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Venture Capital News
Medium
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The Fintech Landscape: Have We Hit Bottom?
- The fintech sector's venture capital deal activity has significantly decreased in 2024 compared to its peak in 2021, raising concerns about a potential fundamental reset in the funding landscape.
- The decline in fintech venture investments is seen across all funding stages, with later-stage investments showing more resilience due to mature companies scaling operations.
- Despite the decrease in deal volume, median valuations for both retail and enterprise fintech startups have risen across all funding stages.
- The exit landscape poses challenges with slow significant exits, influencing investment decisions, and creating a bottleneck effect in the market.
- Fintech has diversified beyond core banking and payments into specialized areas like regtech and wealthtech, offering opportunities for startups to innovate and investors to make impactful investments.
- Changes in regulatory environments worldwide, including Interchange Fee Pressures, Digital Operational Resilience Act, Cryptocurrency Regulatory Horizon, and Digital Public Infrastructure initiatives, present opportunities for fintech companies to address evolving market demands.
- The emergence of government-led Digital Public Infrastructure initiatives aims to enhance financial inclusion and boost economic growth in emerging markets like India, Brazil, Rwanda, and Nigeria.
- Transitioning towards greater regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies and digital assets is expected to unlock innovation and investment in the space for global adoption.
- B2B Buy Now, Pay Later and the Payment Orchestration Layer are examples of innovative sectors within payments with vast investment potential, leveraging technology, data, and AI to streamline processes and create new payment experiences.
- Fintech startups focusing on specific niches within the payments space are well-placed to capitalize on emerging opportunities and address unmet market needs, providing optimism for growth and innovation in the industry.
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Medium
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Recession Alert: What the Numbers Say and How it Will Impact the Mortgage Industry
- Several key indicators suggest a recession is on the horizon, including the inverted yield curve, slowing GDP growth rate, manufacturing decline, and declining consumer confidence.
- The mortgage industry is expected to be impacted by the recession, resulting in lower mortgage rates, reduced housing demand, increased refinancing activity, and tighter lending standards.
- A recession can lead to lower mortgage rates as the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates to stimulate economic growth.
- Reduced consumer spending can lead to decreased housing demand and potentially lower housing prices.
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Medium
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Why I Invested in Rune Technologies: the Secure & Contested Logistics Company
- Rune Technologies is focused on secure and contested logistics in the defense sector.
- The company is building TyrOS, a logistics operating system for contested environments.
- The system improves the way logistics data is collected, analyzed, and leveraged for decision-making.
- Rune's solution addresses the growing demand for resilient and technology-driven sustainment in the defense industry.
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Medium
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Amazon Launches Enhanced Alexa+ Arriving Next Month
- Amazon has launched Alexa+, an enhanced version of its AI assistant.
- Alexa+ is designed to be smarter than ever, with the ability to recognize tone and deliver empathetic responses.
- One of the groundbreaking features of Alexa+ is its ability to learn from user-provided information and provide specific details upon query.
- While there is no new Amazon hardware, the features will be accessible through a revamped Alexa.com and a new mobile app, with a subscription fee and complimentary access for Prime members.
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Medium
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What tech does a16z recommend?
- VC fund a16z has published a list of recommended tech for building and growing a company.
- The recommendations are a mix of early-stage and fun technologies that can add value to businesses.
- The purpose of the list is to spark innovation, solve problems, and inspire competition.
- While tools and tech are not perfect, they can serve a function and be used creatively.
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Medium
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Observations from Southeast Asia
- GS Futures invests in physical AI as a technology thesis for the future of the built world.
- Chinese manufacturers focus on open API connectivity, while North American manufacturers prioritize proprietary software and robust features.
- The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in Singapore offers partial subsidies for technology pilots to reduce friction in adopting new technology.
- The competitive advantage in the construction and real estate industry is temporary due to fragmented markets and reliance on direct labor and physical location.
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Medium
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The Academics Powering Cleantech
- TDK Ventures invests in early-stage founders in cleantech and climate tech, focusing on energy transition.
- The company mapped funding journeys of academic-founded cleantech startups from grants to private investors.
- Government programs play a significant role in catalyzing the energy transition and supporting innovation.
- Several prominent academics mentioned government funding sources like DOE, ARPA-E, and NSF.
- Academics highlighted the importance of private funding due to bureaucratic requirements of government funding.
- Academic founders were recognized for their technical expertise, pragmatism, and ability to build successful companies.
- Academic insights emphasized technical diligence, company formation, operations, and fundraising challenges in cleantech startups.
- There is a focus on converting academic research into venture-ready startups and addressing technical and commercial risks.
- The article discusses limitations of academia in training young founders and emphasizes the need for better resource allocation in cleantech.
