S. over the past decade. In 2014 less than $5 billion was invested at seed. At the market peak in 2022, seed investment was more than $16 billion, although it fell to $11.5 billion in 2023.Despite the downturn, seed funding in 2023 was still $2 billion to $3 billion higher in the U.S. than in the pre-pandemic years of 2019 and 2020.Higher bar, pricier rounds, better valuedBut in a tougher market, seed investors are being more selective about which companies they fund.“We're being far more disciplined and patient knowing how hard it is for these companies to get to Series A and beyond,” said Jenny Lefcourt, a general partner at Bay Area-based seed investor Freestyle Capital. “Our bar for conviction is higher than it had been in the heyday where everything was getting funded.”In the slower funding environment, the firm has been investing later at the seed stage, “gravitating toward ‘seed plus' or ‘A minus' — pick your favorite term for it — because I feel like I get to see more risk mitigated. I get to see more data,” she said.Freestyle seeks to have ownership of around 12% to 15% in the companies it backs. “The reason is because of our model,” Lefcourt said. “We are low-volume, high-conviction investors.”And because the firm invests in companies that are pre-Series A, “our reality has been that our valuations have actually been higher in this market, which is not what we would have predicted.“But the data we've seen is, we're not alone in that,” she said.…MoreLower Valuations, Higher Bar: What It's Like To Raise A Seed Round In 2024 Gené Teare, January 25, 2024, @geneteareEditor's note: This is the second in a two-part series on the state of seed startup investing at the start of 2024. Read Part 1, which looked at seed funding trends over the past decade and the median time period between seed and Series A funding, here.Seed funding to startups has grown into its own asset class over the past decade, with round sizes trending larger, and a bigger pool of investors backing these nascent startups. But in the aftermath of 2021's venture funding heyday and subsequent pullback, investors say that while seed funding has held up better than other startup investment stages, these very young startups will see lower valuations and must now clear a much higher bar to get backing.More companies raised seed funding above $1 million in 2021. Those companies — which raised during a record-smashing year for venture funding — are saddled with valuations that could be too high for this current market — even at seed. Many of those startups have been forced to cut costs to extend their runways, and face a tougher sales environment.“You could then be sacrificing growth, which is one of the main levers that Series A investors are looking for,” said Michael Cardamone of New York-based seed investor Forum Ventures.2021 after effectsIn 2021 it was “grow, grow, grow, grow,” said Jenny Lefcourt, a general partner at Bay Area-based seed investor Freestyle Capital. “It's embarrassing to look back on, but that was the game being played.”Investors got sloppy during the boom times, she said. “I think a lot of VCs were thrilled to back you, and then say, ‘we'll figure it out.' ”“The reality is that almost anything that was done then — call it 2021 — was the wrong price,” she said.This led to down rounds, even at seed, though those are generally not viewed negatively like they were in the past, she said.In fact, “when our companies get their down rounds done, it's a sign of it's a good business. It just had the wrong price on it,” she said.While the bar is higher to raise funding these days, “I think it's so much better for a company who gets to start in this environment,” Lefcourt said.Down rounds can actually be a sign of conviction, she said. “None of us would do all the heavy lifting to not only give the company more capital, but recap it, which takes a lot. It's a heavy lift — none of us would do that if we weren't super jazzed about the company. The lazier approach, the easier approach, is to just put it on the note, keep it flat, and be done,” she said.Renata Quintini, co-founder of Renegade Partners, a Bay Area-based investment firm that focuses on Series A companies, is hearing of “more ‘pay-to-play' these days and it's starting to get ugly.” This happens when new investors wipe out the prior investors, and anyone seeking equity needs to pony up into the new funding round.Median and averages climbNonetheless, “seed round valuations haven't dropped a ton from even the peak,” according to Forum Ventures' Cardamone. But, “the bar to raise a seed [round] is a lot higher.”“Most first-time founders especially, and the vast majority of founders generally — they have to get significant traction to be able to raise that same round they used to be able to raise. And a lot fewer of those rounds are happening,” he said.“A priced seed round of $3 million at $15 million [pre-money] is still happening, but you might have to be at $500,000 ARR, to raise that round now. Whereas in 2021, it was the norm to raise that round pre-revenue,” he said.Series A fundings have gotten harder as “companies are going out and raising three seed rounds,” said Cardamone.Based on an analysis of Crunchbase data, median and average seed round sizes in the U.S. have climbed through the past decade.In 2023, median and average raises are not far from the peak of 2022, Crunchbase data shows, and were well above pre-pandemic levels. (However, this will shift downward somewhat as the long tail of seed fundings are retroactively added to the Crunchbase database.)Seed rounds got larger“If I have conviction, we may need them to have more money, cause we know it's going to take them longer to reach the milestones that are now higher,” said Lefcourt.Per an analysis of Crunchbase data, larger seed rounds — those $1 million and above — have increased through the decade.The amount of funding to seed-stage companies below $1 million hasn't budged much, and is a fraction of what it was earlier in the decade.Seed below $1 million in 2014 represented around 25% of all seed funding.That has come down as a proportion every year since then.And as of 2021 that proportion has dipped below 10% for the first time, ranging from 5% to 7% of all seed dollars invested in the U.S. since then.Earlier in the past decade, the number of seed deals in rounds below $1 million outpaced those rounds at $1 million and above significantly.But 2021 was once again a pivotal year. That's when $1 million and above seed rounds outpaced smaller seed for the first time.In 2023, they are neck and neck in count. (That might shift as the long tail of seed rounds are added to the Crunchbase database long after they close.)What this all shows is that seed has become an increasingly significant and elongated phase in a company's early life cycle, where companies are raising multiple million-dollar seed rounds. And as of late, more companies than ever before are wading in the seed pool.What does this mean for the seed funding market in 2024?…MoreUnicorns & InevitabilitiesUp and to the right, or not so much?JEFF BECKER, JAN 22, 2024TLDR: Go read Aileen Lee's update to the Unicorn Club… and a few inevitabilities.Did anyone catch Aileen Lee & Allegra Simon's Welcome Back to the Unicorn Club, 10 Years Later?If not, go read it. That's your MMM.If you did read it, you can't help but wonder if the tech sector isn't going to resemble the public markets over time. Ups and downs, but consistently up and to the right over a long enough period.After all, we are creating leverage in ways we've never seen before.And for unicorns, that meant 14X growth over a 10-year period.Could you imagine another 14 or even 10X from here? That would be stratospheric, from ~500 to ~5,000 unicorns? What if the exit sizes did too? $5B, $10B, $50B?Crazy to think, but hardly impossible. After all, we've already seen near-centicorns like Uber's IPO at $75B in 2019.The interesting part about that thought exercise though is not the crazy zero interest rate IPO's, but the fact that entry valuations didn't and don't move nearly as fast as top end outcomes because of the time horizon to realizing them.For example, Airbnb raised $20K from Y Combinator for 6%, then they took another $600K for 20% in their seed.That was 2009. The idea of an IPO for $47B just 11 years later in 2020 probably wasn't even a consideration. Paul Graham and the YC team would've had to believe Airbnb's IPO could compete with AT&T, General Motors, and Visa.Insane.Fast forward, that $333,333 valuation at YC has moved to $1.78m (125K for 7%), and they'll stack another 2.6% ownership on average from their $375K MFN with the average YC company raising seed at a $14.4m cap instead of Airbnb's $3m.That's a ~5X increase in valuation at pre-seed & seed for a 47X increase in IPO size if you were modeling $1B outcomes into your VC fund model in 2009.I'm not saying that will continue. There are counterforces of course.* Margins are way too high. The fact that software margins have persisted at 80% or more is just craziness. Companies will start to use price more aggressively to compete for market share as cheap AI tools enter the market and try to unseat them. This compression will change the value of discounted cash flow models.* Pricing models need to change. One way to reduce sticker price and maintain some semblance of healthy long-term margins is to pay a smaller implementation fee, but incur ongoing services & upgrade costs. This is a more traditional pricing model, and creative economics that leverage this kind of thinking run rampant in the titans of tech. It's a game of deeper roots, higher switching costs, and long-term contracts. With API calls and data usage more prevalent, we'll also see more pay-per-use models, the same way we buy copiers. We'll also see more pay-for-performance models with attributable ROI, akin to Amazon's ACoS model or Rakuten's affiliate marketing model. Customers will prefer it too, placing a higher emphasis customer value. This will also drive margins to condense.* AI, AI, AI. AI will cut OpEx costs dramatically. SDR teams, gone. Copywriters at agencies, you don't need as many. Data scientists? Just run a query against your data lakes. The list goes on. Costs of running these companies is going to get shellacked. Good for margins for sure, but also a compelling opportunity for newcomers to undercut and unseat incumbents too.* More hardware. With software margins condensing, hardware margins will start to feel more attractive too, the maintenance and upgrade fees will resemble what we see in SaaS, and the software that powers these machines will be incredible. Skynet for autonomous off-road vehicles, absolutely.* Less dilution, earlier exits, and stratification. We already see it in the S&P 500 with the top end accounting for an outsized share of total value. With that kind of cash on balance sheets, bigger companies will just buy the smaller ones. Think about how Broadcom rolls up companies. If you've built the business more efficiently, you've also raised less, incurred less dilution, and that $100m exit when you still own 50% is looking pretty prett-ty good compared to the same outcome 5-10 grueling years later to own 5% of $1B.* Massive founder salaries, less emphasis on growth. If you've built a company that's profitable from day one, and you have complete control of your board, what's your incentive to keep the pedal down on growth, or stay on the VC treadmill? World domination? Why not pay yourself 10X, stop fundraising, and continue to tighten the core business until someone acquires you? It's better for the founding team and employees for sure, and it's probably better for customers in most instances too.These are just some of things I think we'll see over the next five years until we approach ZIRPy-dirpy times again and massive growth becomes irresistible.But there are also a whole slew of things I think are inevitabilities that will benefit from these dynamics because we will not only have new technologies, with more attractive pricing, but we will be tackling new opportunities that were created by the prior evolutions across adjacent industries.For example…* Cost of energy is going to zero with nuclear fusion* Longevity is starting to work; check out Loyal for Dogs* Batteries & cameras continue to improve; medical devices, for one, will be more personal & affordable* Disintermediation of big ad networks with new global distribution channels; check out Benjamin* Massive cost reductions driven by AI* Software will be built by software* An aging population is retiring (10,000 per day); wealth transfer & SMB's with no exit paths* Climate change* …and so on and so on and so onThe list is long. Much longer than this. If you want the rest, just reply or comment so that I know, and I'll go deeper next week.Net of all of it, I think we're going to see a tale of two cities. Stronger, more profitable businesses, with smaller, but better founder founder exits in the near term, and a continued growth both in number of total unicorns, and what that top-end outcomes look like in the longer-term.And like I said, go read Aileen's post.Sequoia, Founders Fund, USV, Elad Gil & Benchmark Top Venture Manager SurveyI got my hands on a VC scorecard circulating among top founders & VCsERIC NEWCOMERJAN 25, 2024Before we get started, I want to be clear — this isn't the end-all, be-all list of the top venture capital firms or the most promising startups.But I got my hands on a survey of 91 people at 69 different venture capital firms conducted by a well-respected investor in venture capital firms.The survey results are spreading hand-to-hand in Silicon Valley. The results of the survey rank the most desirable venture capital firms and companies, according to VCs themselves. When I was out in San Francisco last week for The Information's 10th anniversary gala, sources kept bringing it up.My sources tell me that the survey was conducted by Ed Hutchinson, managing partner at Golden Bell Partners. Hutchinson is ignoring my emails.Which firms and companies would top VCs themselves put their money into? It's a question everyone wants to know the answer to.I've got my hands on their list of favorites:Firms* (1) Sequoia* (2) Founders Fund* (3) Union Square* (4) Elad Gil* (5) Benchmark…Much More (but only for subscribers)Why 2024 May Be Tougher on Venture Capital Than 2023by Jason Lemkin | Blog Posts, Fundraising, ScaleSo I thought the toughest times for venture would be behind us now.  In 2022, we were in free fall, with public market caps falling like a knife, and the IPO markets frozen.  And 2023 was the year of the Work Out in venture.  Bridge rounds slowed down, and VCs acknowledged a lot of portfolio companies just weren't going to make it.  It got real in 2023, and that realness got normalized.  The drama mostly was behind us.  And public SaaS stocks in many cases did really, really well in 2023.  So shouldn't 2024 at least be better for venture?So I thought.But the reality is I'm a bit more worried the venture drama in 2024 will be bigger than 2023.  Why?  Four core reasons:#1:  Now We Have to Deal With the Reality of the Stumbling Unicorns.The ones that are doing $100m+ ARR, still growing, but there just isn't going to be any more money coming.  This is going to burn up a ton of energy in VC funds.  Even tougher, the reality is while many VC funds marked down their unicorns to lower valuations in 2023, they often didn't mark them down enough.#2.  The Chase for AI Unicorns and Decacorns is All-consuming.  It's Still 2021 There.The one place where paper money seems easy to come by is Hot AI Startups.   And that's probably not you.  It's just consuming all the oxygen in venture, trying to get into the next Imaging AI startup worth $1B in 10 months.  In AI, 2021 never went away.  In AI, it's still 2021.#3.  A Lot of Seasoned VCs are Discouraged. This Doesn't Help Founders.A lot of VCs who have been around for a while are quietly discouraged.  They just don't see a great path to making a ton of money in venture these days.  We're in Year 3 of a venture downturn, and that weighs of most of us.  At a practical level, for founders, it makes it harder to lean it.#4.  More Valuation Markdowns Are Still to ComeRelated to the first point, but more markdowns are like mutliple rounds of layoffs.  They're just tough.  LPs lose confidence.  Coworkers lose confidence.  We should have gotten through a lot of this in 2023, but we didn't.  Personally, I've got several investments for example that I marked down. 70%-80% or more — that my co-investors didn't mark down at all.#5.  VCs Have Run out of ReservesVCs used what extra “reserve” capital they had for bridge rounds in 2022 and 2023.  Now it's gone.  That's adds to the stress as companies struggle.  You don't have a play anymore.The bottom line is there likely is at least another full year of working through the excesses of 2021.  That will weigh across venture.  No matter what some AI headlines suggest.Video of the WeekThe Mac at 40Apple Shares the Secret of Why the 40-Year-Old Mac Still RulesThe pioneering PC revolutionized how people interact with computers. As the Mac enters its fifth decade, Apple says it will continue to evolve.STEVEN LEVY, Jan 19, 2024 10:00 AMON JANUARY 24, Apple's Macintosh computer turns 40. Normally that number is an inexorable milestone of middle age. Indeed, in the last reported sales year, Macintosh sales dipped below $30 billion, more than a 25 percent drop from the previous year's $40 billion. But unlike an aging person, Macs now are slimmer, faster, and last much longer before having to recharge.My own relationship with the computer dates back to its beginnings, when I got a prelaunch peek some weeks before its January 1984 launch. I even wrote a book about the Mac—Insanely Great—in which I described it as “the computer that changed everything.” Unlike every other nonfiction subtitle, the hyperbole was justified. The Mac introduced the way all computers would one day work, and the break from controlling a machine with typed commands ushered us into an era that extends to our mobile interactions. It also heralded a focus on design that transformed our devices.That legacy has been long-lasting. For the first half of its existence, the Mac occupied only a slice of the market, even as it inspired so many rivals; now it's a substantial chunk of PC sales. Even within the Apple juggernaut, $30 billion isn't chicken feed! What's more, when people think of PCs these days, many will envision a Macintosh. More often than not, the open laptops populating coffee shops and tech company workstations beam out glowing Apples from their covers. Apple claims that its Macbook Air is the world's best-selling computer model. One 2019 survey reported that more than two-thirds of all college students prefer a Mac. And Apple has relentlessly improved the product, whether with the increasingly slim profile of the iMac or the 22-hour battery life of the Macbook Pro. Moreover, the Mac is still a thing. Chromebooks and Surface PCs come and go, but Apple's creation remains the pinnacle of PC-dom. “It's not a story of nostalgia, or history passing us by,” says Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, in a rare on-the-record interview with five Apple executives involved in its Macintosh operation. “The fact we did this for 40 years is unbelievable.”…Much MoreAI of the WeekBMW will deploy Figure's humanoid robot at South Carolina plantBrian Heater @bheater / 3:00 AM PST•January 18, 2024Image Credits: FigureFigure today announced a “commercial agreement” that will bring its first humanoid robot to a BMW manufacturing facility in South Carolina. The Spartanburg plant is BMW's only in the United States. As of 2019, the 8 million-square-foot campus boasted the highest yield among the German manufacturer's factories anywhere in the world.BMW has not disclosed how many Figure 01 models it will deploy initially. Nor do we know precisely what jobs the robot will be tasked with when it starts work. Figure did, however, confirm with TechCrunch that it is beginning with an initial five tasks, which will be rolled out one at a time.While folks in the space have been cavalierly tossing out the term “general purpose” to describe these sorts of systems, it's important to temper expectations and point out that they will all arrive as single- or multi-purpose systems, growing their skillset over time. Figure CEO Brett Adcock likens the approach to an app store — something that Boston Dynamics currently offers with its Spot robot via SDK.Likely initial applications include standard manufacturing tasks such as box moving, pick and place and pallet unloading and loading — basically the sort of repetitive tasks for which factory owners claim to have difficulty retaining human workers. Adcock says that Figure expects to ship its first commercial robot within a year, an ambitious timeline even for a company that prides itself on quick turnaround times.The initial batch of applications will be largely determined by Figure's early partners like BMW. The system will, for instance, likely be working with sheet metal to start. Adcock adds that the company has signed up additional clients, but declined to disclose their names. It seems likely Figure will instead opt to announce each individually to keep the news cycle spinning in the intervening 12 months.Unlike some other humanoid designers (including Agility), Figure is focused on creating a dexterous, human like hand for manipulation. The thinking behind such an end effector is the same that's driving many toward the humanoid form factor in the first place: Namely, we've designed our workspaces with us in mind. Adcock alludes to Figure 01 being tasked with an initial set of jobs that require high dexterity.As for the importance of legs, the executive suggests that their importance for maneuvering during certain tasks is as — or more — important than things like walking up stairs and over uneven terrain, which tend to get most of the love during these conversations.…MoreGoogle's New AI Video Generator Looks IncredibleJAN 25, 2024MATT GROWCOOTGoogle has announced Lumiere: an AI video generator that looks to be one of the most advanced text-to-video models yet.The name Lumiere is seemingly a nod to the Lumiere brothers who are credited with putting on the first ever cinema showing in 1895. Just as motion picture was cutting-edge technology at the end of the 19th century, the Lumiere name is once more being associated with something new and original.The demo of Lumiere that Google put out focuses firmly on animals. The model can generate a scene using just text; much the same way AI image generators work, the user can dream up any scenario they would like to see a short video clip of.However, the user can also use an image as a prompt. Google provided multiple examples: including some that are real photos such as Joe Rosenthal's iconic Raising the Flag photo; “Soldiers raising the united states flag on a windy day” saw one of the 20th-centuries most recognizable photos suddently come to life as the soliders struggle with the flag that's being affected by gusts.Also in Lumiere is a “Video Stylization” setting which allows users to upload a source video and then ask the generative AI model for various element changes. For example, a person running may be suddenly turned into a toy made of colorful bricks.Another feature Google showed off is “Cinemagraphs”, where just a section of an image is animated while the rest stays still. “Video Inpainting” is included too which involves masking part of the image so that section can be changed to the user's desire.Space-Time Diffusion ModelLumiere is powered by “Space-Time U-Net architecture that generates the entire temporal duration of the video at once, through a single pass in the model.”This difficult-to-understand concept is apparently in contrast to existing video models which “synthesize distant keyframes followed by temporal super-resolution — an approach that inherently makes global temporal consistency difficult to achieve.”…Much MoreOpenAI's Sam Altman seeks funds for AI chip factories as demands surgeOpenAI CEO Sam Altman has opened discussions with global investors over the possibility of funding a network of artificial intelligence (AI) chip factories to keep pace with soaring demand.Altman is seeking around $8 billion to $10 billion worth of funds to set up several AI chip fabrication plants around the globe, an endeavor that will require synergy between leading chip manufacturers backed by investment giants.Altman is reportedly in talks with Japanese-based financial giant SoftBank Group (NASDAQ: SFTBF) and Abu Dhabi's G42 over funding plans, but details remain sparse. The discussions with G42 have been underway since 2023, with Altman describing a potential chip partnership as laying the foundation “for equitable advancements in generative AI across the globe.”Aside from SoftBank and G42, insiders say that Altman is still pursuing collaborations with other industry players to set up a network of chip fabrication plants. Although exact entities were not namechecked, industry experts are noting Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Samsung Electronics, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NASDAQ: TSM) as potential partners.Altman's approach to raising funds hinges on concerns that the chip supply will not be able to meet global demands for AI offerings by 2030. The OpenAI's CEO argues that the ideal solution will be a collaborative effort to set up chip manufacturing plants rather than build in silos.OpenAI has had its fair share of chip scarcity, rolling back a number of its offerings over a steady chip supply. To meet the rising demand, the company is reportedly mulling several options, including the prospect of building its chips from scratch and joining ranks with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) to explore an in-house solution.Given the costs associated with an in-house approach, OpenAI may pursue the acquisition of a chip manufacturer as a short-term solution or expand its collaboration with existing partners. However, a potential acquisition opens its own can of worms, including an inquiry by antitrust regulators.Governments are also involvedIn 2023, Altman urged the South Korean government to double their investments in AI chip manufacturing as a veritable strategy to play a leading role in the nascent ecosystem. Currently, South Korea ranks behind the U.S., China, and Japan in chip manufacturing, but a concerted government involvement could see the country climb up the charts.The OpenAI boss disclosed during his visit to South Korea that his firm will back local entities building chips for AI and other emerging technologies, with Samsung rumored to be in top position.“We are exploring how to increase our investment in Korean startups,” said Altman. “We are excited to meet as many as we can here today. I think this type of collaboration is essential to our work.”