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Nvidia and the Corporate VC Boom Ahead
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ai venture capital

Nvidia and the Corporate VC Boom Ahead

By Kate Clark · Sept. 14, 2023 2:36 PM PDT
Nvidia’s corporate development team must be exhausted. They’ve inked roughly 20 deals this year, according to financial data firm PitchBook and The Information’s reporting. For comparison, once-prolific VC investor Tiger Global Management has done about 30 startup deals this year.We’ve seen this movie before. In 2020, during an unprecedented... Nvidia’s corporate development team must be exhausted. They’ve inked roughly 20 deals this year,...
Jason Citron, CEO of Discord. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.
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venture capital

Discord’s Midjourney Deal Could Supercharge Its Revenue

By Kate Clark · Sept. 7, 2023 12:49 PM PDT · 1 comment
Welcome back!For months I’d heard murmurings about Midjourney, a little artificial intelligence image generator company that had grown to almost 15 million users and hundreds of millions in revenue without any venture funding. I found that the company is also profitable, a major feat for a bootstrapped startup. (Read my profile of the startup ... Welcome back!For months I’d heard murmurings about Midjourney, a little artificial intelligence...
Chamath Palihapitiya. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.
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venture capital startups

The Summer of Stake Sales

By Kate Clark · Aug. 31, 2023 1:25 PM PDT
Venture capitalists need to show their limited partners they can make money off their past investments if they have any hope of raising another fund in the future. That’s what’s driving a number of attempted startup stake sales this summer. In two of the latest instances, Tiger Global Management and Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital are... Venture capitalists need to show their limited partners they can make money off their past...
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Photo by Getty
New SEC Rules Could Hurt VC’s Newcomers
By Kate Clark · Aug. 24, 2023 12:50 PM PDT
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Photo by Getty
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venture capital

New SEC Rules Could Hurt VC’s Newcomers

By Kate Clark · Aug. 24, 2023 12:50 PM PDT
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules for private funds Wednesday meant to give limited partners—the individuals and institutions that invest in these funds—more transparency. The ramifications for the much larger private equity industry have drawn most of the attention, but venture capital funds will also need to bend... The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules for private funds Wednesday meant...
Photo via Ramp
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venture capital startups

Ramp’s Down Round and Why Startups Should Let Employees Cash Out

By Kate Clark · Aug. 17, 2023 12:53 PM PDT · 1 comment
Since it was founded in 2019, credit card startup Ramp has won over investors with a blistering pace of growth. As card payment volume surged, the startup’s valuation exploded from $1 billion in early to 2021 to over $8 billion last year, thanks to investments from Thrive Capital and Redpoint Ventures, among others. Those heady times are... Since it was founded in 2019, credit card startup Ramp has won over investors with a blistering...
GGV Capital Managing Partner Hans Tung. Photo via Getty.
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venture capital startups

GGV’s ByteDance Sale Won’t Solve Its China Dilemma

By Kate Clark · Aug. 10, 2023 3:32 PM PDT
For a long time the debate around American venture capital investment in China has centered on Sequoia Capital, the blue-chip VC firm that’s earned billions of dollars from its overseas investments. But since Sequoia announced in June that it would split from its Chinese counterpart, the spotlight has expanded to a cohort of smaller firms that... For a long time the debate around American venture capital investment in China has centered on...
Photo via Midjourney.
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venture capital

The Unicorn Fire Sales Ahead

By Kate Clark · Aug. 3, 2023 11:19 AM PDT · 4 comments
Welcome back! Hopin, one of the most iconic startups of the pandemic era, said this week it sold its virtual event and webinar hosting business to RingCentral, and that its founder and CEO, Johnny Boufarhat, is stepping down. The sale marks a pitiful finale for the once-heralded startup.Similar to Clubhouse, the chat app valued at $4... Welcome back! Hopin, one of the most iconic startups of the pandemic era, said this week it...
Sequoia Capital's Menlo Park, Calif. campus. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.
Why VC’s Platform Teams Are on the Chopping Block
By Kate Clark · July 27, 2023 11:00 AM PDT · 6 comments
Sequoia Capital's Menlo Park, Calif. campus. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.
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venture capital