- The research showcases academia's contribution to cleantech innovation and the necessity for government support in certain areas.
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Saastr
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Are You Really On The IPO Track? If Not, Maybe Don’t Unicorn
- Founders should be cautious about raising funds at valuations higher than $300 million unless they are certain about their path towards an IPO.
- SaaS IPOs with valuations above $500 million and annual recurring revenue (ARR) growing at 50% have the potential to achieve a $10 billion+ outcome.
- For earlier stage startups, growth rates of at least 80% at $100 million ARR, 125% at $50 million ARR, and 150% at $20 million ARR may be necessary to consider raising at higher valuations.
- Founders should be cautious of advice from existing VCs, as their valuation mark-ups may look good on paper but may not facilitate a smoother path to IPO or exit.
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Siliconangle
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Ethos raises $6M to enhance model risk management for financial institutions
- Ethos AI Inc. raises $6 million in funding to enhance model risk management for financial institutions.
- Ethos offers a platform designed to streamline model risk management for financial institutions, from development to validation and reporting.
- The platform incorporates intelligent automation and customizable workflows to improve collaboration and efficiency in risk management tasks.
- The funding round was led by Canapi Ventures, with participation from Capital One Ventures and Better Tomorrow Ventures.
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Medium
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Financial Modeling SaaS Contracts
- This article provides an in-depth analysis of how to model a SaaS contract.
- Different inputs for modeling a SaaS contract are explained, including customer cohort names, acquisition strategies, contract types, and billing assumptions.
- The article also highlights the importance of churn and implementation revenue in a SaaS model.
- The information gathered from these inputs is used to calculate various financial metrics and is integrated into the Three Statement Model.
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Medium
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Top Strategies for Sourcing Talent in Venture Capital and Private Equity
- Venture Capital and Private Equity firms have distinct hiring requirements compared to corporate organizations.
- Traditional recruitment methods can be time-consuming and ineffective in identifying high-caliber professionals.
- Utilizing professional communities and events can be valuable for sourcing top talent.
- Data-driven hiring and collaborating with executive search firms can enhance the hiring process in VC and PE.
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Saastr
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The Journey from Freemium to PLG to SLG: Key Learnings from Dropbox, Salesforce and Vimeo
- Companies successfully implementing PLG are seeing lower customer acquisition costs as a percentage of revenue.
- The evolution of go-to-market can be classified into three eras: Golf Course Era, SaaS Era, and PLG Era.
- Modern GTM success is based on three distinct layers: Free Tier, Team Tier, and Enterprise Tier.
- For startups, it is recommended to stay away from the Enterprise market until reaching $10M ARR.
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TechCrunch
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Anagram takes a gamified approach to employee cybersecurity training
- Anagram, formerly known as Cipher, is revolutionizing employee cybersecurity training.
- The company offers a platform with hands-on security training, including bite-sized videos and interactive puzzles.
- Anagram's trainings are more frequent and engaging than traditional yearly sessions.
- The company recently raised $10 million in a Series A funding round to further develop their product.
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Medium
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2) Not For Sale- PESRP
- The Arabs possessed a remarkable memory and were an eloquent people.
- Every year a fair was held for poetical competitions at Ukaz.
- In the fifth and sixth centuries, mankind stood on the verge of chaos.
- When Hazrat Muhammad was thirty-eight years of age, he spent most of his time in solitude and meditation.
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Medium
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Impact Investing Readiness for Social Enterprises
- A social enterprise is any business with a mission to create a positive impact on society, regardless of its for-profit or not-for-profit status.
- 54 Collective focuses on African entrepreneurs driving impact in areas like financial inclusion, healthcare access, climate resilience, entrepreneurship, and dignified work.
- Impact investments differ from traditional investments by expecting both financial returns and measurable social outcomes, such as environmental sustainability.
- Impact investors, unlike traditional investors, are more patient and measure success using metrics like sustainable development goals and ESG frameworks.
- Social entrepreneurs can demonstrate impact by aligning with SDGs and utilizing frameworks like The Five Dimensions of Impact to showcase outcomes and mitigate risks.
- Impact-focused businesses, like a healthcare aggregator, demonstrate their impact through metrics like pharmacy clients served and improved health outcomes.
- VC-funded businesses can balance financial returns and positive impact by embedding the impact story throughout the investment process.
- Impact measurement helps social enterprises scale by creating clarity around impact strategy and designing monitoring dashboards to track real-time impact.
- Transparency in social enterprises is maintained through data collection that validates the impact, enabling entrepreneurs to build trust with investors.
- Building meaningful relationships with impact investors requires solid business models, data-driven impact narratives, and alignment of the venture's thesis with investor interests.
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