..MoreThe Future of Prosumer: The Rise of “AI Native” WorkflowsAnish Acharya, Justine Moore, and Olivia MoorePosted January 25, 2024Few people love the software they use to get things done. And it's no surprise why. Whether it's a slide deck builder, a video editor, or a photo enhancer, today's work tools were conceived decades ago — and it shows! Even best-in-class products often feel either too inflexible and unsophisticated to do real work, or have steep, inaccessible learning curves (we're looking at you, Adobe InDesign). Generative AI offers founders an opportunity to completely reinvent workflows — and will spawn a new cohort of companies that are not just AI-augmented, but fully AI-native. These companies will start from scratch with the technology we have now, and build new products around the generation, editing, and composition capabilities that are uniquely possible due to AI. On the most surface level, we believe AI will help users do their existing work more efficiently. AI-native platforms will “up level” user interactions with software, allowing them to delegate lower skill tasks to an AI assistant and spend their time on higher-level thinking. This applies not only to traditional office workers, but to small business owners, freelancers, creators, and artists — who arguably have even more complex demands on their time. But AI will also help users unlock completely new skill sets, on both a technical and an aesthetic level. We've already seen this with products like Midjourney and ChatGPT's Code Interpreter. Everyone can now be a programmer, a producer, a designer, or a musician, shrinking the gap between creativity and craft. With access to professional-grade yet consumer-friendly products with AI-powered workflows, everyone can be a part of a new generation of “prosumers.”In this piece, we aim to highlight the features of today's — and tomorrow's — most successful Gen AI-native workflows, as well as hypothesize about how we see these products evolving.What Will GenAI Native Prosumer Products Look Like?All products with Gen AI-native workflows will share one crucial trait: translating cutting-edge models into an accessible, effective UI.Users of workflow tools typically don't care what infrastructure is behind a product; they care about how it helps them! While the technological leaps we've made with Generative AI are amazing, successful products will importantly still start from a deep understanding of the user and their pain points. What can be abstracted away with AI? Where are the key “decision points” that need approval, if any? And where are the highest points of leverage? There are a few key features we believe products in this category will have: * Generation tools that kill the “blank page” problem. The earliest and most obvious consumer AI use cases have come from translating a natural language prompt into a media output — e.g., image, video, and text generators. The same will be true in prosumer. These tools might help transform true “blank pages” (e.g., a text prompt to slide deck), or take incremental assets (e.g., a sketch or an outline) and turn them into a more fleshed-out product.Some companies will do this via a proprietary model, while others may mix or stitch together multiple models (open source, proprietary, or via API) behind the scenes. One example here is Vizcom's rendering tool. Users can input a text prompt, sketch, or 3D model, and instantly get a photorealistic rendering to further iterate on.Another example is Durable's website builder product, which the company says has been used to generate more than 6 million sites so far. Users input their company name, segment, and location, and Durable will spit out a site for them to customize. As LLMs get more powerful, we expect to see products like Durable pull real information about your business from elsewhere on the internet and social media — the history, team, reviews, logos, etc. — and generate an even more sophisticated output from just one generation. * Multimodal (and multimedia!) combinations. Many creative projects require more than one type of content. For example, you may want to combine an image with text, music with video, or an animation with a voiceover. As of now, there isn't one model that can generate all of these asset types. This creates an opportunity for workflow products which allow users to generate, refine, and stitch different content types in one place.…MoreAndreessen Horowitz's Connie Chan to Leave as Consumer Focus Shifts to AIBy Kate Clark, Erin Woo and Cory WeinbergJan 23, 2024, 7:22am PSTFor years, partners at Andreessen Horowitz proclaimed they would scour the startup world for the next big consumer marketplace like Airbnb or the next hit consumer app out of China, areas in which the firm had unique expertise. Now, it's shifting toward an area more en vogue across venture capital: consumer apps powered by artificial intelligence.Those changes are happening amid an overhaul of its consumer team. Connie Chan, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz who formerly led a team of consumer investors and was known for spotting internet trends coming from China, said she is leaving the firm.  She may raise her own fund, a person familiar with the matter said. Anish Acharya, a general partner at the firm who invested in enterprise-focused and financial technology businesses, now leads the consumer team, said people familiar with the change.Chan's move also follows a distancing by U.S. VC firms from investments in China tech, once a hotbed for U.S.  investors. In recent months, Chan has privately said it's becoming more difficult for her to work at Andreessen Horowitz because the partners have been increasingly disinterested in anything China related, another person said.The Takeaway• Fintech-focused GP Anish Acharya leading consumer deals• Consumer GP Connie Chan is leaving the firm• Consumer partner Anne Lee Skates left to start own fundThe changes are part of a broader personnel shakeup, including the decision by senior consumer investor and Airbnb board member Jeff Jordan to step back from making new investments last year. Of the four general partners that led the firm through a consumer deal blitz, none remain on the consumer team.Meanwhile, Anne Lee Skates, a consumer partner who worked on the firm's investment in live shopping app WhatNot, left in the fall to raise her own fund, according to two people familiar with the matter. Axios first reported that Chan was leaving the firm.The Andreessen Horowitz changes are emblematic of a broader VC industry gravitation toward AI and away from once-hot sectors like consumer marketplaces and financial technology, as a spike in interest rates undercut the growth aspirations of startups trying to elbow out incumbent social platforms and banking institutions.“We've gotten into this cycle now where, generally speaking, investors are less interested in consumer,” said Ben Lerer, managing partner at Lerer Hippeau. Known for its consumer investments in Warby Parker and Allbirds, the firm has invested 70% of its latest fund in enterprise companies, he said. “And AI feels like this very hopeful, very exciting, fresh thing.”Founders of some consumer startups have noticed the shift at Andreessen Horowitz. One founder of a consumer startup in the firm's portfolio said they had heard little from investment partners over the last year, a contrast to a steady drumbeat of emails the founder got in prior years from Andreessen staff who support portfolio companies with marketing and operations advice.Andreessen Horowitz's consumer investing team has been perhaps most well known for its focus on backing digital marketplaces, from peer-to-peer self-storage to real estate investment marketplaces, that could turn into the next Airbnb. Every year, it releases a ranking of top marketplace startups. “We are obsessed with marketplaces and have been since our inception,” Chan, who led investments in  social fashion startup Cider for the firm in 2021.But some of those startups backed by the firm, such as self-storage startup Neighbor, have struggled to take off in recent years. And like other venture firms, Andreessen Horowitz has also stepped back from investing in Chinese startups, an area of focus for Chan. She had championed the idea that the next wave of breakout U.S. consumer startups will model themselves after China's internet success stories, like all-in-one app WeChat.With $53 billion in assets under management, Andreessen Horowitz is one of the largest of traditional Silicon Valley firms and closely watched among other VC firms as a trend setter. And its track record of sniffing out hitmakers primed its partners to find the next trendy consumer app.The number of consumer deals Andreessen Horowitz has led dropped to 13 last year from 30 in 2021, a record for the firm, according to PitchBook data. It's possible the firm completed more consumer deals and that those investments haven't been announced. Its investments in AI companies have jumped to 23 from nine over the same years, including leading a $415 million investment in Mistral, the French developer of an open-source large language model.The firm has beefed up this team of investors primarily focused on enterprise, software infrastructure and AI startups. Led by Martin Casado, a close confidante to the firm's founders Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, it is raising its first standalone fund and has brought on two new general partners, Anjney Midha and Zane Lackey, since 2022, as well as a number of junior partners.As the infrastructure team gained power, the consumer team's profile shrank. The firm in 2023 combined its consumer and fintech teams and created a new group, called apps, led by general partner Alex Rampell, who previously co-founded installment lender Affirm, The Information reported last year. Under Rampell's leadership, the newly formed apps team will also soon launch a dedicated apps fund, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The consolidated team has been encouraged to pursue AI deals.Within Rampell's apps group, Acharya now leads the consumer sub-group. His portfolio of companies includes payroll company Deel and Silo, a provider of supply chain automation software. He's also an investor in Titan, a consumer investment application.Fueling the firm's shift away from consumer apps are likely disappointing returns. The startups that captivated consumers during the pandemic shutdowns have failed to retain their attention. Growth at companies the consumer team bet on, like Clubhouse, which Andreessen Horowitz backed three times in one year, and photo-sharing app BeReal, which it backed in 2021, has stalled.…MoreOpenAI Is a (Relative) StealBy Stephanie PalazzoloJan 22, 2024, 7:35am PSTOver the past year, we've seen billions in funding thrown at AI startups at eye-popping valuations. More important than the absolute valuation figures, though, is how they stack up to those startups' revenue numbers.In the chart above, we've tracked the valuations of eight AI startups that have recently raised funding, calculated against their projected revenue. On average, these companies raised money at a price that is 83 times their projected sales for the next twelve months. That's a big multiple by any measure, reflecting the rocket ship nature of these startups. But what makes the comparison noteworthy is that OpenAI has one of the lowest multiples, even though its business has the most traction.Venture capitalists tend to value early-stage startups at a premium based on their growth rates. OpenAI's business is far bigger and more mature—if we can use that word for a company growing as fast as OpenAI—than other generative AI companies. So, as fast as its revenue pace is growing—more than 20% in just two months most recently—newer firms are growing even faster.For instance, AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI doubled its annual recurring revenue from $3 million to $6 million from October to January. VCs were likely taking that expected growth into account at the time of investment, as the company would have garnered a much lower 75-times forward revenue multiple if it had raised at the same price just a few months later. Similarly, even though OpenAI rival Anthropic was likely generating around $200 million in annualized revenue at the end of last year (according to its October estimates), its projection that it would reach $850 million in annualized revenue by the end of this year surely made its mind-boggling valuation more palatable to investors.When you see the details of these AI startup funding rounds, it can sometimes feel like investors are throwing darts at nine-figure numbers on a wall. The chart suggests there's a method to the madness. Typically, startups selling to companies are valued based on the sector in which they operate. The lowest valuation multiples are accorded to startups offering industry-specific applications, while those offering more generalized applications draw a premium. The most highly valued firms are often infrastructure startups, which create the tools that developers use to build these apps. This order stems from how big the target market of these startups are, ranging from a specific industry (like healthcare or education) to all developers. We can see that general order reflected in burgeoning AI startups. For instance, Harvey, which sells an AI application for lawyers, has one of the lower multiples, while broader-reaching companies like Glean and VAST Data land higher multiples.It seems like investors aren't quite sure yet where model developers like OpenAI and Anthropic fall on this spectrum. Their costs are very different from a typical software startup due to how much computing power they need, and many investors are still worried that closed-source model developers may be overtaken by their cheaper, open-source counterparts.…MoreNews Of the WeekTed fellows resign from organisation after Bill Ackman named as speakerLucianne Walkowicz and Saeed Taji Farouky accuse Ted of taking anti-Palestinian stand over controversial billionaire's inclusionChris McGrealThe Ted organisation has been hit with resignations and criticisms after naming the controversial activist billionaire Bill Ackman, who was instrumental in forcing out Harvard's president over antisemitism allegations, among its main speakers at this year's conference.Four Ted fellows, led by the astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz and the filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky, resigned from the group on Wednesday, accusing it of taking an anti-Palestinian stand and aligning itself “with enablers and supporters of genocide” in Gaza.“2024 main stage speaker Bill Ackman has defended Israel's genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and has cynically weaponised antisemitism in his programme to purge American universities of Pro-Palestinian freedom of speech,” the pair wrote to Chris Anderson, who leads Ted, and Lily James Olds, director of the fellows programme.“We've become increasingly concerned about the fundamental values and moral compass of the organisation over the years, but with this year's speaker selection, it is clear Ted has crossed a red line.”The conference will be held in Vancouver, Canada, in April, under the banner The Brave and the Brilliant”. The theme of Ackman's talk has not been revealed but his selection was announced last week after he was accused of using his money and influence to help force Claudine Gay's resignation as Harvard's president following her disastrous appearance before Congress in December when she was questioned about on-campus antisemitism during the Israel-Gaza war.Ackman has taken stridently pro-Israel positions, including justifying the scale of the attacks on Gaza in which more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians, and the forced removal of about 2 million Palestinians from their homes. He has described criticism of Israel as antisemitism and called for the blacklisting from employment of American students who signed petitions denouncing the offensive in Gaza in the wake of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.Farouky and Walkowicz's resignation letter noted that other speakers announced by Ted include the journalist Bari Weiss, who they describe as having “a long, sordid, and well-documented history of anti-Palestinian speech”, but that there are no Palestinians in the line-up.“We refuse for our work and identities to be exploited to promote the Ted brand while the organisation and its speakers generate income and advance their careers through dehumanising Palestinians and justifying their genocide,” the pair said.After the resignation letter was published, two other fellows – the entrepreneur Ayah Bdeir and cosmologist Renée Hlozek – also quit. Nearly 30 others added their names “in solidarity” without leaving Ted.…MoreTesla's Slowdown Disqualifies It From ‘Magnificent Seven' GroupBy Martin Peers, Jan 24, 2024, 5:00pm PSTStock market pundits may want to come up with a new name for the big tech stocks driving the overall market. The “magnificent seven” descriptor—referring to Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Tesla—no longer seems to make much sense. I'd like to suggest that's because none of the company CEOs look like cowboy gunslingers from the 1960 movie that made the phrase famous. It's hard to imagine Steve McQueen playing Tim Cook or Andy Jassy, for instance (although Yul Brynner admittedly could have filled the role of horseback-riding Jeff Bezos).The real reason the moniker no longer works, however, is that at least one member of the group, Tesla, has had anything but a magnificent 2024 so far, and its fourth-quarter earnings report, released Wednesday, only made things worse. Before Tesla reported earnings tonight, its stock had fallen 16% so far this year, and it tumbled another 3% after hours to around $200 a share. This isn't a reaction to CEO Elon Musk's antics, which include asking for a bunch more stock, although that surely doesn't help. The stock decline reflects the slowdown in sales suffered by Tesla, which observers attribute to increased competition and a loss of government incentives. Automotive revenues, which make up the bulk of Tesla's top line, grew just 1% in the fourth quarter—down from 18% in the first quarter.In its outlook for this year issued today, the company said its growth in the volume of car sales would be lower than in 2023, and noted that its team is working on its “next-generation vehicle.” Meantime, expenses have been skyrocketing, eroding its profit margin. But our less-than-rigorous takedown of the magnificent seven branding isn't just about Tesla. If you look at the year-to-date performance of big tech stocks, or even their 2023 performance, you can see that just two tech stocks have roared this year. One is Nvidia, which is in a class of its own: up 27% since Jan. 1, thanks to its stranglehold on the specialized chips used in artificial intelligence. The other is Meta Platforms, which is up nearly 13%, reflecting confidence in its ad business.  In comparison, Microsoft and Alphabet are each up around 8%, likely thanks to expectations that AI will lift their businesses, while Apple and Amazon lag behind with year-to-date stock price rises of less than 5% each. Instead of the magnificent seven, it might be more appropriate to refer to the group as Nvidia, Meta and the humble five.… MoreTikTok's Testing 30 Minute Uploads as It Looks To Expand Its Content OptionsBy Andrew Hutchinson Content and Social Media ManagerThe next stage of TikTok is coming, with some users now seeing the option to upload 30 minute long videos in the app.As you can see in this example, shared by social media expert Matt Navarra, TikTok's currently testing the new 30 minute upload option in the beta version of the app.Which, if you've been paying attention, is not really any big surprise.TikTok has been steadily increasing its maximum post limit for years, with the platform originally starting at 15 seconds per clip, which was then extended to 60 seconds, then 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, before rising to 10 minutes in 2022.Last October, TikTok began experimenting with 15 minute uploads, so the trend towards longer clips isn't new.Though 30 minutes is likely the upper limit, based on the Chinese version of the app. Douyin, which is TikTok in China, expanded its upload limit to 30 minutes per clip in 2022, and it hasn't gone any further as yet.And presumably, Douyin has also seen good response to this longer time limit, which is why TikTok is now looking to implement the same, though it does seem like a long time to be watching a TikTok clip in-stream.Will users really warm to TV show length clips in the app?…MoreInstagram to scan under-18s' messages to protect against ‘inappropriate images'Feature will work even on encrypted messages, suggesting platform plans to implement client-side scanningAlex Hern and Dan MilmoInstagram will begin scanning messages sent to and from under-18s to protect them from “inappropriate images”, Meta has announced.The feature, being kept under wraps until later this year, would work even on encrypted messages, a spokesperson said, suggesting the company intends to implement a so-called client-side scanning service for the first time.But the update will not meet controversial demands for inappropriate messages to be reported back to Instagram servers.Instead, only a user's personal device will ever know whether or not a message has been filtered out, leading to criticism of the promise as another example of the company “grading its own homework”.“We're planning to launch a new feature designed to help protect teens from seeing unwanted and potentially inappropriate images in their messages from people they're already connected to,” the company said in a blogpost, “and to discourage them from sending these types of images themselves. We'll have more to share on this feature, which will also work in encrypted chats, later this year.”…Much MoreTiger Global Investor Relations Staff Depart After Fundraising ChallengesBy Francesca Friday and Maria HeeterJan 24, 2024, 4:46pm PSTSeveral Tiger Global Management employees focused on raising capital for the New York firm's venture funds have taken buyout offers, according to a person familiar with the matter. The departures of the staff, who worked with prospective investors, come as the firm has struggled to raise money for its latest venture capital fund after a collapse in startup valuations soured its paper returns for earlier funds.As of the second quarter of 2023, a $12.7 billion fund that Tiger started making investments from in October 2021 had a paper loss of 18%, calculated as an annualized return net of management fees, according to internal data distributed to investors in the fund. That's a slight improvement from six months earlier, when the 2021 fund showed a loss of 20%. The fund's performance is in the bottom quartile of funds started that year, the document said, and has also lagged the S&P 500's annualized net return in the same period.The Takeaway• Tiger employee buyouts are the latest example of VC cost-cutting• Tiger's $12.7 billion had lost 18% on paper as of June* Tiger could soon show a $350 million gain from OpenAI stakeAs of June 30, 2023, the $12.7 billion fund hadn't returned any cash to investors, which isn't unusual for such a young fund. But the paper losses are closely guarded secrets that reflect the kind of write-downs other venture firms have been making over the past two years as tech valuations have fallen.It isn't clear how big Tiger's investor relations team is, but the departures are the latest example of belt-tightening across the venture industry. Firms are raising smaller funds and striking fewer deals, reducing the need for sprawling support staff—including those who help firms raise money from pension funds and endowments...MoreWorldcoin hints at new Orb for a friendlier iris-scanning experienceby Vivian NguyenThe next-gen device will feature various colors and shapes to enhance its visual appeal.Worldcoin, an iris biometric crypto project, is set to launch a new Orb that aims to offer a more user-friendly iris-scanning experience, said Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, the developer behind the project, in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch today.“The next Orb will roll out in the first half of this year and will feature alternative colors and form factors in an effort to look ‘much more friendly,'” Blania explained. “Overall, it is going to look way more tuned down and similar to an Apple product.”Blania acknowledges that the initial design of the Orb predated his time at the company. “The new orb is coming and the next iterations will look quite different,” he remarked during a fireside chat at a recent StrictlyVC event, signaling a departure from the current, more controversial design.The goal of Worldcoin, as described by Blania, is to reach billions of users as fast as possible.“The thesis is very simple. We race toward billions of users as fast as we possibly can,” said Blania.Founded by Blania, Sam Altman, and Max Novendstern, Tools for Humanity has raised around $250 million from prominent investors like a16z and Bain Capital Crypto, among others. The project is famous for its unique Orb device designed to scan people's irises and assign them a “World ID,” granting access to Worldcoin's application and a digital passport. Worldcoin's vision is to authenticate individual identities and prevent the creation of multiple accounts.The current design of the Orb has been a topic of much debate due to its intimidating look, similar to a prop from a sci-fi movie, according to Blania. The company has also faced criticism for its beta testing approaches in developing economies and concerns over privacy and data security.Despite some skepticism, the Orb has seen practical use. At the StrictlyVC event in downtown San Francisco, a Tools for Humanity employee reported that a “couple dozen” attendees scanned their iris to receive a World ID. There has also been “field testing” of the new Orb design.…MoreStartup of the WeekLoyalty Startup Bilt Rewards Hits $3.1B Valuation After $200M RoundChris MetinkoJanuary 24, 2024Bilt Rewards, a loyalty rewards startup, raised a $200 million round led by General Catalyst at a $3.1 billion valuation — more than double the number after its last fundraising in 2022.The round also included participation from Eldridge Industries, Left Lane Capital, Camber Creek and Prosus Ventures.The New York-based startup allows consumers to earn rewards on the rent they pay. Bilt plans to use some of the proceeds to expand its network to include local dining, grocery stores, ridesharing and other retail purchases.“We're not just building a loyalty program; we're creating a community-centric ecosystem that benefits everyone from renters to local businesses,” said founder and CEO Ankur Jain.The company also appointed some big names to roles in the company. Bilt named Ken Chenault, former chairman and CEO of American Express, as its chairman, and Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, as an independent director.Big moneyThe company reported its annualized member spend is nearing $20 billion. It also became profitable on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization basis last year.Those metrics must have impressed investors, as Bilt has seen its valuation shoot up after raising a $150 million Series B at a pre-money valuation of $1.4 billion in October 2022. Founded in 2021, the company has raised a total of $413 million, per Crunchbase.Last year was a slow go for loyalty startups. Such companies raised only $74 million, per Crunchbase data. However in 2022, loyalty startups raised more than a half-billion dollars thanks to big raises that included Bilt's Series B and Madison, Wisconsin-based Fetch's $240 million Series E.With this fundraise, things are looking up for loyalty startups again.X of the Week This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thatwastheweek.substack.com/subscribe

