By Alex Derber, VCJ Correspondent In 2017 Skype Founder Niklas Zennstrom raised Atomico, one of Europe’s biggest VC funds at $765 million. And this year one of the VoIP pioneer’s earliest backers may surpass that effort. The third fund from Lakestar, a firm founded by Klaus Hommels, recently did a second close. And VCJ understands […]
In early February, Procter & Gamble spun the VC world around when it paid a reported $100 million for This Is L, the mission-driven producer of personal-care products for women. The deal for the upstart femtech, which donates products to underserved markets, was surprising for at least a couple of key reasons: It was founded […]
Seed-stage focused Susa Ventures, an early investor in unicorns Flexport and Robinhood, aims to raise $140 million for two funds, according to a pair of regulatory filings. Susa, based in San Francisco’s Mission District, is seeking $90 million for its third main seed fund and $50 million for its first opportunity fund. The opportunity fund […]
Andreessen Horowitz, which invests from seed to late in consumer and enterprise tech, brought David George on board as its first general partner dedicated solely to late-stage investing. The Stanford University Business School graduate most recently was with growth investor General Atlantic for seven years. In a blog post, a16z Managing Partner Scott Kupor said […]
Investing dynamics appear to remain strong in seed and especially at the upper end of the market, despite the three-year decline in seed deals. Considerable competition still takes place to lead top seed deals, and the slack in deal volume across the United States is hard to see, investors said. Activity levels feel particularly strong […]
ATX Seed Ventures, an Austin, Texas-based early-stage venture firm, is raising a $100 million third fund and has already received commitments for about half of this amount from its existing LPs, said Managing Partner Chris Shonk. The firm’s third fund will be three times larger than its second $32 million fund, which was announced in […]
OMERS appointed Mark Shulgan to head the Canadian pension fund’s new growth-equity platform, Venture Capital Journal has learned. OMERS announced Shulgan’s hire as a managing director in September, though at the time did not mention the new strategy. He will now run OMERS Growth Equity, recently set up for long-term investing in high-growth companies committed […]
In the beginning, venture capital created the Series A. Now, young companies raise an expanding variety of early rounds; so many, it is hard to keep track. Seed, pre-seed, post seed, angel, seed prime, seed extension, A prime: The nomenclature for initial institutional, and non-institutional, capital has changed strikingly in a decade. Who even thinks […]
Seed-stage investor 500 Startups, which is expected to soon begin fundraising for its fifth global fund, promoted Tim Chae to general partner. Co-Founder and Managing Partner Christine Tsai said Chae will oversee the San Francisco-based investment team and the seed-accelerator program, and will work closely with the organization’s 14 thematic funds worldwide. That includes the […]
In mid-February, Upfront Ventures investor and blogger Mark Suster took on one of venture’s most vexing questions: Why has seed investing tumbled? His conclusion: A growing maturity of the seed business and a static level of A-round activity. He is right on both accounts. But there may be more behind this multi-year nosedive, according to […]