The Seraf Compass

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

This series of articles is written for fund managers who are creating these new sources of entrepreneur-focused capital today, and those who aspire to start funds in the near future. And, wherever you find entrepreneurs, you will find investors looking to finance those entrepreneurs.

venture capital 361

venture capital capital ventures entrepreneurship 361

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

It will be the 105th deal out of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the firm I started back in September 2012, and it will be the last deal I’ll be making out of my third fund. It will also be my last venture capital deal. Around that time, I’ll be able to mark twenty years since I started as the first analyst at Union Square Ventures.

ventures 545

ventures investing investment VC 545

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JULY 18, 2022

Those values, on a schedule of investments we publish to our investors every quarter, flow through to our financial statements and capital accounts and establish how much an interest in our partnerships are worth at that time. Every quarter our firm goes through a process to value our entire portfolio.

venture capital 235

venture capital capital ventures creativity 235

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. Others believe that new business models are emerging that could replace venture capital all together. We’re in a new tech bubble!” some have pronounced. Follow the money.

venture capital 292

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 292

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MARCH 14, 2022

There is a lot of criticism of venture capital in web3. Bitcoin did not have or need venture capital. Ethereum did not have or need venture capital. So why would any web3 project need venture capital? But venture capitalists do, particularly good, experienced, and confident venture capitalists.

venture capital 239

venture capital capital ventures communities 239

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 15, 2020

In venture, it’s all about getting an opportunity to make partner and being included in the carry—the economic upside of a fund. There are so many different ways to interpret the data on who gets venture and why. Not all hires, however, are made equally.

venture capital 327

venture capital ventures capital mentorship 327

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures (no, Evan is not standing on a box) Last year marked the 25th anniversary for Upfront Ventures and what a year it was. Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures A question I often hear is “how is Upfront changing given the current market?” What do you do with a $650 million platform?

ventures 408

ventures startup peer-to-peer venture capital 408

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. She worked for 5 years as a VC at Battery Ventures and co-headed M&A at IAC working with Barry Diller. She had all of the skills and traits we sought?

ventures 361

ventures leadership mentorship venture capital 361

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 14, 2020

The massive expansion of later-stage private capital continues unabated. The massive expansion of later-stage private capital continues unabated. The NVCA and Pitch Book are out with their Q3 report on the VC industry and what they report is that the VC industry continues to be very active throughout the pandemic.

ventures 362

ventures VC pitching innovation 362

Source Link

APRIL 14, 2021

However, women – and especially minority women – often face institutional and systemic challenges including obtaining funding for their ventures, which can make the climb to the top slower and more difficult. Despite the growth in women-owned businesses, venture capital is still funneled to mostly male-owned businesses.

entrepreneurial ecosystem 246

entrepreneurial ecosystem entrepreneurs capital investment 246

The Seraf Compass

OCTOBER 25, 2023

The good news is that if you get a little help from competent experts, setting up and managing a venture fund does not have to be too complex from either a legal or an accounting standpoint. However, if you start an investment fund and collect and lose other people’s money, that’s a very different story.

venture capital 264

venture capital ventures capital investing 264

Dream It

APRIL 7, 2020

The venture fund launched a completely virtual program with a focus on helping 13 Urbantech, Healthtech, and Securetech startups with business development, customer growth, and capital raising in a time of economic uncertainty. pic.twitter.com/oNozwB4OF3 — Dreamit Ventures (@dreamit) March 19, 2020.

ventures 369

ventures accelerator enablement communities 369

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

Paul Martino, General Partner at Bullpen Capital. During our recent Dreamit Kickoff week, Bullpen Capital Founder and General Partner Paul Martino ( @ahpah ) spoke with our Spring 2020 cohort about the state of the VC ecosystem in the current economic crisis. Will a financial crisis affect how venture funds deploy capital?

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

Dream It

APRIL 21, 2020

Here are some common red flags for venture investors: Red Flag #1 : Ask isn’t tied to specific fundable milestones. Add 3-6 additional months of capital to your total funding requested. By Elliot Levy , Healthtech Associate at Dreamit Ventures Subscribe to Dreamit’s Podcast on Apple , Google Podcasts , or Spotify.

ventures 351

ventures pitching frameworks founder 351

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses. As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture.

investing 328

investing investment VC venture capital 328

The Seraf Compass

DECEMBER 8, 2021

Steven Wamathai is the General Partner and Co-Founder of FrontEnd Ventures, a Kenya-focused venture capital fund committed to supporting local and diverse founder teams that are passionate about innovating and changing their value chains.

ventures 204

ventures venture capital innovation support 204

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Or that venture capital is a meritocracy? This doesn’t take into consideration, however, that venture capital is a financial product—a product that works for some people and doesn’t work for others. We know what the racial and gender wealth disparity looks like: This is a lesson taught to be by Jewel from Collab Capital.

advice 476

advice pitching venture capital VC 476

500

DECEMBER 16, 2019

This year we dove headfirst into the rise of corporate venture capital, the changing nature of venture capital education, and the important task of startup ecosystem building. In 2018, we saw this trend reach new heights with more corporate venture capital (CVC) funds than ever.

startup ecosystem 259

startup ecosystem venture capital startup education 259

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 3, 2016

That was a question posed to me by a new analyst at a venture capital fund. While there are lots and lots of really kind, generous people working in venture capital--the recently retired Howard Morgan, Hunter Walk, Brad Feld, and Karin Klein for example--it's really tough to argue that there isn't widespread jerkery.

