Down Round Doom? The Data Says No

upsdowns A recent discussion on the tech IPO market yielded the comment “all IPOs this year were down rounds.” Square’s recent IPO priced below its last private offering, spurring Khosla (a Square investor) partner Keith Rabois to comment to The Wall Street Journal that “the steroid era of startups is over.” But the data on IPO down rounds, a concept we first reported on… Read More

22-Year-Old Launching Harlem’s First VC Fund

cofound harlem John Henry, the 22-year-old founder of accelerator program Cofound Harlem, has announced Cofound Ventures, Harlem’s first venture capital fund. Cofound Ventures, which will officially launch next year, is looking to raise a total of $8 million, with $3 million going toward running the nine-month accelerator and funding startup stipends, and $5 million toward further funding Cofound… Read More

Residential Real Estate Platform Nestio Lands A $8M Series A Round

real estate Nestio, the NY-based leasing and marketing platform for residential landlords, announced today that is has raised $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Trinity Ventures, and had participation from previous investors including Freestyle Capital, Joanne Wilson, and David Cohen. The platform, which originally launched as a tool for renters to find apartments, has now grown into a… Read More

The End Of The Startup Gold Rush, Absurd Burn Rates And Tourist VCs

golddust In 15 years as a venture capitalist, I’ve seen just about every market condition you can imagine. I started at Insight Venture Partners in 2000 at a time when the stock market was experiencing historic highs and tech companies were receiving massive private and public valuations. Capital markets were flush, startup burn rates were rampant, and the gold rush was on. Investors came out… Read More

Key Person Insurance Is VCs’ Assurance

jenga Founders soliciting venture funds quickly get comfortable revealing details about their operations, vision and finances. They may also need to be willing to step on a scale and get a blood draw. Investors try to ensure that the startups they’re funding are healthy, and, strange as it might seem, they like to know that critical founders are in good shape, too. Read More

Ex-TechCruncher Launches Y Combinator’s “Not News” Publication The Macro

The Macro There are plenty of tech blogs. But The Macro can go where no blogs are allowed — deep inside the Hogwarts of startups, Y Combinator. Mixed in with unmentionably candid advice and embarassing tales of failure meant only for the ears of YC’s founders and mentors are stories worth spreading beyond the accelerator. That’s Colleen Taylor’s job. The former TechCrunch… Read More

Meet The 5 Startups Launched At Troy Carter’s SMASHD LABS Demo Day

hqdefault Today marked the demo day for the first batch of startups from SMASHD LABS, the LA-based accelerator started by legendary talent manager Troy Carter. When it launched, SMASHD promised that it would accept a diverse group of companies from across the entertainment, media, technology, and culture industries…and it didn’t disappoint. Companies from the inaugural batch ranged from… Read More