venture

Slow Ventures cuts first check from $60M creator fund into woodworking founder

Venture /

Slow Ventures’ Creator Fund has invested $2 million into Jonthan Katz-Moses, a popular woodworking content creator with around 600,000 followers, nearly 75 million video views, and his own line of woodworking tools.  This marks the first investment for Slow’s $60 million Creator Fund since its launch in February. The fund looks to help creators launch […]

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What founders should think about if looking to raise a Series C

Venture /

Startup founders face a perplexing and even contradictory capital market in 2025, according to Sapphire Ventures partner Cathy Gao. “Capital isn’t scarce. But access to that capital is harder than ever,” she said. Gao, who spoke at TechCrunch’s All Stage conference in July, said it’s possible for startup founders, especially those in later Series C

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How a Y Combinator food delivery app used TikTok to soar in the App Store

Startups /

The internet trend is simple: A friend or family member looks into the camera and tells viewers, in a slightly aggressive tone, that they are about to witness a presentation and that they had better be nice.  That’s what Kendall, the sister of Lucious McDaniel IV, did, and after she stepped aside, her brother pitched

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Betaworks’ third fund closes at $66M to invest in early-stage AI startups

Venture /

New York City-based Betaworks has closed its $66 million Fund III, which will focus on investing in early-stage AI companies.  Betaworks has been investing in AI since at least 2016 and, through its investment program Camp, has backed companies such as Huggingface and Granola. Jordan Crook, a partner at the firm (and former TechCrunch employee),

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The perfect pitch: This NEA partner says every founder should answer these 5 questions

Venture /

Most founders eventually have to pitch venture firms in hopes of raising capital. Tiffany Luck, a partner at NEA, took the stage at TechCrunch’s All Stage event in Boston to answer how to craft the perfect one. “I like to think of a VC pitch as your initial way for assessing founder-investor fit,” she told

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CaaStle founder charged with fraud, turns herself in

Venture /

Christine Hunsicker, founder of the fashion startup CaaStle, turned herself in to authorities Friday to face fraud charges, authorities confirmed to Bloomberg.  The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment against her, charging her with wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and lying to financial institutions. She

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Venture gets a rare Native American-led fund in Betsy Fore’s Velveteen Ventures

Venture /

When Betsy Fore was five, her grandmother got her a gift she has never forgotten: A Velveteen Rabbit from Goodwill that Fore believed, with enough love, could spring alive. Decades later, that rabbit has lent its name to Fore’s venture firm, Velveteen Ventures, which came to life on Tuesday.  “I realized after building companies for

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Rwazi raises $12M Series A to help companies with consumer insights and intelligence

Venture /

Joseph Rutakanga spent eight years looking for tools to help companies gather consumer insight data. Eventually, he decided to just build them.  Now his startup, called Rwazi, has raised a $12 million Series A led by Bonfire Ventures to help companies with market intelligence and consumer insights. He founded the company in 2021 with co-founder

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UK launches £500M package to support diverse, underrepresented investors and founders

Government & Policy /

The British Business Bank, owned by the UK government, is creating a £500 million (around $674 million) economic package to help support diverse and underrepresented fund managers and founders in the country.  Fifty million pounds will be set aside for female-led venture funds, which means the BBB has now committed at least £100 million (around

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