entrepreneurship
Let’s talk about how Q2 is going to impact startups and how young companies might respond.
If your business model still looks like your original assumptions a month ago, you’ve been living under a rock. Every part of your business model — not just product and…
Blossom Capital’s ‘Cultivate’ is an angel program seeking to back European unicorn alumnus
Just a few months after closing a new $185 million fund to continue backing early-stage European startups, Blossom Capital, the VC firm founded by Ophelia Brown, is announcing a new…
COVID-hit UK startups cry out for help, as UK gov trails Europe in its response
The UK government is reportedly looking at a range of options to support the startup industry, possibly involving a co-investment model involving state-owned funds (via the British Business Bank) and…
New guidance on SBA loans means most startups are still excluded from $349 billion stimulus
Under new guidance issued by the Small Business Administration it seems non-profits and faith-based groups can apply for the Paycheck Protection Program loans designed to keep small business afloat during…
ARCH Venture Partners raises $1.46 billion across two funds for biotech investing
Against a backdrop where the life-or-death consequences of biotechnology innovation are becoming increasingly apparent as the world races to develop vaccines and therapies to treat COVID-19, life sciences investor ARCH…
‘A perfect storm for first time managers,’ say VCs with their own shops
Until very recently, it had begun to seem like anyone with a thick enough checkbook and some key contacts in the startup world could not only fund companies as an…
Venture debt’s new reality: ‘The last thing we want is management walking away from a company’
Maurice Werdegar is the longtime CEO of venture debt shop Western Technology Investment, one of the most active venture debt lenders in the U.S. It’s also one of the older…
Now might be the perfect time to rethink your fundraising approach
While there has been a drop in interest so far, there is still a lot of activity and VCs seem to still be reading pitch decks.
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Canceled conferences will force startups to focus on scalable lead generation
Forcing founders to wean themselves off conferences and events as a “go-to” business development tactic might not be a bad thing in the long run.
Helm.ai raises $13M on its unsupervised learning approach to driverless car AI
Four years ago, mathematician Vlad Voroninski saw an opportunity to remove some of the bottlenecks in the development of autonomous vehicle technology thanks to breakthroughs in deep learning. Now, Helm.ai,…
Startups Weekly: Investors also face a pandemic reckoning
Billions of dollars have flowed into startup investing this decade, but the era appears to be closing with the coronavirus pandemic. Limited partners are saying no to younger venture firms…
With world events overtaking the tech world’s preferences to meet for coffees and convene at events, Y Combinator skipped its famous two-day live Demo event and went for a radical…
What we’re getting right and wrong about coronavirus and VC investing
It has only been nine days since I wrote an overview of the state of VC investing during the rise of the novel coronavirus pandemic. And what a week it…
Refurbished electronics startup Refurbed raises $17M round, led by Evli Growth Partners
Renewed phones, laptops and tablets can be as much as 40% cheaper than their brand new cousins, working equally as well and, because they have been saved from the scrapheap,…
Startups developing tech to combat COVID-19 urged to apply for fast-track EU funding
The European Commission put out a call Friday for startups and small businesses which are developing technologies that could help combat the COVID-19 outbreak to apply for fast-track EU funding.…
How the coronavirus outbreak will stress-test startups
The coronavirus pandemic continues to spread with no signs of abating. Over 100,000 cases have been confirmed. Some 4,000 deaths have been reported.
European startups applaud Commission plan to rethink stock options
Startups have welcomed proposals from the European Commission aimed at cutting red tape and shrinking cross-border barriers for small businesses as part of a new EU industrial strategy plan with…
Two years ago, dormmates Justin Wenig and Nicholas Diao struggled to get into a popular computer science class at Columbia University. The duo eventually got into that class, but after…
Stocks fall again on continued coronavirus worries
Is it good news to say that stocks fell less sharply than they had on previous days? That’s the bright side of another turbulent trading day across the Nasdaq and…
Female-founded startups landed more deals globally in 2019 than ever before
We all know the disruptive stories of female-founded startups like Glossier and ezCater. And we also know how those success stories belie the much harder time thousands of other women…
Did African startups raise $496M, $1B or $2B in 2019?
Five years ago, it was hard to come by any formal numbers for annual VC investment in Africa. These days the challenge is choosing which number to follow. That’s the…
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Pioneer founder Daniel Gross on bringing remote teams together
There are plenty of accelerators aiming to sway young startups to join their ranks rather than apply to Y Combinator, but Pioneer‘s sell is a bit different. First off, they are fully remote; founders selected to participate in the program chat with advisors via video chat. Second, Pioneer is largely looking at companies that aren’t…
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The fundraising landscape is shifting in 2020
Most of the things you hear people say about fundraising is generally good advice, even when these ideas conflict. How is that possible?
Graphcore, the AI chipmaker, raises another $150M at a $1.95B valuation
The U.K. has a strong history when it comes to processors, but the global chip market has seen some ups and downs of late. Today comes some big news that…
Sokowatch raises $14M to digitize Africa’s informal B2B supply-chain
Kenya based B2B e-commerce startup Sokowatch has raised $14 million in Series A funding toward its mission of revamping supply-chain markets for Africa’s informal retailers. From Nairobi, the company has…
Got your sights set on attending TC Sessions: Mobility 2020 on May 14 in San Jose? Spend the day with 1,000 or more like-minded founders, makers and leaders across the…
These specialized Africa VC funds are welcoming co-investors
For global venture capitalists still on the fence about entering Africa, a first move could be co-investing with a proven fund that’s already working in the region. Africa’s startup scene…
African crowdsolving startup Zindi scales 10,000 data scientists
Cape Town based startup Zindi has registered 10,000 data-scientists on its platform that uses AI and machine learning to crowdsolve complex problems in Africa. Founded in 2018, the early-stage venture…
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Silja Litvin of eQuoo says founders should prioritize their mental health
Entrepreneurs — particularly tech entrepreneurs — face the uphill struggle of building something new in the world. Sometimes that struggle can exact a heavy mental toll. As much as everyone knows they should be sleeping, exercising and meditating, it’s hard to keep all that up when you are trying to build a company. As an…
