Kaitlyn Landgraf Bartley
Playground Ventures is raising a $15 million affiliates fund in addition to its $500 million second fund, according to a filing with the SEC. The firm invests in companies developing software-defined hardware, including mobile-linking platform Branch, RightHand Robotics and IoT video conferencing hardware company Owl Labs, according to its website. The Palo Alto-based venture firm and its affiliated tech incubator Playground Global is run by Andy Rubin, co-founder of Android, and Peter Barrett, Matt Hershenson and Bruce Leak.
The IPO market is getting hot as June wraps up, with 10 companies expected to go public in the busiest week of the year so far. Three of the new issues this week are venture-backed. Year-to-date in 2017, 69 IPOs have priced, putting it on pace to surpass the 105 new issues in all of […]
Jonathan Teo, who co-founded Binary Capital with Justin Caldbeck in 2014, released a statement on his Facebook page this afternoon addressing some of the questions he has faced since Caldbeck resigned after being accused of sexually harassing multiple female entrepreneurs who came to him for funding. The situation came to light after last week’s article […]
Worldwide venture capital investments into solar energy technology have dipped in 2017, with both deal count and total equity invested down from last year. As of late June, investors have given $254 million in 21 deals to companies in the solar industry this year, compared to $813 million over 102 deals last year, according to […]
Venture capitalists convening in Washington for the White House summit called “tech week” will meet on Thursday with President Trump and discuss such emerging technologies as drones and the Internet of Things, according to a senior White House official. The American Leadership in Emerging Technology summit on June 22 will feature breakout sessions on the […]
Trump administration officials continue to review the International Entrepreneur Rule as the deadline approaches for it to take effect. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the White House plans to delay and then rescind the rule altogether, citing an anonymous administration official who referred to an unpublished draft of a Federal Register notice. […]
Morado Venture Partners is targeting a $75 million third fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Palo Alto, California-based seed-stage firm invests in companies working with data, according to its website, and is led by Ash Patel and Michael Marquez. No investors have committed to the fund, according to the filing.
New Media Ventures has committed $1 million in funding to 14 startups working in politics, media and tech, the firm announced. The San Francisco-based venture firm invests in startups that are dedicated to progressive values and seeks to unify the tech world of Silicon Valley with the political world of Washington, D.C.
Venture capital investments in U.S.-based cannabis-related startups have dropped in 2017 compared to the two years before. As of mid-June, four cannabis or medical marijuana startups have raised $7.73 million from venture investors, compared to eight companies in 2016 that raised $36.65 million, according to VCJ’s analysis of Thomson Reuters data. U.S. investments cannabis startups […]
GV and Salesforce Ventures are the most active corporate venture capital investors worldwide in 2017 as of mid-June, with GV leading the pack with 34 deals. Salesforce Ventures trailed at 18 deals, followed by Novo A/S, Microsoft Ventures and GE Ventures at 17 deals each, according to VCJ‘s analysis of the investment data from Thomson […]