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Dan Ahrens, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Left Lane Capital. Topics Discussed: The current state of the venture capital space, and why contemporary founders are seeking more than simply startup capital The importance of hustle an independent thinking to running a successful VC How Left Lane Capital differentiates itself by taking a data-centric approach to making big business decisions Why new founders need to be well capitalized before embarking on a category creation journey and evangelizing new categories The future of investment in a capital scarce economy, and why profit-first portfolios are likely to lead the way

Magnus Karnehm is a Principal at Left Lane Capital – Magnus heads up their European office We explored Left Lane's unique approach to venture capital – running their fund like a sales team with each investor speaking to 25+ companies a week giving them exposure to off the beaten track sectors as well as the hot and trendy sectors.  We discussed the traits of startups that scale efficiently from $1m to $10m ARR - in particular data obsession  We also discussed the mistakes that can hinder a Saas venture's trajectory - e.g. moving upmarket too early  With great candour & humility, Magnus opened up on his journey of self exploration since embarking on the Hoffman Institute process after his father passed away last year. We discussed how important it is for a VC to maintain peak personal performance as their decisions - and the support they provide to their portfolio companies - are so impactful.  For more insights into Left Lane Capital check out https://www.leftlane.com/ and for advice on hiring leadership talent for software ventures head over to https://alpinasearch.com/ More information on the Hoffman Institute process can be found at https://www.hoffmaninstitute.co.uk/              

