Illumen Capital is doubling down on its support for fund managers and founders from underrepresented communities. The firm is an impact fund of funds that has previously supported ways to address racial bias in investing. Yesterday, the firm, founded by Daryn Dodson, announced the raise of a $32.75 million “Catalyst Fund “to once again support […]
Illumen Capital doubles down on supporting underrepresented funds Read More »
Michael Gilroy, a former head of fintech investments at Coatue, and Gokul Rajaram, a longtime tech executive and prolific angel investor, are forming a yet-to-be-named venture firm and plan to begin fundraising toward a $400 million to $500 million debut fund early next year, Bloomberg reported. The firm will invest in US-based early-stage fintech and
Gilroy, former Coatue fintech head, and angel investor Rajaram launch VC firm Read More »
Defense tech funding just reached a new high. Defense tech startups have raised almost $3 billion so far in 2024, according to Crunchbase. This surpassed the previous record from 2022 of $2.6 billion. It’s an impressive feat, especially considering the number of deals has shrunk: in 2022, there were 113 defense tech rounds, outpacing 2024’s
Led by Anduril, defense tech funding sets a new record this year Read More »
Bling Capital, one of the more prolific and well-connected seed VC firms, has nabbed another $270 million for a new flagship fourth fund. About half of those fresh millions are earmarked for its opportunity fund, money set aside to make follow-on investments into winners, Bling general partner Kyle Lui tells TechCrunch. Bling is the firm
Ben Ling’s Bling Capital has already nabbed another $270M for fourth fund Read More »
Las Vegas police have received funding for tech like drones, license plate readers, and more from Andreessen Horowitz partner Ben Horowitz. Next on its wish list? Artificial intelligence to go through police footage. The city’s Sheriff Kevin McMahill said on a podcast with Horowitz and partner Marc Andreessen that he wants to use AI to
Las Vegas Sheriff tells a16z partners what’s next on his wish list: AI for bodycams Read More »
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
Itching to write a book? AI publisher Spines wants to make a deal Read More »
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
In 2023 VCs returned the lowest level of capital to their investors since 2011 Read More »
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
Marlon Nichols talks relationship building in the African markets Read More »
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
Precursor’s Charles Hudson believes founders should test their investors Read More »
For some, AI fatigue is real — but clearly venture investors haven’t grown tired of the category. AI deals continued to dominate venture funding during the third quarter. AI companies raised $18.9 billion in Q3, according to Crunchbase data. That figure represents 28% of all venture funding. The third quarter also saw the close of
Here’s the full list of 44 US AI startups that have raised $100M or more in 2024 Read More »