VC 405

VC venture capital entrepreneurship advice 405

Dream It

MARCH 6, 2020

Jeff Berman is General Partner at Camber Creek , one of the first venture funds dedicated to real estate technology and the built world. The team owns, operates and manages over 150 million square feet of real estate, making Camber Creek one of the biggest value-add venture partners for real estate tech startups.

real estate 406

real estate pitching VC opportunity 406

American Entrepreneurship

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

Startups, early-stage and growth-stage companies present their models to a gathering of angel investors and venture capital firms The Venture Atlanta Conference, set to take place on October 8-9, 2024, at The Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall, is one of the most anticipated entrepreneurial events in the southeast U.S.

entrepreneurs 98

entrepreneurs ventures pitching mentorship 98

Revolution

MAY 11, 2023

Consequently, the Bay Area experienced a surge, capturing over one-third of all early-stage venture funding in the U.S., Despite 2022’s heel turn, the ten-year funding trend line still points to VCs concentrating less capital in the major coastal hubs and more in the rest of the country, a collective area of focus for attendees.

real estate 296

real estate energy innovation VC 296

Revolution

JANUARY 18, 2024

Revolution Ventures Invests in Kashable, the Fintech Leading the Socially Responsible, Employer-Sponsored Credit Movement The $25.6M Revolution Ventures is thrilled to partner with Kashable and help the team accelerate its vision to help all working Americans forge a path to financial security. For more on Kashable, visit kashable.com.

ventures 130

ventures investing investment innovation 130

American Entrepreneurship

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

Private equity firm Rotunda Capital Partners focuses on transforming family-founder-owned companies into data-driven platforms that lead to accelerated growth. Rotunda truly understands our capital needs, our culture, and our commitment to supporting our team, brands and customers,” commented the two co-founders.

capital 105

capital investing investment accelerator 105

Revolution

MAY 23, 2023

Part of the antidote for startups: employing a more prudent approach to raising capital and curating a diverse investor base. To shed additional light on this issue and its ultimate impact on startups, I partnered with the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation to ask proptech founders about their capital and strategic partners.

real estate 278

real estate venture capital VC innovation 278

Dream It

JULY 31, 2019

The product should be live if we hope to raise capital. A program to get your company 'accelerated'- selling faster, moving faster, which does not necessarily translate to capital. 4- Any startup can raise venture capital I've also seen a misconception on business types, versus their ability to raise venture capital.

startup 334

startup accelerator pitching venture capital 334

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 1, 2024

As we enter 2024, the capital markets have found their footing and are moving higher. That is good news for the innovation economy because healthy capital markets are a necessary support system. However, optimistic capital markets are necessary but not sufficient for a healthy innovation economy.

energy 236

energy venture capital innovation capital 236

Revolution

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

What we did: The Rise of the Rest team kicked off October with a trip to Chi-Town to catch up with portfolio companies Blueprint , Unreal Estate , and Rheaply and co-investor, Chicago Ventures. Their jam-packed agenda culminated with a gathering of local entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders for happy hour at Siena Tavern.

venture capital 246

venture capital pitching board ventures 246

American Entrepreneurship

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

The global financial services firm narrowed its selection down to 25 companies for its I nclusive Ventures Lab. Each year since the Inclusive Ventures Lab’s launch in 2017, we have expanded our efforts to ensure that more entrepreneurs around the world can succeed – and this year is no different,” sums up Bueno.

disruption 98

disruption technology ventures startup 98

The Seraf Compass

JANUARY 11, 2023

Now let's take a closer look at capital allocation strategy and the life cycle of a venture fund. In Part I of this article we discussed several key concepts of fund investment strategy and how funds are categorized, whether it be by industry, geography, stage, specialty (e.g. social impact, corporate, etc.) or some other criteria.

strategy 363

strategy VC capital ventures 363

American Entrepreneurship

JULY 10, 2024

Observing emerging trends in the global startup ecosystem, Index Ventures announced the addition of $2.3 AI alone will revolutionize virtually every sector of the economy and open up whole industries to venture that have remained virtually untouched.” billion in capital to back founders from seed to IPO.

opportunity 105

opportunity ventures startup leadership 105

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

Only a small minority of people are born into the kinds of connections and life paths to provide them instant access to capital. Mimi Aboubaker writes more about this in Techcrunch: In 2021, $330 billion in venture capital was deployed, and only 2% of that number went to companies founded only by women and 15.6%

finance 417

finance financing board VC 417

Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

Your inflection points need to put the company in a position for a liquidity event - raising more money at a higher valuation or achieving an exit that delivers venture-level returns. Your milestones determine the amount of runway needed, and thus your capital raise requirements, not the other way around.

pitching 393

pitching board health VC 393

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 18, 2021

In early June, I wrote this post explaining that I and we need to do more to reduce the inequality issues for Black people in tech, venture capital, and startups. I think MLK day is a good time to talk about what has happened since that post.

venture capital 233

venture capital board capital ventures 233

Revolution

OCTOBER 25, 2023

What we did: Revolution Ventures Managing Partner, Tige Savage , and Associate, Carl Leacock , reconnected with the Houston innovation ecosystem during a jam-packed day planned by local startup, Rivalry Tech. Here’s a snapshot of the stops and connections we made in Q3. Where we went: Houston, TX? Where we went: Bozeman, MT?

real estate 246

real estate funders innovation VC 246

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? It’s just a market.

VC 466

VC culture sustainability capital 466

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 27, 2021

Last fall, USV raised two new venture capital funds from our loyal and supportive investors. "we remain committed to our way of practicing venture capital … Our funds are small. We announced the new climate fund on January 8th and I blogged about it here. While it is less newsmaking, it is worth talking about.

venture capital 235

venture capital collaboration investing investment 235