In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Frederick Jost, Co-CEO und Founder von Holy, über die erfolgreich abgeschlossene Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von rund 10 Millionen Euro.Holy bietet eine Alternative zu herkömmlichen Softdrinks an. Die zuckerfreien Energy Drinks auf Pulverbasis sparen laut eigenen Angaben mehr als 90 % an Transportgewicht und Abfall und beinhalten wichtige Nootropics, Antioxidantien und Vitamine. Der Eistee des Startups ist zuckerfrei und ist mit wertvollen Antioxidantien und Ballaststoffen angereichert. Im Standbodenbeutel kostet eine Portion 80 Cent und beim Kauf von drei Packungen 66 Cent. Die Pulver-Drinks werden in Deutschland hergestellt und auch alle weiteren Partner wie Abfüller sowie Aromen- und Verpackungshersteller sind in Deutschland ansässig. Lediglich das Zubehör, wie beispielsweise Shaker oder Glasflaschen, werden vereinzelt aus dem Ausland bezogen. Holy legt seinen Fokus auf eine junge Zielgruppe und spricht diese mit einer auffälligen Gestaltung und einer interessanten Namensgebung an. Das Food-Startup wurde im Jahr 2020 von Frederick Jost, Philipp Nass und Mathias Horsch in Berlin gegründet. In den drei Jahren seit der Gründung haben die Founder über zehn Millionen Pulvergetränke verkauft. Bisher sind die Getränkepulver nur im Onlinehandel und nur in deutschsprachigen Ländern und Frankreich erhältlich. Anfang 2023 hat das Unternehmen die Profitabilität erreicht.Nun hat das Berliner Startup in einer Finanzierungsrunde rund 10 Millionen Euro eingesammelt. Der größte neue Investor der Runde ist der Risikokapitalgeber Left Lane Capital aus New York. Zudem beteiligten sich Bestandsinvestoren wie Foodlabs aus Berlin und Simon Capital, der Investmentarm der Bitburger-Holding, erneut an der Finanzierung. Zudem sind auch private Investoren mit eingestiegen, von deren Expertise die Holy-Gründer in Zukunft profitieren wollen. Dazu gehören Just-Spices-Gründer Bela Seebach und Benjamin Kremer, der mit seinem Start-up YFood Trinkmahlzeiten und erhitzbare Bowls anbietet. Mit dem frischen Kapital sollen neue Produkte auf den Markt gebracht werden. Außerdem will Holy weiter internationalisieren und in den Einzelhandel expandieren.

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Victor Hürbe, Associate bei Speedinvest. Victor spricht über die Finanzierungsrunde von Holy und Conversation24.Das Berliner Startup Holy plant, den Getränkemarkt mit seinen gesünderen Pulver-Softdrinks zu erobern. Die Gründer haben dafür nun über zehn Millionen Euro von Investoren erhalten, um ihre Produkte vom Online- in den Einzelhandel zu bringen und ihr Sortiment zu erweitern. Die Pulvergetränke enthalten kein zugesetztes Zucker und das Koffein wirkt gleichmäßiger im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Energy-Drinks, so das Startup. Der größte neue Investor in dieser Finanzierungsrunde ist Left Lane Capital aus New York, zusammen mit anderen Investoren wie Foodlabs und Simon Capital. Die Gründer streben an, ihre Produkte auch in Supermärkten anzubieten und gleichzeitig profitabel zu bleiben.Das Rotterdamer Omnichannel-Kommunikationsunternehmen Conversation24 hat 3 Millionen Euro eingesammelt, um seine globale Expansion voranzutreiben. Das Unternehmen ermöglicht personalisierte, Echtzeit-Interaktionen für Unternehmen, um höhere Konversionsraten und gesteigerte Kundenzufriedenheit zu erreichen. Die Finanzierung durch Holland Capital soll dazu beitragen, die Plattform für kundenorientierte Unternehmen weltweit auszubauen und verbesserte Benutzererfahrungen anzubieten. Conversation24 zielt darauf ab, in der sich schnell entwickelnden Geschäftsumgebung eine neue Ära der Kundeninteraktionen mit unvergleichlicher Personalisierung zu etablieren.

In a recent episode of The Dealmakers' Podcast, Robert Krayn, the visionary founder behind Talkiatry, shared his inspiring journey from a middle-class upbringing in New Jersey to revolutionizing the world of behavioral healthcare. Despite facing numerous challenges, Krayn's determination and innovative thinking led him to build a unique healthcare model that empowers both providers and patients. Talkiatry has raised funding from top-tier investors like Left Lane Capital, Sikwoo Capital Partners, Relevance Ventures, and Yousif Al-Dujaili.

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Enrico Mellis, Principal bei Lakestar. Enrico bespricht mit uns die Finanzierungsrunde von GoStudent. Der Nachhilfeanbieter GoStudent hat in einer Finanzierungsrunde umgerechnet 87 Millionen Euro eingesammelt. Die Mittel stammen nach Angaben des Unternehmens aus Eigen- und Fremdkapital. Zu den Investoren gehören unter anderem die Deutsche Bank sowie Left Lane Capital, eine globale Risikokapital- und Wachstumsbeteiligungsgesellschaft aus New York. Das österreichische EdTech plant, in KI-Anwendungen für Nachhilfe zu investieren, wie einen Tutor-Bot, und auch Online-Offline-Nachhilfe anbieten. GoStudent wurde 2016 von Felix Ohswald und Gregor Müller gegründet. Ursprünglich als Whatsapp-Service gestartet, ist Gostudent nun eines der höchstbewerteten Edtech-Unternehmen Europas mit einer Bewertung von drei Milliarden Euro. 

In this episode, Erasmus Elsner is talking to Dan Ahrens, founding partner at Left Lane Capital, a New York based venture capital and early growth equity firm that invests in high-growth internet and consumer technology businesses. 00:00​​ Intro 02:43 Consumer vs. enterprise tech 05:09 Getting into venture 07:54 Raising Left Lane I 10:35 Investing while fundraising 13:09 The Left Lane Capital playbook 17:09 Due diligence in a hot market 18:52 Scaling Left Lane Capital 21:36 Deployment pace 23:28 Focus area 26:04 Hard conversations 28:10 Arc 32:53 Exo Freight 35:28 Supply Chain Tech 37:04 Call to action

In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Daniel Khachab, CEO und Co-Founder bei Choco, über die erfolgreich abgeschlossene Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 25 Millionen Euro.Choco ist ein Startup, welches sich zur Aufgabe gemacht hat, den Transport von Lebensmitteln bis 2030 transparent, nachhaltig und ohne Abfall zu ermöglichen. Zu Beginn dieser Mission hat das Unternehmen eine Plattform entwickelt, die Restaurants und Lieferanten miteinander verbindet und den Bestellprozess für beide Seiten verbessert. Dabei sollen Zeit, Geld und Lebensmittel gespart werden können. Die Bestellplattform digitalisiert den Bestellalltag und ermöglicht den gesamten Wareneinkauf in einer App. Präzisere Bestellungen sollen darüber hinaus zu weniger Fehlern führen und somit die Kosten senken. Choco wurde im Jahr 2018 von Daniel Khachab, Julian Hammer und Grégoire Ambroselli in Berlin gegründet. Mittlerweile vertrauen mehr als 15.000 Gastronomiebetriebe und 10.000 Großhändler auf die Lösung des Startups. Monatlich werden über 100.000 Bestellungen über die Plattform getätigt. Zu den Partnern des Berliner Unternehmens gehören u.a. Slow Food, 50 Next und The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Das Startup ist auf den Märkten in den USA und Europa aktiv, darunter Deutschland, Großbritannien, Frankreich, Spanien, Österreich und Belgien. Durch das rasante Wachstum hat Choco im Jahr 2022 eine Unternehmensbewertung von über 1 Milliarde US-Dollar erreicht, sodass es zum Einhorn aufgestiegen ist. Außerdem wurde im Jahr 2022 die mobile Bestell-App Refill übernommen, bei der Gastronominnen und Gastronomen ihre Getränke-Bestellungen von verschiedenen Anbietern in nur einer Anwendung zusammenfassen konnten, um das Produktportfolio von Choco zu erweitern.In einer Finanzierungsrunde hat das Unicorn 25 Millionen Euro von den bestehenden Kapitalgebern eingesammelt. Dazu gehören u.a. Bessemer Venture Partners, G Squared, Coatue Management, Insight Partners und Left Lane Capital. Die Bewertung des Startups hat sich durch die Runde nicht verändert und liegt weiter bei etwa 1,2 Milliarden US-Dollar. Insgesamt sind seit der Gründung mehr als 300 Millionen Euro in das Startup geflossen. Das frische Kapital soll für die Produktentwicklung und die Beschleunigung des Ausbaus des digitalen Angebots der App fließen.

 Dan Ahrens of Left Lane Capital joins Nate to discuss The $30 Trillion Dollar Market Opportunity, Formulas for Successful Consumer Investing, and the Current Macro Environment. In this episode we cover: Firm Building at Left Lane Raising a $1.4B Fund II Investing in Consumer Tech and SMB The Current Macro Environment and much more!

In this episode, we speak with Don Muir, Co-Founder and CEO of Arc Technologies. Founded in 2021, Arc provides a better way for software startups to raise capital without incurring costly dilution and risky debt.    Arc converts a startups' future revenue into upfront capital, provides a cash management account to store, manage and spend funds, and delivers financial analytics to drive growth.    The Company is backed by Left Lane Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, NFX and Atalaya Capital, among others.   I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.