Why VC’s Platform Teams Are on the Chopping Block

By Kate Clark · July 27, 2023 11:00 AM PDT · 6 comments
Shortly after the exit of five of its partners, Sequoia Capital let go of seven members of its in-house recruiting and talent team, sending a clear signal to other firms that it’s time to reevaluate the platform teams, which grew exceedingly large during the record bull run. Across VC, I suspect there are thousands of these platform employees—... Shortly after the exit of five of its partners, Sequoia Capital let go of seven members of its...
Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital. Photo by Getty
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venture capital

Sequoia Exits Add to Pressure on Junior Dealmakers

By Kate Clark · July 20, 2023 12:42 PM PDT · 2 comments
Five partners have exited Sequoia Capital, I reported yesterday, one of the biggest personnel shake-ups at the legendary venture capital firm in recent history. It’s a sign of what’s coming for the broader industry. The departures included three junior dealmakers, or partners with less experience. Two of them, Kais Khimji and Daniel Chen,... Five partners have exited Sequoia Capital, I reported yesterday, one of the biggest personnel...
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty.
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venture capital startups

Who Could Lead OpenAI’s VC Fund?

By Kate Clark · July 13, 2023 4:29 PM PDT · 1 comment
OpenAI is on the prowl for a seasoned venture capitalist or two to run its startup investment fund.The San Francisco developer of ChatGPT is gearing up to soon start raising its second fund, which will be far larger than its $175 million debut, representatives of OpenAI have told several venture capital investors. They want an established... OpenAI is on the prowl for a seasoned venture capitalist or two to run its startup investment...
Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky. Photo via JayGraber.com
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venture capital

Betting on Bluesky

By Kate Clark · July 6, 2023 2:43 PM PDT · 10 comments
If you’re like me, you’ve signed up for a minimum of three apps trying to compete with Twitter this year. First it was Mastodon, then Bluesky, and now comes Threads, the Instagram sibling app that launched yesterday and raked in an impressive 30 million sign-ups by this morning.It will be incredibly difficult for a tiny startup like Bluesky,... If you’re like me, you’ve signed up for a minimum of three apps trying to compete with Twitter ...
Photo by Getty
Three Reasons to Look Past the 40% Drop in VC Funding
By Kate Clark · June 29, 2023 12:23 PM PDT
Photo by Getty
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venture capital startups

Three Reasons to Look Past the 40% Drop in VC Funding

By Kate Clark · June 29, 2023 12:23 PM PDT
To my surprise, the recent boom in artificial intelligence investments has done little to dig U.S. venture capital funding out of its hole.VC funding decreased in the second quarter, which ends tomorrow, according to new data provided to The Information by Crunchbase. U.S. startups raised just $27.6 billion compared to $45.2 billion in the first... To my surprise, the recent boom in artificial intelligence investments has done little to dig...
Figma CEO Dylan Field. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty
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venture capital startups

Antitrust Threat to Figma-Adobe Deal Thwarts Hopes for VC Rebound

By Kate Clark · June 22, 2023 12:49 PM PDT
Adobe’s $20 billion plan to buy design software startup Figma in September offered Silicon Valley venture capitalists brief relief from the downturn’s tight grip. But they might want to put the champagne away.  European regulators plan to launch an investigation of Adobe’s deal, the Financial Times reported earlier this week. A few... Adobe’s $20 billion plan to buy design software startup Figma in September offered Silicon Valley...
Photo by Getty
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venture capital

