Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. Others believe that new business models are emerging that could replace venture capital all together. Taken together these “mega rounds” represent nearly half of the funding in 2018. We’re in a new tech bubble!”

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Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 292

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Welcome back to Human Capital, where we explore some of the latest news in labor, diversity and inclusion in tech. Human Capital will soon be available as a weekly newsletter. Bezos Academy, funded by Jeff Bezos’ $2B ‘Day One Fund,’ launches first free school in Seattle area – GeekWire. TGIF, am I right?

Capital 316

Capital Los Angeles News San Diego 316

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

I am so proud and humbled to be able to formally announce that Upfront Ventures has raised its 6th venture capital fund in the past 21 years. Upfront VI is our latest core fund and is $400 million to invest in early stage entrepreneurs. This brings our combined funds under management to nearly $2 billion.

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Funding Venture Capital Santa Monica Invest 287

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2021

On Funding?—?The The Denominator Effect I recently wrote a post about funding for investors to think about having a diversified portfolio , which I called “shots on goal.” If you funded 30–40 deals perhaps just 1 or 2 would drive the lion’s shares of returns. This is Venture Capital. Focus a lot on the denominator.

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Funding UCSD Netflix CalTech 301

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

On Funding?—?Shots When you’ve been playing the game a bit longer or when you have responsibilities at the fund level you start thinking more about “portfolio construction.” billion When Ring started, even the folks at Shark Tank wouldn’t fund it. We know this going into a new fund. It sold to Amazon for > $1 billion.

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Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2019

Los Angeles-based eTailPet , a new startup which helps pet store owners create online e-commerce sites, has received a round of seed funding, the company said this week. The seed funding was worth $800K, and led by Moonshots Capital, and also included individual angels from the pet industry. READ MORE>>.

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Seed Funding Funding Template Southern California 222

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. At Upfront we’re totally fine funding entrepreneurs who have done multiple businesses in the past – in fact we like it. But I’m guessing the narrative is similar elsewhere. The results?

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Funding Technical Review Startup Screening 373

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Leonardo DiCaprio is making a significant commitment to the Los Angeles-based investment firm, Struck Capital , as part of the actor’s commitment to building LA into a tech development powerhouse. In addition to his commitment to the fund, DiCaprio will be making co-investments alongside the Struck Capital team.

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Capital Funding Los Angeles Invest 188

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 25, 2021

The partners at MaC Venture Capital , the Los Angeles-based investment firm that has just closed on $103 million for its inaugural fund, have spent the bulk of their careers breaking barriers. MaC Venture Capital co-founders Marlon Nichols, Michael Palank, Charles King, and Adrian Fenty. Image Credit: MaC Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Capital Los Angeles Invest 225

TechCrunch LA

MAY 23, 2019

The Los Angeles ecosystem is $76 million stronger today as Fika Ventures , a seed-stage venture capital firm, announces its sophomore investment fund. Fika invests roughly half of its capital exclusively in startups headquartered in LA, with a particular fondness for B2B, enterprise and fintech companies.

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Funding Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles 218

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

L.A. Business Journal

MAY 15, 2019

million in seed funding led by New York-based E&A Venture Capital. Burbank-based Shag Enterprises Inc, an artificial intelligence company that’s created a predictive platform for online ordering, announced on May 15 it raised $1.4

Seed Funding 221

Seed Funding Artificial Inteligence Platform Burbank 221

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Most of the venture capital firms covered in TechCrunch and other tech publications compete for a spot on the cap table of the hottest Bay Area, New York or Los Angeles companies of the moment. Today, Washington, DC-based Revolution is announcing its latest fund. Few seek out companies in Indianapolis, Milwaukee or Tampa.

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Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2021

According to the company, the new program will provide companies that have demonstrated clear market traction and provides targeted introductions to venture funds. The program is being funded by Silicon Valley Bank, with additional program support from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and KPPB, LP.

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Southern California SoCal Venture Capital Capital 192

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We believe this consistency in leadership and intuition for where the markets were going in the heady days of 2019–2021 helped us to stay sane in a world that momentarily seemed to have lost its mind and since we have new capital to deploy in the years ahead perhaps I can offer some insights into where we think value will be derived.

Startup 408

Startup Venture Capital Writing Invest 408

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. You can short-hand this as “engagement.” Why 8–10 and not just 3–4?

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

L.A. Business Journal

AUGUST 23, 2021

is lining up capital to start production on a second electric vehicle in late 2023 after unveiling a debt offering of $625 million. Manhattan Beach-based Fisker Inc.