Our guest this week is Left Lane Capital Principal Magnus Karnehm.Left Lane is a global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in high-growth internet and consumer technology companies that are fundamental to the lives of customers. The foundation of Left Lane's strategy is built on four main elements: specialization in internet-first businesses, proprietary sourcing at every level, deep data rigor and best practices, and a genuine philosophy around partnering with founders.Magnus joins James Pringle and Hector Mason to discuss what drew him to VC, what to look for in an investment, hiring, and much more!Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow The Riding Unicorns Podcast on our socials and your chosen podcast platform to stay up to date!

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Katharina Neuhaus, Principal bei Vorwerk Ventures. Katharina hat die Runde von Napo Pet Insurance und Pets Table analysiert: Das britische Haustierversicherungs-Startup Napo gab gestern bekannt, dass es im Rahmen einer Series-A-Finanzierung unter der Leitung von DN Capital und mit Unterstützung des auf Haustierpflege spezialisierten Companion Fund 15 Millionen Pfund eingenommen hat. Die 2021 gegründete Insurtech-Plattform von Napo bietet Haustierbesitzern innerhalb von Minuten Angebote für Versicherungsverträge an. Napo bietet außerdem 24/7-Online-Videoberatungen durch die hauseigenen Tierärzte, eine Zahnversicherung, Geld für die Suche nach vermissten Haustieren und eine Haftpflichtversicherung an. Neben DN Capital und dem Companion Fund haben auch andere Investoren an der Serie A teilgenommen, darunter der Londoner Insurtech-VC MTech Capital und der Münchner Frühphasen-VC Picus Capital.Pet's Table, ein Direct-to-Consumer-Unternehmen für Tiernahrung, das frische Mahlzeiten für Hunde im Abonnement anbietet, gab heute den Abschluss seiner Seed-Runde in Höhe von 2,2 Millionen US-Dollar bekannt. Die Seed-Runde wurde von Left Lane Capital geleitet, mit Beteiligung von Goodwater Capital. Die Gründer Jorge Salas, Luis Vollbracht, Camila Gonzalez und Rafael Gonzalez gründeten Pet's Table im Jahr 2020 in Mexiko, nachdem sie Probleme mit einer gesünderen Ernährung ihrer Hunde hatten und feststellten, dass es in Mexiko keine gesunden Optionen gab.

Left Lane Capital is a leading global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in high-growth internet and consumer technology companies that are fundamental to the lives of customers. The foundation of Left Lane's strategy is built on four main elements: specialization in internet-first businesses, proprietary sourcing at every level, deep data rigor and best practices, and a genuine philosophy around partnering with founders. Dan Ahrens (Managing Partner) joins me on Tech Tech Talks Daily to discuss Left Lane's second fund with $1.4 billion in commitments, how the firm is focused on growing the internet and consumer tech category by identifying and supporting category-defining companies, the market potential for consumer internet companies, and their recent investments in GoStudent, M1 Finance, iTrust Capital, and Tovala.

I moved from San Francisco to New York, in February 2019, back before it was cool to turn tail on the tech mecca. Truth be told, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for San Francisco, but my girlfriend beckoned from Brooklyn.I’m writing this from my flight back to New York after over a week in SF. I spent much of it in an Airbnb next to Mr. Pickle’s on Van Ness Avenue and then a few days crashing at a fellow tech reporter’s apartment in the Outer Richmond. I ate Mission Chinese and La Taqueria, drank at Brass Tacks and The Monk’s Kettle, and made it up to Calistoga for a picturesque vineyard wedding.But did I spend any time working for you, dear reader? Yes, not to worry. I spent my days shuttling from South Park to the Presidio, catching up with venture capitalists, founders, tech media insiders, and senior tech executives. And I spent my nights getting drunk with them, eager for looser lips.Here are my key immediate takeaways:One source told me that even Insight Partners — which announced a $20 billion fund in February — has decided to seriously slow down big late stage private investments. Until recently, Insight looked like one of the last holdouts when it came to doing late stage deals even as the market unraveled. But now, like pretty much everyone else, it’s mostly focused on its existing portfolio.VC advice on the downturn — even Sequoia Capital’s presentation to founders — has felt too much like content marketing. For some startup CEOs it can feel a bit like you’re the goody two-shoes, “A” student in the classroom, when the teacher reprimands everyone. You think the rebuke applies to you, but really the message is meant for the troublemakers. But it’s the most diligent among us that take these admonitions personally. Founders need advice specific to their company. There’s a sense that there have been many software engineers who have been overpromoted in the bull cycle and that this downturn could force some coders to reset their expectations about their appropriate rank and pay.I spent much of my time asking sources what the overarching, thematic story of the downturn would be. One venture capitalist gave me my favorite answer: He argued that we’d look back on this downturn as a story of the perfect storm between retail and professional investor excesses. On the retail side, we saw the rise of Robinhood and Coinbase, and r/wallstreetbets trades on Kodak and GameStop. On the professional side, we saw firms like SoftBank and Tiger go so, so long without enough diligence to back it up.If I had to name a couple companies/firms that I think are most likely to represent this downturn, right now I’d name Instacart, Coinbase, Robinhood, GoPuff, Bird, Tesla, Tiger, and SoftBank. Though, right now, I think increasingly crypto is looking like it will be the category most associated with this cycle’s excesses.There’s been a lot of envy in traditional startup world of people who went over to the the crypto dark side. Now there’s all sorts of schadenfreude going on as crypto prices plummet. Some VCs are starting to admit (mostly in private) that they never really believed in crypto. Still, there’s so much money. Just as I was leaving the city, Coinbase announced that it was brutally laying off 18% of its staff, locking them out of their emails before they even had time to say goodbye.We’re overdue for a reckoning over who screwed over credulous investors with implausible SPAC deals. ~cough~ Chamath ~ cough ~ At least, Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter led the PIPE on its own terrible Grab SPAC deal. Andreessen Horowitz still remains, probably, the biggest nemesis of many firms in Silicon Valley. Sure, Tiger blew up the startup world. But what Tiger did was so unlike anything venture capital firms were doing, so there’s less professional jealousy. There are whispers that things aren’t as copacetic internally at a16z as might appear from their highly choreographed public communications. It would seem that part of the explanation for the explosion of funds at the firm has been the explosion of egos. Instead of resolving interpersonal conflicts on the consumer fund, let’s just create a gaming fund. In that light, it’s pretty amazing that the firm couldn’t figure out a way to keep Katie Haun. Consumer investing across the board seems challenged. What’s going on over at Popshop, Lunchclub, Cameo, and Clubhouse just to name a few? I guess investors simply wishing consumer investing into being without a strong new thesis wasn’t exactly an omen for the sector’s inevitable success. (I will say that Whatnot and BeReal remain two consumer plays that I’m still following.) What will it mean for this generation of consumer investors? Benchmark’s next generation consumer investor, Sarah Tavel, seems to have made her best investment in business-to-business company Chainalysis, last valued at $8.6 billion. Speaking of Benchmark, the firm deserves some credit for holding firm on its strategy as other venture firms’ fund sizes got crazy. Sure, Benchmark probably could have made way more money if it topped up its own investments — but then it might be taking the heat that Benchmark favorite Altimeter is getting right now over its overexuberance. There’s money and reputation to manage. Benchmark has always made enough money to value its reputation. (That’s something Travis Kalanick, Adam Neumann, Nirav Tolia, etc. surely gripe about.)Last year’s hype around venture capital firms indefinitely holding onto private companies long after they go public is looking like pure bubble thinking. Sequoia’s timing on its all-in-one, hold indefinitely “The Sequoia Capital Fund” looks a little more like one of the excesses from the bull market. But limited partners seem too afraid to do anything to unwind the strategy shift that seems designed to enrich the firm’s general partners. (Reach out to me if you have off-the-record intel on this.)Investors are dramatically slowing the pace of their investments. These funds are going to last years longer than they would have in bull times. Multi-stage investors seem more inclined to double-down on their existing portfolio companies than to make new bets. Bridge rounds are on everyone’s lips. Still, I heard from investors who had made secret Series B and C investments in companies this year. It’s a good time to make a bet on a company that got away for a hype-y Series A round.Startup founders think prospective employees want assurances that their company is really worth what the company says it is. Good private unicorns are in a bit of a bind. Prospective employees are now automatically giving their equity offers a mental haircut based on the market downturn. So good companies have an incentive to reaffirm their valuations with funding rounds during the downturn — even if it otherwise might be smarter to keep their valuations artificially low so as to maintain room to grow should conditions worsen. (I wish employees would get better at assessing companies based on fundamentals, rather than the last tick fundraising round. Employees are basically begging founders to maximize for valuation, which then minimizes employee upside.)Some small-to-medium sized companies are shopping themselves to their rival startups but it’s not always clear why the competitor would want to buy. Why take on additional burn and headcount when all you might end up getting is leads on some new customers? Sure, you might do some venture capital firm a favor, but what’s that really worth?There are some cracks in up-start media world. The most obvious tremor is at BuzzFeed where the stock has sunk 54% in a month. Reporters have been leaving in droves. Meanwhile, The Information lost one of its top editors — Martin Peers. He’s long been a central figure over there. The Information’s up-and-coming venture capital reporter Berber Jin departed to the Wall Street Journal, as did Sarah Krouse who will be covering Netflix for the Journal. Stephen Nellis returned to Reuters. Meanwhile spirits seem strong at my former employer, Bloomberg. The ascendance of the player-coach editor seems to have people upbeat. Sarah Frier is leading big tech coverage and Lucas Shaw (who has been a guest on Dead Cat) is running the show on Hollywood coverage. And somehow Bloomberg just lured back a former star reporter who had left to join the startup ranks: Alex Barinka — who left Bloomberg as a deals reporter to help launch Imran Khan’s Verishop before going over to Stitch Fix — is joining Frier’s team as a social media reporter based in LA. Next week I’m in Toronto for Collision where I’ll be interviewing Uncork Capital’s Andy McLoughlin, Real Ventures’ Janet Bannister, and Left Lane Capital’s Vinny Pujji on a panel Wednesday called “Survival of the leanest: The importance of being capital efficient.” Then, less than an hour later I’ll interview General Catalyst’s Hemant Taneja about responsible innovation. On Thursday, I’ll ask “Has the tech bubble burst... again?!” in a panel with FirstMark’s Matt Turck, Lux’s Deena Shakir, and Neo Financial’s Andrew Chau. Expect the most interesting tidbits in this newsletter late next week.Talking about Chesa Boudin on Dead CatMy first meeting in San Francisco started with a tour of The San Francisco Standard, the Michael Moritz-funded local news enterprise. My old editor Jonathan Weber — once the editor of tech media dot-com icon The Industry Standard — is the editor-in-chief over at the SF Standard. Weber, Dead Cat co-host Tom Dotan, and I met up for a nice dinner at The Morris in the Mission. After spending the evening discussing San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s recall, Tom and I convinced Weber to come on the Dead Cat podcast and talk about the Standard and San Francisco politics.Tom thinks I’m going to get eviscerated by San Franciscans for my politics. This is something we’ve never seen before: a New Yorker opining on San Francisco local affairs. I did my best to offend conservatives and liberals alike, maligning the police while rooting for tech’s ascendant influence on San Francisco politics. Weber makes the case for objective, follow-the-reporting local news and outlines the real issues underpinning the recall. He explains how money is simultaneously to blame and not to blame for Boudin’s recall. And he defends the Standard against its critics for its influential story on Boudin’s refusal to make drug arrests. We interrogate what Boudin’s defeat means for the future of progressive politics and the city of San Francisco.Give it a listen.Read the automated transcript. Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

Few early-stage companies combine as many distinct components as Tovala. Based in Chicago, the company pairs a smart oven with a meal subscription service. It truly makes foolproof food. Weekly meals are delivered fresh to the your door. Scan the barcode & you're done. Home-cooked meals that cook themselves. And clearly Tovala is onto something big.  They're venture investors include: Comcast Ventures, Finistere Ventures, Left Lane Capital, New Stack Ventures, Origin Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, RiverPark Ventures, Service Provider Capital, Y Combinator Mike Mason is Tovala's Talent Acquisition Manager, which puts him in the crucial role of scaling this hypergrowth organization. I just had the change to speak with Mike about how he puts a Rockstar in every seat. (And how you can do the same.) Yum.  

Harley Miller is the Founder and Managing Partner @ Left Lane Capital, one of the fastest-growing growth equity firms of the last five years. Just yesterday, Left Lane announced the closing of their new fund taking their AUM to over $2BN with an early portfolio including M1 Finance, Masterworks, Choco, GoStudent, to name a few. Prior to founding Left Lane, Harley spent over 9 years at Insight Partners investing in the likes of DeliveryHero, HelloFresh, N26, Calm, Udemy and many more breakout companies. In Today's Episode with Harley Miller You Will Learn: 1.) Origins into Venture: How Harley made his way into the world of venture with his first role at Insight? What were Harley's biggest lessons and takeaways from 10 years at Insight? 2.) Left Lane: Fundraising What are harley's biggest takeaways on fundraising from speaking to 2,500 LPs for Left Lane I? With that experience in mind, what advice does Harley give to other first time fund managers on what it takes to raise successfully? How did the Left Lane pitch to LPs change over time? What worked? What did not work? With the benefit of hindsight, what fundraising elements would Harley have done differently? 3.) Left Lane: Firm Building What are the hardest elements of building a firm today? How did Harley navigate the transition from investor to fund manager? What was challenging? What is Harley's biggest advice to young people in venture looking to scale their career fast? What are 1-2 core inputs aspiring VCs should focus on as they build their career? 4.) Left Lane: Investing and Consumer How does Harley approach portfolio construction with the new fund? How does Harley think through outcome scenario planning and ownership requirements with the new fund? How does Harley think traditional growth equity models can be applied to consumer investing? What will Left Lane be in 20 years? What firm does Harley want to build? Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Harley Miller Harley's Most Recent Investment: Masterworks

In this episode, we speak with Jason Fiedler, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital, a venture capital firm investing in high-growth, high-retention consumer and internet technology businesses. Jason joined the firm in 2019 after working previously as a Principal at Red Sea Ventures. Currently, he serves on the board of directors of Talkiatry, Smalls, and Tovala. He is also involved in investments including Abound, Renegade Insurance, and Jackpocket. We hope you enjoy the show.  

