Venture Capital News | TechCrunch

Ben Ling’s Bling Capital has already nabbed another $270M for fourth fund

Julie Bort — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:45:57 +0000

Bling Capital, one of the more prolific and well-connected seed VC firms, has nabbed another $270 million for a new flagship, fourth fund.

Las Vegas sheriff tells a16z partners what’s next on his wish list: AI for bodycams

Sean O'Kane, Margaux MacColl — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 18:35:28 +0000

Vegas police received funding for tech like drones and license plate readers from Ben Horowitz. Now it wants AI to go through police footage.

Itching to write a book? AI publisher Spines wants to make a deal

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 12:54:04 +0000

Generative AI has upended how we write things, or even if we write at all. Now a startup wants to be the main character in the next chapter of that story: AI that replaces the role of the publisher. Spines is a self-publishing platform that claims that — thanks to being powered by artificial intelligence […]

In 2023 VCs returned the lowest level of capital to their investors since 2011

Rebecca Szkutak — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 22:16:30 +0000

It’s no secret that the venture capital industry is facing a liquidity crisis as IPOs and other exits remain few and far between after 2020 and 2021’s record-breaking years. Now, we have numbers that show just how bad it’s gotten. In 2023, the U.S. VC industry invested $60 billion more into startups than it collected […]

Marlon Nichols talks relationship building in the African markets

Dominic-Madori Davis — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Marlon Nichols took the stage at AfroTech last week to discuss the importance of building relationships when it comes to entering into a new market. “One of the first things you do when you go to a new market is you’ve got to meet the new players,” he said. “Like, what do people need? What’s […]

Venture capitalists continue to play musical chairs

Rebecca Szkutak — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 20:57:00 +0000

From Keith Rabois to Ethan Kurzweil, a lot of VCs have switched firms or spun out of storied VC institutions to launch their own funds this year. These employment changes are surprising because unlike in many other fields, venture capitalists don’t traditionally move around very much — especially those who reach the partner or general […]

OpenAI investor Josh Kushner praises Musk, despite Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit

Marina Temkin — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 20:48:28 +0000

Elon Musk may be suing OpenAI, accusing the ChatGPT maker of abandoning the company’s original mission as a nonprofit organization, but Josh Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and one of the company’s key investors, has nothing but good things to say about the world’s richest man. “I have deep admiration and respect for Elon,” Kushner […]

Healthcare VC firm Initiate has a new $45M and has already founded five startups internally

Marina Temkin — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 18:30:38 +0000

Jessica Owens and Iana Dimkova, co-founders of Initiate Ventures, are launching their new healthcare/ life sciences-focused firm with a respectable $45 million debut fund. One of the ways they convinced limited partners to become investors is because they are building a combination early-stage and incubation firm. So not only will they invest in early-stage startups […]

Precursor’s Charles Hudson believes founders should test their investors

Dominic-Madori Davis — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 16:30:00 +0000

Charles Hudson, managing partner of Precursor Ventures, told an audience at AfroTech the basics of knowing when to invest: A company should have product-market fit and some form of traction. But the next thing he said garnered some surprised looks from the audience: Founders should test investors with a small issue to see how they […]

Consumer tech is bouncing back, and consumer founders like Brynn Putnam are bouncing back with it

Connie Loizos — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 01:14:09 +0000

When Brynn Putnam sold her last company, Mirror, to Lululemon for $500 million at the start of the pandemic, it looked to this editor like she’d sold the smart fitness company too soon. Instead, the timing proved brilliant. The home fitness craze crashed nearly as abruptly as it peaked during that first year of lockdowns. […]

Here’s the full list of 44 US AI startups that have raised $100M or more in 2024

Rebecca Szkutak — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 23:03:00 +0000

In the first half of 2024 alone, more than $35.5 billion was invested into AI startups globally.

Ben Horowitz’s tight ties with the Las Vegas Police Department — and why it matters

Theresa Loconsolo — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 15:55:20 +0000

Over the last few years, Andreessen Horowitz co-founder and famed VC Ben Horowitz has donated at least $7.6 million to fund purchases by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, including new drones from a16z-backed Skydio. Skydio is not the first of a16z’s portfolio companies to benefit from these donations, either. Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts […]

Angel investor Hannah Bronfman is ready to launch her own fund

Dominic-Madori Davis — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Early Thursday morning, excited AfroTech attendees shuffled into a conference room to see one thing: Hannah Bronfman, a noted angel investor who has more than 1 million followers on social media, in conversation with Blavity founder and CEO Morgan DeBaun. Bronfman is a wellness content creator, an author, and an investor in more than 70 […]

A Conversation with Ben Lerer and Brynn Putnam at Strictly VC NYC 2024

Yashad Kulkarni — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 03:15:40 +0000

Connie Loizos in conversation with Ben Lerer, managing partner at Lerer Hippeau and Brynn Putnam, founder and former CEO of Mirror at Strictly VC NYC 2024. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagram TikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktok X: tcrn.ch/x Threads: https://tcrn.ch/threads Facebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebook Bluesky: https://tcrn.ch/bluesky Mastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdn Read more: https://techcrunch.com/

A Conversation with Marc Lore at Strictly VC NYC 2024

Yashad Kulkarni — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 03:00:00 +0000

Connie Loizos in conversation with Marc Lore, founder, chairman and CEO of Wonder Group at Strictly VC NYC 2024. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagram TikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktok X: tcrn.ch/x Threads: https://tcrn.ch/threads Facebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebook Bluesky: https://tcrn.ch/bluesky Mastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdn Read more: https://techcrunch.com/

A Conversation with Mark Rostick at Strictly VC NYC 2024

Yashad Kulkarni — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 02:00:00 +0000

Connie Loizos in conversation with Mark Rostick, senior managing director at Intel Capital at Strictly VC NYC 2024. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagram TikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktok X: tcrn.ch/x Threads: https://tcrn.ch/threads Facebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebook Bluesky: https://tcrn.ch/bluesky Mastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdn Read more: https://techcrunch.com/

A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs

Cody Corrall, Alyssa Stringer — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 17:30:00 +0000

A complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2024.

Altos Ventures, an early backer of Coupang and Roblox, raises $500M fund

Tage Kene-Okafor — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 17:01:28 +0000

Altos Ventures, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has backed the likes of Roblox, Coupang, PandaDoc, and Quizlet, has secured $500 million for its latest fund, according to SEC filings. The firm has been around for almost three decades and this is its largest fund to date. Altos Ventures declined to comment on the […]

SoftBank Vision Fund co-CEO Misra to leave firm

Manish Singh — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:24:56 +0000

SoftBank said the co-CEO of Vision Fund, Rajeev Misra, will soon step down from his leadership roles at the firm’s flagship technology investment vehicles, marking the departure of one of the Japanese group’s most prominent dealmakers. The company said on Tuesday that Misra, who helped steer the $100 billion Vision Fund through both its explosive […]

Indonesian VC firm Intudo raises $125M across two funds

Kate Park — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 01:00:00 +0000

Intudo, the Indonesia-only venture capital firm, said it has raised $125 million across two investment funds — $75 million for Intudo Ventures IV, and $50 million for another fund that will invest in downstream natural resources and renewable energy. Intudo said Fund IV will invest in Indonesian startups that take advantage of the country’s location, […]