venture capital

Why Tecovas sought out physical sales first despite its DTC dreams

When Paul Hedrick left his private equity career to launch Tecovas in 2015, he knew he wanted to sell the brand’s signature cowboy boots a little differently than other traditional Western wear companies. He wanted to sell the boots direct to consumers online — but unlike many other DTC brands, he wasn’t going to wait around […]

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Foray Bioscience is breaking down the barriers of bringing biomanufacturing to plants

Ashley Beckwith spent years of her academic and professional career focused on the intersection of biology, materials and manufacturing to build medical solutions more efficiently. When she realized the tech could be applied to plants and plant-based materials, an area that desperately needed it, she decided to switch gears. “Life on earth is only as

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Kevin Hartz’s A* raises its second oversubscribed fund in two years

Venture firms raised $9.3 billion in Q1 according to PitchBook data, which means this year likely won’t match or surpass 2023’s $81.8 billion total. While emerging managers are feeling the fundraising market’s frost the most, some emerging VCs like A* have enough name recognition, and a good enough track record, to still find success. A*,

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Kevin Hartz’s A* raises its second oversubscribed fund in three years

Venture firms raised $9.3 billion in Q1 according to PitchBook data, which means this year likely won’t match or surpass 2023’s $81.8 billion total. While emerging managers are feeling the fundraising market’s frost the most, some emerging VCs like A* have enough name recognition, and a good enough track record, to still find success. A*,

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Materia looks to make accountants more efficient with AI 

The U.S. is facing an accountant shortage. Fewer first-time candidates took the CPA exam in 2022 than in 2006, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. One possible reason people aren’t as interested in the field is the large amount of drudge work involved: Accountants have to rifle through large amounts of unstructured

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Steve Case on why policy is crucial to make sure AI success isn’t concentrated to a few players

Steve Case is no stranger to how policy can help aid innovation. His former company AOL would have been dead in the water if not for the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which required telecoms companies to open access to their tech. Now, Case is hoping the federal government will look to take the same stance

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Zal Bilimoria just raised a $50M fourth Refactor Capital fund, and still relishes his solo GP status

Zal Bilimoria has been a solo general partner since 2018, and has no plans to stop. And he credits the decision to former colleague, David Lee, who started Refactor Capital with him in 2016. He said that he would not have been able to start the Burlingame-based firm without Lee, a former Google executive who

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