Host Paul Spain and James Fuller (Founder/CEO, Hnry) discuss Hnry's recent NZ$16m funding from Left Lane Capital and how Hnry are helping sole traders in Australia and NZ - along with NZ's need for more digital skills, China's tech hub getting back to work, a new government cyber incident, the importance of strategic technology selection (sparked by recent new costs for Vimeo customers), COBOL's continuing legacy and James Webb Space Telescope's alignment success.

This is Jesse Pujji, and today we're breaking down Peloton. Peloton was founded over ten years ago with the idea of making the best in-person gym classes available at home. By delivering eye-catching hardware and compelling content, it has since become the largest interactive fitness platform in the world with over 6 million members. Peloton's rise has not been without challenges, however, and the business's economic model is under debate as we speak.   To break down Peloton, I'm joined by my brother Vinny Pujji, partner at Left Lane Capital, a growth-stage investment firm focused on consumer businesses. We discuss Peloton's success in creating a new fitness category, the impact of the pandemic on its financials, and why it may make sense for Peloton to build its own music label. Please enjoy this breakdown of Peloton.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Much of the foundational prep for these episodes starts with research on the Tegus platform. With Tegus, you can learn everything you'd want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Quartr. With Quartr, you can access conference calls, investor presentations, transcripts, and earnings reports – straight from your pocket. Quartr is 100% free and includes companies from 12 markets including the US, the UK, Canada, India, and all the Scandanavian countries. Quartr is available for both iOS and Android, so check out the app today. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss Show Notes [00:03:37] - [First question] - What Peloton is and what they do [00:04:59] - How most consumers experience their brand [00:05:40] - Their customer base and the size of their business today [00:06:22] - The founding story and what lead to Peloton  [00:10:10] - What business they started with and how they've expanded their offerings [00:12:03] - Complexities of direct to consumer hardware distribution [00:13:01] - Scope of the global fitness and wellness market writ large [00:14:42] - Unit economics of Peloton's business [00:19:03] - Contributing factors that draw on their cash and working capital  [00:22:46] - What would solve their current liquidity problem [00:25:11] - Their latest treadmill product and their subscription product [00:26:22] - Thoughts on why management has struggled with their forecasts [00:29:44] - The competitive landscape as it exists today and how they compete [00:33:16] - Whether or not Peloton will experience a boom and bust cycle [00:35:18] - What Peloton does very well that separates them from their competitors [00:36:52] - Gamifying fitness and incorporating a live feature [00:38:59] - How music plays into their business and its role in their future  [00:41:45] - Whether they are a subscription or hardware business [00:43:59] - What has to go right in order to scale their market cap in the next decade [00:45:08] - Their approach to marketing and what drives their engine [00:47:17] - What will have gone wrong if Peloton doesn't survive the coming decade [00:50:28] - What can we learn from Peloton

Cryptocurrency & FinancialMarkets News, Stats& Data for 19th Jan 2022break out soon - get ready to buy Today I talk about the following:1. Market Stats, Trading models, Technical analysis, Sector performances & liquidity2. Fiat markets, Economics, Central Banks, Regulators and Government news3. Social media, & Greed and Fear index4. Derivative Positions & Leverage & Risk Metrics5. Binance to Launch New Cryptocurrency Exchange in Thailand After Thai SEC Filed Criminal Complaint – Bitcoin News. Crypto exchange Binance is launching a new exchange in Thailand after the country's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against the company for operating without a license. Binance has now signed an agreement with Gulf Energy Development, a Thai public company, to establish a crypto exchange in Thailand.6. Nexo partners with Bakkt . Nexo will use Bakkt's Warehouse to safeguard its customers' crypto assets.On January 19, Bakkt Holdings Inc announced a partnership with Nexo, a cryptocurrency-backed loan platform, to custody crypto assets in the Bakkt warehouse. The partnership will see Nexo using Bakkt's Warehouse to safeguard its customers' Bitcoin and Ether holdings. Bakkt warehouse is a regulated custodian, which allows for secure and safe storage of Bitcoin and Ethereum. 7.Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has partnered with Mastercard to allow a “broader group of consumers to purchase NFTs” by allowing users to pay with Mastercard cards on the platform's upcoming NFT marketplace. https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-and-mastercard-partner-to-revolutionize-nft-purchase-experience-8e486a392c558.Popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com halted withdrawals for a short period earlier in the week over an alleged security breach that saw a hacker steal $15 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) from its hot wallets. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/01/18/binance-destroys-16m-bnb-tokens-in-first-ever-auto-burn/ 9.The Centre Consortium's USDC stablecoin has surpassed Tether's USDT in total supply on the Ethereum network. USDC's current supply is over 40.06 billion tokens, above USDT's 39.82 billion. The Centre Consortium's USDC stablecoin has surpassed Tether's USDT in total supply on the Ethereum network. USDC's current supply on it is over 40.06 billion tokens, above USDT's 39.82 billion. https://cointelegraph.com/news/usdc-flips-tether-on-the-ethereum-network10. Intel – the world's second-largest semiconductor chip manufacturer – appears to be planning a Bitcoin mining chip reveal. At this year's ISSCC conference, the organization has a presentation scheduled under the “Highlighted Chip Releases” category to showcase a “Bonanza Mine” processor.https://cryptopotato.com/intel-plans-bitcoin-mining-chip-reveal-at-upcoming-conference/11· The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is reportedly planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot soon.https://cointelegraph.com/news/iran-to-reportedly-pilot-central-bank-digital-currency-soon12· The total supply for Circle's stablecoin USDC on Ethereum has surpassed that of Tether, putting USDT in second place on Ethereum for the first time. USDC's current supply on Ethereum as of writing is 40.06 billion tokens, just ahead of USDT's supply of 39.82 billion.https://coinnounce.com/usdc-surpasses-usdt-in-total-supply-on-the-ethereum-network/13· One of the world's most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, OKEx, has invested in the short-video platform Chingari which announced raising $15 million in a funding round.. As part of OKEx's strategic investment in Chingari, the startup's native token GARI will be listed on the exchange on January 18. Five more crypto exchanges are set to list the token on the same day.https://cryptopotato.com/india-based-tiktok-competitor-chingari-closes-15-million-funding-round/14· South Korean Presidential Candidates Pledge Lower Taxes for Crypto Traders, End to ICO Banhttps://cryptonews.com/news/south-korean-presidential-candidates-pledge-lower-taxes-for-crypto-traders-end-ico-ban.htm15· Byte Trading, a crypto market maker specialized in derivatives, has raised $7 million in a seed funding round.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130653/crypto-market-maker-byte-trading-raises-7-million-in-seed-funding?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss16· Metaplex Foundation announced a $46 million funding round on Tuesday, co-led by Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto. The fresh raise will go towards “expanding support for gaming and metaverse applications,” the company said in a statement to Blockworks. Metaplex, the Solana-based protocol developed by the firm, is commonly used in minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as an infrastructure for creators to launch self-hosted NFT storPlotX, a gaming Dapp built on Polygon, received a $5 million pre-Series A investment and grant from Polygon & Hashed. As one of Polygon's fastest-growing GameFi ecosystems, PlotX will be able to use this extra capital to increase its already sizable user base further.17· Hashed, Polygon Studios, Animoca Brands, Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge), and power angels such as Sandeep Nailwal (Co-Founder Polygon) and Alan Howard (Co-Founder Brevan Howard Asset Management) participated in the round, which raised a total of $70 million.efronts. The protocol has minted over 5.7 million NFTs since its inception, according to the startup.https://thenewscrypto.com/plotx-acquires-5-million-in-funding-grant-led-by-polygon/18· PlotX, a GameFi protocol aiming to create sustainable play-to-earn (P2E) ecosystems, has announced the completion of a $5 million pre-Series A funding round and grant-led Polygon Studios and Hashed helping them expand to reach a global audience, details from a press release on January 17 reveals.https://coinquora.com/plotx-secures-a-5-million-funding-round-led-by-polygon-and-hashed-launches-staking-program/19· Cryptocurrency individual retirement account and 401(k) provider iTrustCapital said it had raised $125 million in a growth equity investment, making its valuation reach $1.3 billion. In a Wednesday announcement, iTrustCapital said it had completed a $125 million Series A growth equity investment led by New York-based VC firm Left Lane Capital. The company said it planned to use the funds for expanding its existing product and service line in addition to exploring strategic acquisitions.https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-ira-itrustcapital-raises-125m-pushes-valuation-over-1b20. https://cryptopotato.com/vc-firm-blossom-capital-raises-432m-to-invest-in-the-cryptocurrency-ecosystem/· The UK firm Blossom Capital intends to invest one-third of the $432 million in both digital assets and companies that develop crypto infrastructure. · The London-based venture capital company Blossom Capital raised $432 million to invest in early-stage tech startups in Europe. The firm has reserved a third of the proceeds for investments in the cryptocurrency industry.21. www.cryptonewsz.com/the-algorand-foundation-announces-partnership-with-icon/The Algorand Foundation recently announced a partnership with ICON by offering them the Bridges SupaGrant. The integration will also allow Algorand to enter ICON's BTP Working Group, known for its Interoperability Ecosystem.With the collaboration, the community will witness the perpetual growth of the diverse, growing, and vibrant Algorand ecosystem. Moreover, the Algorand Foundation will gain a security partner with the BTP integration.It also opens the door of opportunities for future upgrades and maintenance needed to the bridging integration. You can know more here about Algorand's potential as an altcoin investment. As ICON's state-of-the-art interoperability solution, BTP is both trustless and decentralized. In addition, it is completely secured via cryptography, making it a viable solution in the modern blockchain market. After adding Algorand, the BTP network now holds multiple renowned ecosystems.and more

