Forestay, an emerging VC based out of Geneva, Switzerland, has been busy. This week it closed its second fund, Forestay Capital II, at a hard cap of $220 million. The VC wasn’t well known in Europe until it started to lead rounds in enterprise startups a couple of years ago, notably scanning software startup Scandit […]
Forestay, Europe’s newest $220M growth-stage VC fund, will focus on AI Read More »
Sidney Scott decided to take himself out of the venture capital rat race and is now jokingly auctioning off his vests — starting at $500,000. The Driving Forces solo general partner announced on LinkedIn this week that he was shutting down his $5 million fintech and deep tech VC fund that he started in 2020,
Deep tech VC Sidney Scott explains why he’s closing his firm as this area booms Read More »
Samyr Laine and his wife, Ayanna Alexander-Laine, started Freedom Trail Capital in 2023 and are working their way toward a $50 million fund. Both are former Olympians who competed for Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively, in the triple jump. Now they put their grit and determination to work for founders wanting to launch and
The amount of waste produced by the construction industry adds up to more than a third of the overall waste produced each year in the European Union. And it’s no better in the U.S. Stateside, the construction industry produces more than double the waste that households do each year. Sensorita wants to help the construction
When Til Klein and Jochen Beutgen came across Gaingels, the U.S.-based syndicate of angel investors backing LGBTQ+ founders, they wondered why there wasn’t a firm looking to do the same for the European LGBTQ+ startup community. Five years later, when a firm like that still didn’t exist, Klein and Beutgen decided they should try to
Identity.vc is bringing capital and community to Europe’s LGBTQ+ venture ecosystem Read More »
When Ironspring Ventures launched in 2020 to back startups in industrial sectors like construction and manufacturing, it was one of very few early-stage venture firms paying attention to those capital-intensive sectors. Now, the firm is doubling down. The Austin, Texas-based firm raised $100 million for its second fund to focus on industrial startups. This is
Austin-based Ironspring Ventures raised $100M to invest in the industrial revolution Read More »
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
Why Tecovas sought out physical sales first despite its DTC dreams Read More »
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at a Brex exec’s jump to join venture firm a16z, Klarna selling off its payments unit and some mega-raises. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. PT, subscribe here. The big story Ali Rathod-Papier
From Brex exec to venture capitalist Read More »
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
Foray Bioscience is breaking down the barriers of bringing biomanufacturing to plants Read More »
When former YouTube product manager Kevin Xu, known as “Sir Jack A Lot” on Reddit, turned $35,000 into $8 million trading stocks between 2020 and 2022, many people thought his fortunes, and his way of investing, had peaked, just like 2021’s memestock craze had. Xu doesn’t agree, though, and he’s now building a startup for
Sir Jack A Lot returns with a startup for retail traders Read More »