The End of Megafunds

By Kate Clark · June 15, 2023 10:45 AM PDT · 6 comments
Megafunds may be a relic of another era in venture capital. That’s not a bad thing. Insight Partners has reduced the target of its next fund 25% to $15 billion, the Financial Times first reported this week. Other firms, like Tiger Global Management and TCV, aren’t on track to meet their initial ambitious targets either.There aren’t enough... Megafunds may be a relic of another era in venture capital. That’s not a bad thing. Insight...
Emad Mostaque. Photo via YouTube/Scale.ai
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venture capital startups

Stability AI Drama Spotlights VC Accountability

By Kate Clark · June 8, 2023 3:04 PM PDT · 5 comments
Will the startup Stability AI be the first spectacular flameout of the new AI boom? That’s what I was asking myself as I read Forbes’ investigation into the three-year-old generative AI company, which raised $100 million at a valuation that last fall reached $1 billion. Without going into exhaustive detail, the article alleged the startup’s... Will the startup Stability AI be the first spectacular flameout of the new AI boom? That’s what I...
Photo by Getty
Google, Nvidia and Microsoft Offer What VCs Can’t
By Kate Clark · June 1, 2023 1:16 PM PDT · 1 comment
Photo by Getty
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venture capital

Google, Nvidia and Microsoft Offer What VCs Can’t

By Kate Clark · June 1, 2023 1:16 PM PDT · 1 comment
Welcome back,Amid all the hype for generative artificial intelligence, some venture capitalists have refused to join the fray. These young companies need so much capital and so much computing resources, the VC skeptics say, that they’ll have little chance of competing against Google, Amazon and other big tech companies that may soon have similar... Welcome back,Amid all the hype for generative artificial intelligence, some venture capitalists...
Bilal Zuberi. Photo courtesy of Lux Capital.
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venture capital

The Perils of Venture Patriotism

By Kate Clark · May 25, 2023 1:30 PM PDT · 2 comments
Welcome back!U.S. venture capitalists seem to be gripped by patriotic fervor, with a growing faction urging their peers to back more companies that help the U.S. battle adversaries like China. That’s put other venture capital firms with large China footprints on the defensive, as I reported this week.The recent bout of nationalism has worried... Welcome back!U.S. venture capitalists seem to be gripped by patriotic fervor, with a growing...
Art via Shutterstock
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venture capital

An Accelerator Implodes, Leaving Founders in Shock

By Kate Clark · May 18, 2023 3:01 PM PDT · 4 comments
If you ask a startup founder what they look for in an accelerator program, they’d probably hope for access to startup veterans and connections to prominent venture capitalists. By all accounts, they didn’t get much of that from Newchip, whose parent Astralabs last week entered into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, leaving creditors owed $4.8 million... If you ask a startup founder what they look for in an accelerator program, they’d probably hope...
Rewind AI co-founder Dan Siroker. Photo via Getty.
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venture capital startups

AI Startup Rewind Gets 170 Offers—and $350 Million Valuation in Unusual Fundraising

By Kate Clark · May 11, 2023 12:37 PM PDT · 7 comments
Hungry venture capitalists inundated Rewind AI co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker the moment they caught wind of his artificial intelligence startup’s Series A plans, he wrote on Twitter last month. So he skipped the traditional fundraising process and tried something unorthodox.On April 14, he shared a link to an online form and asked investors to... Hungry venture capitalists inundated Rewind AI co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker the moment they...
A First Republic Bank branch in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg.
Apathy Valley
By Kate Clark · May 4, 2023 1:31 PM PDT · 1 comment
A First Republic Bank branch in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg.
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venture capital

Apathy Valley

By Kate Clark · May 4, 2023 1:31 PM PDT · 1 comment
The biggest bank failure since the financial crisis and the fourth bank failure of the year happened this week. But no one in Silicon Valley seemed to care. That’s probably because they’re all exhausted by the slow-moving train wreck that’s transpired over the past three months. Or because—after the fall of crypto exchange FTX last fall and... The biggest bank failure since the financial crisis and the fourth bank failure of the year...