Cryptocurrency & FinancialMarkets News, Stats& Data for 19th Jan 2022break out soon - get ready to buy Today I talk about the following:1. Market Stats, Trading models, Technical analysis, Sector performances & liquidity2. Fiat markets, Economics, Central Banks, Regulators and Government news3. Social media, & Greed and Fear index4. Derivative Positions & Leverage & Risk Metrics5. Binance to Launch New Cryptocurrency Exchange in Thailand After Thai SEC Filed Criminal Complaint – Bitcoin News. Crypto exchange Binance is launching a new exchange in Thailand after the country's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against the company for operating without a license. Binance has now signed an agreement with Gulf Energy Development, a Thai public company, to establish a crypto exchange in Thailand.6. Nexo partners with Bakkt . Nexo will use Bakkt's Warehouse to safeguard its customers' crypto assets.On January 19, Bakkt Holdings Inc announced a partnership with Nexo, a cryptocurrency-backed loan platform, to custody crypto assets in the Bakkt warehouse. The partnership will see Nexo using Bakkt's Warehouse to safeguard its customers' Bitcoin and Ether holdings. Bakkt warehouse is a regulated custodian, which allows for secure and safe storage of Bitcoin and Ethereum. 7.Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has partnered with Mastercard to allow a “broader group of consumers to purchase NFTs” by allowing users to pay with Mastercard cards on the platform's upcoming NFT marketplace. https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-and-mastercard-partner-to-revolutionize-nft-purchase-experience-8e486a392c558.Popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com halted withdrawals for a short period earlier in the week over an alleged security breach that saw a hacker steal $15 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) from its hot wallets. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/01/18/binance-destroys-16m-bnb-tokens-in-first-ever-auto-burn/ 9.The Centre Consortium's USDC stablecoin has surpassed Tether's USDT in total supply on the Ethereum network. USDC's current supply is over 40.06 billion tokens, above USDT's 39.82 billion. The Centre Consortium's USDC stablecoin has surpassed Tether's USDT in total supply on the Ethereum network. USDC's current supply on it is over 40.06 billion tokens, above USDT's 39.82 billion. https://cointelegraph.com/news/usdc-flips-tether-on-the-ethereum-network10. Intel – the world's second-largest semiconductor chip manufacturer – appears to be planning a Bitcoin mining chip reveal. At this year's ISSCC conference, the organization has a presentation scheduled under the “Highlighted Chip Releases” category to showcase a “Bonanza Mine” processor.https://cryptopotato.com/intel-plans-bitcoin-mining-chip-reveal-at-upcoming-conference/11· The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is reportedly planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot soon.https://cointelegraph.com/news/iran-to-reportedly-pilot-central-bank-digital-currency-soon12· The total supply for Circle's stablecoin USDC on Ethereum has surpassed that of Tether, putting USDT in second place on Ethereum for the first time. USDC's current supply on Ethereum as of writing is 40.06 billion tokens, just ahead of USDT's supply of 39.82 billion.https://coinnounce.com/usdc-surpasses-usdt-in-total-supply-on-the-ethereum-network/13· One of the world's most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, OKEx, has invested in the short-video platform Chingari which announced raising $15 million in a funding round.. As part of OKEx's strategic investment in Chingari, the startup's native token GARI will be listed on the exchange on January 18. Five more crypto exchanges are set to list the token on the same day.https://cryptopotato.com/india-based-tiktok-competitor-chingari-closes-15-million-funding-round/14· South Korean Presidential Candidates Pledge Lower Taxes for Crypto Traders, End to ICO Banhttps://cryptonews.com/news/south-korean-presidential-candidates-pledge-lower-taxes-for-crypto-traders-end-ico-ban.htm15· Byte Trading, a crypto market maker specialized in derivatives, has raised $7 million in a seed funding round.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130653/crypto-market-maker-byte-trading-raises-7-million-in-seed-funding?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss16· Metaplex Foundation announced a $46 million funding round on Tuesday, co-led by Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto. The fresh raise will go towards “expanding support for gaming and metaverse applications,” the company said in a statement to Blockworks. Metaplex, the Solana-based protocol developed by the firm, is commonly used in minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as an infrastructure for creators to launch self-hosted NFT storPlotX, a gaming Dapp built on Polygon, received a $5 million pre-Series A investment and grant from Polygon & Hashed. As one of Polygon's fastest-growing GameFi ecosystems, PlotX will be able to use this extra capital to increase its already sizable user base further.17· Hashed, Polygon Studios, Animoca Brands, Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge), and power angels such as Sandeep Nailwal (Co-Founder Polygon) and Alan Howard (Co-Founder Brevan Howard Asset Management) participated in the round, which raised a total of $70 million.efronts. The protocol has minted over 5.7 million NFTs since its inception, according to the startup.https://thenewscrypto.com/plotx-acquires-5-million-in-funding-grant-led-by-polygon/18· PlotX, a GameFi protocol aiming to create sustainable play-to-earn (P2E) ecosystems, has announced the completion of a $5 million pre-Series A funding round and grant-led Polygon Studios and Hashed helping them expand to reach a global audience, details from a press release on January 17 reveals.https://coinquora.com/plotx-secures-a-5-million-funding-round-led-by-polygon-and-hashed-launches-staking-program/19· Cryptocurrency individual retirement account and 401(k) provider iTrustCapital said it had raised $125 million in a growth equity investment, making its valuation reach $1.3 billion. In a Wednesday announcement, iTrustCapital said it had completed a $125 million Series A growth equity investment led by New York-based VC firm Left Lane Capital. The company said it planned to use the funds for expanding its existing product and service line in addition to exploring strategic acquisitions.https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-ira-itrustcapital-raises-125m-pushes-valuation-over-1b20. https://cryptopotato.com/vc-firm-blossom-capital-raises-432m-to-invest-in-the-cryptocurrency-ecosystem/· The UK firm Blossom Capital intends to invest one-third of the $432 million in both digital assets and companies that develop crypto infrastructure. · The London-based venture capital company Blossom Capital raised $432 million to invest in early-stage tech startups in Europe. The firm has reserved a third of the proceeds for investments in the cryptocurrency industry.21. www.cryptonewsz.com/the-algorand-foundation-announces-partnership-with-icon/The Algorand Foundation recently announced a partnership with ICON by offering them the Bridges SupaGrant. The integration will also allow Algorand to enter ICON's BTP Working Group, known for its Interoperability Ecosystem.With the collaboration, the community will witness the perpetual growth of the diverse, growing, and vibrant Algorand ecosystem. Moreover, the Algorand Foundation will gain a security partner with the BTP integration.It also opens the door of opportunities for future upgrades and maintenance needed to the bridging integration. You can know more here about Algorand's potential as an altcoin investment. As ICON's state-of-the-art interoperability solution, BTP is both trustless and decentralized. In addition, it is completely secured via cryptography, making it a viable solution in the modern blockchain market. After adding Algorand, the BTP network now holds multiple renowned ecosystems.and more

Cryptocurrency & FinancialMarkets News, Stats& Data for 19th Jan 2022break out soon - get ready to buy Today I talk about the following:1. Market Stats, Trading models, Technical analysis, Sector performances & liquidity2. Fiat markets, Economics, Central Banks, Regulators and Government news3. Social media, & Greed and Fear index4. Derivative Positions & Leverage & Risk Metrics5. Binance to Launch New Cryptocurrency Exchange in Thailand After Thai SEC Filed Criminal Complaint – Bitcoin News. Crypto exchange Binance is launching a new exchange in Thailand after the country's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against the company for operating without a license. Binance has now signed an agreement with Gulf Energy Development, a Thai public company, to establish a crypto exchange in Thailand.6. Nexo partners with Bakkt . Nexo will use Bakkt's Warehouse to safeguard its customers' crypto assets.On January 19, Bakkt Holdings Inc announced a partnership with Nexo, a cryptocurrency-backed loan platform, to custody crypto assets in the Bakkt warehouse. The partnership will see Nexo using Bakkt's Warehouse to safeguard its customers' Bitcoin and Ether holdings. Bakkt warehouse is a regulated custodian, which allows for secure and safe storage of Bitcoin and Ethereum. 7.Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has partnered with Mastercard to allow a “broader group of consumers to purchase NFTs” by allowing users to pay with Mastercard cards on the platform's upcoming NFT marketplace. https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-and-mastercard-partner-to-revolutionize-nft-purchase-experience-8e486a392c558.Popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com halted withdrawals for a short period earlier in the week over an alleged security breach that saw a hacker steal $15 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) from its hot wallets. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/01/18/binance-destroys-16m-bnb-tokens-in-first-ever-auto-burn/ 9.The Centre Consortium's USDC stablecoin has surpassed Tether's USDT in total supply on the Ethereum network. USDC's current supply is over 40.06 billion tokens, above USDT's 39.82 billion. The Centre Consortium's USDC stablecoin has surpassed Tether's USDT in total supply on the Ethereum network. USDC's current supply on it is over 40.06 billion tokens, above USDT's 39.82 billion. https://cointelegraph.com/news/usdc-flips-tether-on-the-ethereum-network10. Intel – the world's second-largest semiconductor chip manufacturer – appears to be planning a Bitcoin mining chip reveal. At this year's ISSCC conference, the organization has a presentation scheduled under the “Highlighted Chip Releases” category to showcase a “Bonanza Mine” processor.https://cryptopotato.com/intel-plans-bitcoin-mining-chip-reveal-at-upcoming-conference/11· The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is reportedly planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot soon.https://cointelegraph.com/news/iran-to-reportedly-pilot-central-bank-digital-currency-soon12· The total supply for Circle's stablecoin USDC on Ethereum has surpassed that of Tether, putting USDT in second place on Ethereum for the first time. USDC's current supply on Ethereum as of writing is 40.06 billion tokens, just ahead of USDT's supply of 39.82 billion.https://coinnounce.com/usdc-surpasses-usdt-in-total-supply-on-the-ethereum-network/13· One of the world's most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, OKEx, has invested in the short-video platform Chingari which announced raising $15 million in a funding round.. As part of OKEx's strategic investment in Chingari, the startup's native token GARI will be listed on the exchange on January 18. Five more crypto exchanges are set to list the token on the same day.https://cryptopotato.com/india-based-tiktok-competitor-chingari-closes-15-million-funding-round/14· South Korean Presidential Candidates Pledge Lower Taxes for Crypto Traders, End to ICO Banhttps://cryptonews.com/news/south-korean-presidential-candidates-pledge-lower-taxes-for-crypto-traders-end-ico-ban.htm15· Byte Trading, a crypto market maker specialized in derivatives, has raised $7 million in a seed funding round.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130653/crypto-market-maker-byte-trading-raises-7-million-in-seed-funding?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss16· Metaplex Foundation announced a $46 million funding round on Tuesday, co-led by Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto. The fresh raise will go towards “expanding support for gaming and metaverse applications,” the company said in a statement to Blockworks. Metaplex, the Solana-based protocol developed by the firm, is commonly used in minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as an infrastructure for creators to launch self-hosted NFT storPlotX, a gaming Dapp built on Polygon, received a $5 million pre-Series A investment and grant from Polygon & Hashed. As one of Polygon's fastest-growing GameFi ecosystems, PlotX will be able to use this extra capital to increase its already sizable user base further.17· Hashed, Polygon Studios, Animoca Brands, Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge), and power angels such as Sandeep Nailwal (Co-Founder Polygon) and Alan Howard (Co-Founder Brevan Howard Asset Management) participated in the round, which raised a total of $70 million.efronts. The protocol has minted over 5.7 million NFTs since its inception, according to the startup.https://thenewscrypto.com/plotx-acquires-5-million-in-funding-grant-led-by-polygon/18· PlotX, a GameFi protocol aiming to create sustainable play-to-earn (P2E) ecosystems, has announced the completion of a $5 million pre-Series A funding round and grant-led Polygon Studios and Hashed helping them expand to reach a global audience, details from a press release on January 17 reveals.https://coinquora.com/plotx-secures-a-5-million-funding-round-led-by-polygon-and-hashed-launches-staking-program/19· Cryptocurrency individual retirement account and 401(k) provider iTrustCapital said it had raised $125 million in a growth equity investment, making its valuation reach $1.3 billion. In a Wednesday announcement, iTrustCapital said it had completed a $125 million Series A growth equity investment led by New York-based VC firm Left Lane Capital. The company said it planned to use the funds for expanding its existing product and service line in addition to exploring strategic acquisitions.https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-ira-itrustcapital-raises-125m-pushes-valuation-over-1b20. https://cryptopotato.com/vc-firm-blossom-capital-raises-432m-to-invest-in-the-cryptocurrency-ecosystem/· The UK firm Blossom Capital intends to invest one-third of the $432 million in both digital assets and companies that develop crypto infrastructure. · The London-based venture capital company Blossom Capital raised $432 million to invest in early-stage tech startups in Europe. The firm has reserved a third of the proceeds for investments in the cryptocurrency industry.21. www.cryptonewsz.com/the-algorand-foundation-announces-partnership-with-icon/The Algorand Foundation recently announced a partnership with ICON by offering them the Bridges SupaGrant. The integration will also allow Algorand to enter ICON's BTP Working Group, known for its Interoperability Ecosystem.With the collaboration, the community will witness the perpetual growth of the diverse, growing, and vibrant Algorand ecosystem. Moreover, the Algorand Foundation will gain a security partner with the BTP integration.It also opens the door of opportunities for future upgrades and maintenance needed to the bridging integration. You can know more here about Algorand's potential as an altcoin investment. As ICON's state-of-the-art interoperability solution, BTP is both trustless and decentralized. In addition, it is completely secured via cryptography, making it a viable solution in the modern blockchain market. After adding Algorand, the BTP network now holds multiple renowned ecosystems.and more

In der Mittagsfolge begrüßen wir heute erneut Felix Ohswald, Founder und CEO von GoStudent. Wir sprechen über die Series D in Höhe von 300 Millionen Euro in das EDTech-Einhorn GoStudent, das Online-Einzelnachhilfe per Video anbietet. GoStudent ist einer der führenden globalen Anbieter von Online-Nachhilfe und mit einer Bewertung von 3 Milliarden Euro das wertvollste EdTech-Unternehmen Europas. GoStudent wurde 2016 von Felix Ohswald (CEO) und Gregor Müller (COO) in Wien gegründet. Über die Plattform bietet das Unternehmen kostenpflichtige Online-Einzelkurse für alle Schulstufen und -fächer im Rahmen eines Mitgliedschaftsmodells an. Das Wiener Unternehmen hat nun eine Series D Finanzierung in Höhe von 300 Millionen Euro erhalten. Angeführt wird die Runde vom neuen Investor Prosus, weitere Investoren sind der Telekom Innovation Pool, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tencent, Dragoneer, Left Lane Capital und Coatue. Seit der Gründung im Jahr 2016 soll das Unternehmen insgesamt mehr als 590 Millionen Euro aufgenommen haben. Um das Ziel, Weltmarktführer im Bereich Nachhilfe zu werden, zu erreichen, will das Startup weiterhin eine schnelle globale Expansion vorantreiben und in zahlreiche neue Länder expandieren, die ein bedeutendes Marktpotenzial aufweisen.

In unserer Mittagsfolge begrüßen wir heute Maurice Khudhir, Co-Founder & CMO von StudySmarter, und sprechen mit ihm über die Erweiterung der Series-A in dessen Rahmen StudySmarter zusätzliche 16 Millionen US-Dollar (13,7 Millionen Euro) erhält. StudySmarter wurde 2018 von Christian Felgenhauer, Maurice Khudhir, Till Söhlemann und Simon Hohentanner gegründet und ist ein Spin-off der TU München und der LMU München. Auf der Lernplattform werden Texte oder Inhalte in einen interaktiven Kurs umgewandelt, der zum Teil durch den Einsatz von natürlicher Sprachverarbeitung (NLP) generiert wird. So möchte StudySmarter Lernenden und Fachleuten sowie Herausgeberinnen und Herausgebern dabei unterstützen, ihre Inhalte automatisch zu erstellen. Es generiert Lernkarten, erstellt einen Plan, setzt Prioritäten in Bereichen, in denen Lernlücken bestehen, plant Kalender auf der Grundlage von Prüfungsterminen und vieles mehr. Die Plattform gehört nach eigenen Angaben zu den am häufigsten heruntergeladenen und genutzten Bildungsanwendungen in mehr als 20 Regionen weltweit. Das Münchner Edtech-Startup hatte bereits im Mai diesen Jahres 15 Millionen US-Dollar eingesammelt und konnte mit der Erweiterung das Gesamtinvestment der Series-A auf 31 Millionen US-Dollar erhöhen. Die neuen Mittel kommen von Goodwater Capital. Bei der Runde im ersten Halbjahr haben sich Owl Ventures, Left Lane Capital, Business Angel wie Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen und Altinvestoren wie Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures (DvH Ventures) beteiligt. Ziel sei es nach Angaben von StudySmarter, mit dem Investment die globale Expansion voranzutreiben und die weltweit größte inhaltsunabhängige Lernplattform zu werden.