Manhattan Beach 279

Manhattan Beach Startup Funding Capital 279

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Cincinnati, like many startup communities in the US over the past 5 years, has revitalized important regions in its urban core, created accelerators, built co-working facilities, pooled together angel capital, attracted VCs, involved educational institutions and solicited the help of important corporations in a more cohesive ecosystem.

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Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Raising capital for a female-led startup can be very diffiult--which is what Justine Lassoff and Melinda Moore found out when they started their own company, LovingEco, in Los Angeles. Melinda Moore: One of the things required to create, build, and scale a company is capital. What is TuesdayNights? The third thing, is know your number.

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Help Entrepreneur Capital Startup 224

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 24, 2019

March Capital Partners , the Los Angeles-based venture capital firm, has raised $300 million for its latest fund. “We have two major areas and a couple of minor areas,” said Sumant Mandal, a managing director with the firm. “We like data-driven business and two-thirds of our portfolio are AI driven.

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Artificial Inteligence Capital Los Angeles Incubator 225

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

A new program, run by the Alliance for Southern California Innovation, is looking to connect startups with Series A funding, according to the group. According to the two, the program recruits and selects top SoCal-based startups that have demonstrated clear market traction and provides introductions to leading venture funds.

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Southern California SoCal Funding Startup 197

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Most VCs did well academically and had enough career success that a venture firm was willing to give them an investment role or they were able to raise their own fund. Fundamentally venture capital is about human capital. In the end I know the only true differentiator in venture capital is the company you keep.

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Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 16, 2021

Squarespace has raised $300 million in a round of funding that values the company at a staggering $10 billion valuation. New backers include Dragoneer, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Spruce House.

SEM 340

SEM Commerce Los Angeles Funding 340

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Fund raising. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not. As a VC I also have to fund raise every three years and these posts 100% apply to VCs raising money, too. It definitely has a “d” in it, as in it’s really not fun, raising.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? With the enormous changes to our economies and financial markets?—?how Of course we can’t.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses.

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Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 16, 2020

UNest , a Los Angeles provider of financial planning and savings tools for parents including college savings plans and other beneficial investment vehicles for various life events, has raised $9 million in a new round of funding, the company said. .

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Services Capital Draper Education 235

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 16, 2020

Milken is taking the plunge into institutional investing, joining Norton as a partner in Watertower Ventures just as the firm prepares to close on a $50 million new fund. With that in mind, the Watertower Ventures group, which launched in 2017 with a small, $5 million fund, is a return to those roots. “I see two things happen.

Funding 230

Funding Southern California Los Angeles Invest 230

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

My view: “Spending any time or energy trying to game the ‘definition’ of your round of fund raising is a total waste. There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.).

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Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

million in capital to build out its operations in 4 cities: New York City , Los Angeles , Chicago and Washington D.C. With our increases in capital we hope to be able to serve you in the near-term future. Just over a year ago I wrote about how MakeSpace had raised $17.5

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Funding Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

They started their company in LA but a couple of years after raising capital from Khosla Ventures in the Bay Area they ended up relocating there. A few years later they announced $150 million in a funding round at $1 billion+ valuation and are ramping up jobs to secure their market-leading position. Local capital matters.

Companies 369

Companies Company Startup Snapchat 369

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? They were a way to gather cheap capital.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2021

Santa Monica-based Revolution Prep, an academic testing and tutoring preparation company, has scored private equity funding from Apax Digital Fund. Size of the funding was not announced. According to Apax Digital, the new funding will go to expand Revolution Prep's offering and to increase access to its online tutoring services.

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Funding Santa Monica Equity Services 200

TechCrunch LA

MAY 31, 2022

Bonfire Ventures , a Los Angeles venture capital firm, invests in seed-stage business-to-business software companies and aims to change the odds so that more than the average 33% of companies in this sector make it to Series A. It says over 85% of its portfolio companies raise follow-on funding — a collective $1.15 Andelman : The L.A.

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Software Startup Funding Venture Capital 163

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2017

I titled this post “We Must Have Zero Tolerance in Venture Capital” but of course I could just say “zero tolerance anywhere” because that’s true. In an industry with only 7% of partners at VC funds being women — it literally must fall on us to speak up. Men must speak up, too. Use this moment to STFU and get out of the way.

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Venture Capital Capital Course Report 254

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

Today the company officially announced its most recent round of capital ?—?having Capital of course drives scale advantages and when you have “winner take most” markets it also has a way of scaring away some investors from investing in the 3–5th “me too” competitors. having raised $300 million?—?less There is nothing viral!

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Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 15, 2020

When it first launched nearly three years ago, Fifth Wall had a vision of leveraging capital limited partners from across the real estate development and construction business to back the technologies the industry needed most. billion in assets under management.

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Funding Demand Los Angeles Invest 240