Als letzten Gast in dieser Woche begrüßen wir Daniel Khachab, Co-Founder und CEO von Choco, der die einzigartige Mission und Strategie des Berliner Startups erläutert. Choco fokussiert sich auf den Bestellprozess für Restaurants, Bars, Bäckereien und Supermärkte und hat soeben eine neue Finanzierungsrunde 100 Millionen US$ abgeschlossen. Die Bewertung ist dabei 600 Millionen US$ gestiegen - nur zwei Jahre nach der Gründung. Die Finanzierungsrunde wurde angeführt von Insight Partners - unter Beteilgung von Coatue, Bessemer Venture Partners und Left Lane Capital. Außerdem beteiligt sind Target Global, der Visionaries Club, Greyhound Capital, MPGI, Atlantic Labs und Christian Edler. Choco wächst mit beeindruckender Geschwindigkeit. Der US$ Markteintritt erfolgte bereits nach 7 Monaten. Gegründet wurde das Unternehmen von Daniel Khachab und seinen Co-Gründern Julian Hammer und Rogerio da Silva Yokomizo. zu den Kunden zählen u.a. Hofbräuhaus, Royal Donuts, die Cafékette Haferkater, das Luxushotel Le Bristol in Paris, das The Daisy in New York und das Barrio Chicago.

Als ersten Gast in der heutigen Nachmittagsfolge begrüßen wir Felix Ohswald, Founder von GoStudent. Rund 205 Millionen Euro hat Gostudent in einer Series-C-Finanzierungsrunde eingesammelt. Dabei ist die Unternehmensbewertung auf 1,4 Milliarden Euro gestiegen, wodurch GoStudent als zweites Unternehmen in Österreich Unicorn-Status erlangt hat. Verglichen mit deutschen Startups läge GoStudent auch hierzulande in den Top 10 der am höchsten bewerteten Startups. Angeführt wurde die Series-C-Finanzierungsrunde vom Investor DST Global, unter Beteiligung des Softbank Vision Fund 2, Tencent und der kalifornischen Investmentfirma Dragoneer. Des weiteren beteiligen sich die bestehenden Investoren Coatue, Left Lane Capital und DN Capital. Erst im März hatte GoStudent eine 70-Millionen-Euro-Runde der Series B abgeschlossen. Hinter dem Startup stehen die Gründer Felix Ohswald und Gregor Müller. Die beiden haben das Startup, das inzwischen die größte Plattform für Online-Nachhilfe in Europa ist, 2016 ins Leben gerufen. GoStudent will das neue Investment nutzen, um die globale Expansion weiter voranzutreiben. In den vergangenen Monaten ist die Belegschaft auf über 500 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter angewachsen. Im zweiten Interview der Nachmittagsfolge präsentiert Franziska Teubert, Geschäftsführerin des Bundesverband Deutsche Startups (BVDS), die Ergebnisse des heute veröffentlichten Wasserstoff-Reports. Gemeinsam mit der RAG-Stiftung hat der BVDS die Aktivitäten von Startups in diesem Bereich analysiert. Wasserstoff könnte beim Erreichen der Pariser Klimaziele helfen. Dabei tragen laut Studie insbesondere Startups zur digitalen Innovation der Wasserstoffwirtschaft bei. Dabei sehen sie insbesondere im Ruhrgebiet eine hohe Dichte an Startups. Die Verfasser der Studie sehen im Wasserstoff großes Potenzial für eine dekarbonisierte Wirtschaft, emissionsfreie Mobilität und klimaneutrale Wärmeerzeugung. Momentan fehlt es jedoch noch an Geschwindigkeit, um in Deutschland eine international führende H2-Wirtschaft aufzubauen. Franziska Teubert ist sich aber sicher, dass dies machbar ist, wenn alle Kräfte aus Forschung, New Economy, traditioneller Industrie und Politik zusammenarbeiten. Die Studie kann kostenlos bezogen werden unter https://deutschestartups.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Report_Wasserstoff-Startup_2021.pdf

WiteSand, a startup that aims to take enterprise networking to cloud, has emerged from stealth mode, announcing its raise of $12.5 million in seed funding to date from institutions and angels. WiteSand, founded in 2019, consolidates on-premise networking tools into a unified cloud-delivered service and enables companies to monitor, secure and manage their enterprise network infrastructure. In a statement to the press, WiteSand enunciated the complications that medium to large enterprises face in networking due to employee mobility and hybrid work environments. Managing networking solutions on-premise is also tedious and time-consuming, it added.San Francisco-based Side, a real estate technology company, helping independent brokerages turn into brands and business, has announced an additional $50 million fundraise to its $150 million Series D funding that it raised in March 2021. The additional funding values the company at $2.5 billion, which is more than a two-fold increase from its $1 billion valuation attained during Series D.Elo7, a Brazilian online marketplace, will be acquired by Etsy, an American eCommerce company, for $217 million. Elo7, one of Latin America's most popular e-commerce sites, would provide Etsy a far wider market presence, with 1.9 million active customers, 56,000 active merchants, and around 8 million items for sale. With its existing management team located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Elo7 will continue to function independently.Dell has released Omnia, an open-source software suite aimed at making AI and compute-intensive job deployment and administration easier. The program consists of an Ansible playbook for deploying convergent workloads with Slurm and containers and library frameworks, services, and apps. Omnia may utilize Slurm or Kubernetes to build workload management clusters, and it attempts to reuse existing projects rather than starting from scratch.Camions Logistics Solutions Private Limited (“GoBOLT“), a tech-based logistics startup, has announced that it has raised $20 million in a Series B funding round led by Paragon Partners Growth Fund II and existing investor Aavishkaar Capital. Small supplementary components, as well as debt lines from private banks, are included in the round.Mastercard has made a strategic equity investment in Instamojo, payments, and online commerce platform. Sampad Swain, Akash Gehani, and Aditya Sengupta established Instamojo as a small business payment processor in 2012. According to the two firms, the investment would benefit MSMEs as well as gig economy workers such as small food and beverage operators, electricians, tutors, and others.Fleet management solutions provider LocoNav has announced its Series B fundraise of $37 million, led by Quiet Capital, Anthemis Group and Sequoia Capital India, reports state. The proceeds from the fund would be used for expanding into the US and other emerging markets, building partnerships, and making strategic acquisitions.Tapcart, a SaaS platform enabling e-commerce merchants to launch and manage mobile apps for their brands, has announced its Series B fundraise of $50 million in a round led by Left Lane Capital. Shopify, SignalFire, Greycroft, Act One Ventures and Amplify LA, participated in the round. The company had raised $10 million in Series A funding led by SignalFire last year. With the current funding, the total amount raised by Tapcart crosses $65 million, as per Crunchbase.

In unserem Interview-Podcast ist diesmal Felix Ohswald, Gründer von GoStudent, zu Gast. DST Global, SoftBank, Tencent und Dragoneer sowie Altinvestoren wie Coatue, Left Lane Capital und DN Capital investierten gerade 205 Millionen Euro in GoStudent. Das EdTech wurde dabei mit 1,4 Milliarden Euro bewertet Im Gespräch mit Alexander Hüsing, Chefredakteur von deutsche-startups.de, spricht Ohswald über das Unicorn-Investment, ganz schnelles Wachstum, schnelle Investoren, Wien als Standort, Schulschließungen und Dinosaurier im EdTech-Segment. Unser Sponsor Die heutige Ausgabe wird präsentiert von IKEA. Wusstest du schon, dass IKEA auch Produkte und Services speziell für Unternehmen bietet? IKEA für Unternehmen macht den IKEA-Einkauf für Geschäftskunden aller Unternehmensgrößen - vom Soloselbständigen bis zum Konzern - so bequem wie möglich. IKEA bietet dabei Produkte, Lösungen und Services, die speziell für die gewerbliche Nutzung entwickelt wurden. Beim gesamten Bestellprozess hilft ein persönlicher Ansprechpartner. Bestellung sind per E-Mail oder Telefon möglich. Auf Wunsch bietet IKEA zudem auch einen Liefer- oder Montageservice an. Und wer Hilfe bei der Planung seines Büros braucht, findet beim Interior Design Service von Ikea Hilfe. Mit dem Stichwort "deutsche Startups" zahlst du nur 3 Euro anstatt 5 Euro (netto) pro Quadratmeter für deine Planung. Das Angebot gilt nur für Unternehmen und bis zum 31.08.2021. Weitere Informationen findest du unter: www.IKEA.de/IDS Vor dem Mikro Alexander Hüsing, deutsche-startups.de - www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-huesing/ & www.twitter.com/azrael74 Hintergrund Der deutsche-startups.de-Podcast besteht aus den Formaten #Insider, #News, #StartupRadar und #Interview. Mehr unter: www.deutsche-startups.de/tag/Podcast/ Anregungen bitte an podcast@deutsche-startups.de. Unseren anonymen Briefkasten findet ihr hier: www.deutsche-startups.de/stille-post/

Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with David Rabie of Tovala.com, an AI powered oven and meal kit subscription business. In this episode, David talks about raising capital for a hardware startup, going through Y Combinator, doing an Angellist Syndicate, what has changed between the Series A and Series C rounds, the Chicago startup scene, and much more. The Company most recently raised a $30M Series C funding round led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from previous investors Finistere Ventures, Comcast Ventures, OurCrowd, Origin Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and Joe Mansueto. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $3 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at https://www.foundersuite.com/

Today, we will be breaking down Calm. Founded in 2012, Calm is the leading app for sleep and meditation. Today, Calm has over 4 million subscribers and has been generating cash flow since its inception. In this Breakdown, we touch on how Calm used data to unlock a non-obvious source of demand, how the upfront subscription cost has allowed for pure operational focus, and what the competitive landscape looks like moving ahead.   To break down Calm, I am joined by my brother, Vinny Pujji, Partner at Left Lane Capital, an early-stage investment firm.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. We created Business Breakdowns to uncover the lessons and frameworks behind every business, and that's what makes Tegus our perfect launch partner. Much of the foundational prep for these episodes start with research on the Tegus platform.    With Tegus, you can learn everything you'd want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 15,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:02:37] - [First question] - What is Calm and what its businesses do [00:03:31] - How people pay for it [00:03:55] - The top use cases and value proposition for customers [00:05:19] - Who started Calm and the unique insights that led them to create it  [00:05:30] - Major inflection points that drove their business forward  [00:07:54] - An investor's perspective on freemium funnel models [00:10:01] - Key factors that led to Calm's success  [00:10:56] - Breaking down their subscription offer [00:12:34] - Analysis of customer retention and breakdown of unit economics [00:15:36] - The difference between their unit economics and other consumer businesses [00:17:28] - What's unique about Calm from a cash flow perspective [00:19:40] - Capital efficiency when it comes to customer acquisition [00:21:02] - How they learned that sleep was a primary use case and making a shift to provide more content in that area [00:23:09] - Competing with and surpassing Headspace's popularity  [00:24:19] - Ways that the future might play out for Calm and the mental wellness industry [00:25:38] - Other insights that led to a shift from a meditation focus to a sleep focus [00:26:47] - Designing content with a utility and enrolling celebrities [00:30:06] - Productizing and monetizing on pre-existing consumer habits [00:32:07] - Variable versus fixed cost models [00:33:09] - App distribution and generating widespread brand adoption [00:36:28] - Simultaneously, a software and a consumer business [00:39:19] - COVID-19's impacts on Calm and how it drove their growth [00:41:19] - Potential contributing factors to Calm's growth over the coming years [00:44:12] - Practical brand extensions already being implemented  [00:45:24] - Risks and challenges that may be faced in the coming decade [00:46:50] - Integrating new features and other risks that may need to be solved [00:49:27] - Whether or not switching behavior will affect Calm's trajectory [00:51:09] - Bigger players in the ecosystem who could beat out Apple's app store [00:53:02] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Calm's story [00:54:52] - Where you can learn more about Calm

New consumer investment platforms are all the rage. As are women leaders in fintech. This episode puts it all together. Maria Selvaggio is VP People at M1 Finance, one of the nation’s fastest growing money management platforms. Over 500,000 now use M1’s Finance Super App to invest, borrow, and spend. With a total of $4 billion in client assets, clearly M1 is on to something big. Based in Chicago, Maria got her talent management chops at Grubhub, Tempus, Groupon, and Google. Now she’s building a Rockstar team at M1, where the mission is to empower people to improve their financial well-being. The company is backed by top-notch investors Coatue, Left Lane Capital, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Chaifetz Group, Jump Capital, 50 South Capital and Chicago Ventures. In this 20-minute conversation, Maria reveals how M1 is building the team that builds financial independence.  

Months after raising a Series C worth $45 million, Chicago-based M1 Finance announced a new round of capital today. A Series D, the new $75 million investment was led by Coatue, with two prior investors — Left Lane Capital and Clocktower Technology Ventures — also taking part. The new financing comes after M1 raised twice […]

In this episode I interviewed the first investor on the show. Derek Urben is an investor from Left Lane Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm that focuses on high-growth internet and consumer technology companies. This episode is intended for people who are new to venture capital as Derek will cover what it is and then tips to get into it. Left Lane: https://www.leftlanecap.com/ The Opus Letter: https://opusletter.substack.com/people/1346781-derek-urben Support this podcast: https://cutt.ly/Eh6zJog --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Just months after it announced a $33 million Series B, Chicago-based M1 Finance today disclosed a $45 Series C. The new financing event was led by Left Lane Capital, the same investor that led M1's Series B. Bear in mind that so-called inside rounds are now a bullish sign in 2020, as opposed to in prior […]