• Investing in Two Indias

    NikhilNikhil Khattau has spent most of his career both building and investing in India-based companies. In fact, in 2007, soon after selling a mutual fund he’d founded to a financial group, Khattau co-founded Mayfield India in Mumbai, where he continues to help the firm.

    It isn’t always easy, given that India’s 1.2 billion residents remain very much separated both culturally and economically. “You have to divide India into the country [that wants to be a great global power] and ‘Bharat’ … which is rural India, where 70 percent of people live,” says Khattau.

    Khattau tends to invest in non-tech companies that cater to the latter — outfits like Geodesic Techniques, a specialty construction company that creates buildings out of steel and glass. (“Most were made of concrete prior,” says Khattau.) But earlier this week, during a wide-ranging conversation, we discussed India’s metropolitan centers, too. Here’s part of that conversation, edited for length.

    I recently read an article positing that given the amount of gold held by people in India, there must be a way to unlock its value, possibly by renting it out. That struck me as an interesting proposition. Would it ever be possible culturally?

    Well, gold is used to show whether you’re wealthy or not. But women have also traditionally been given gold jewelry, so if ever they need money, they can pawn or sell their jewelry and have access to liquid cash. When a woman is married off, she’s given a lot of jewelry by her parents as her backstop, really. She then saves it to pass along to the next generation. So looking at gold and gold jewelry in that light, the sharing just doesn’t work.

    Still, I think in urban India, it could be interesting. We’re seeing [a lot of behaviors] that are more akin to what you’re seeing out West: young people living away from home, earning their own money, wanting to go out and dress up and not necessarily wanting to invest in the hot asset that gold is. It would be complicated, but it’s a non-trivial market. The four biggest metropolitan centers have 10 to 15 million people; the next four have between 5 million and 10 million people. Altogether, city populations [add up to] 350 million.

    Is this younger, urban demographic interested in shared transportation other than buses, or is that also premature?

    The public transportation system isn’t great. And not everybody can afford their own private transportation, so there’s a unique phenomenon in India where companies provide transportation – sort of like shared taxis. If you look at Google or Amazon or Infosy, for example, they’ll commission thousands of private taxis each month. The taxis are fairly sophisticated, too; they feature GPS systems, and employees have their own codes, all of which enable their employers to know where a cab is and how many people are in it and whether or not it’s running late. It’s sort of like an Uber system, but it’s enterprise-geared.

    Why are you focused exclusively on low-tech or no-tech business opportunities?

    India is so many generations behind that we’re seeing white spaces where you [in the U.S.] have had developed structures for 30, 50, even 100 years. We’re also able to realize venture-style returns without taking venture-style risk, because the model has been proven time and again. For example, we recently exited from a portfolio company called Fourcee Logistics, which transports liquids [from fatty acids to crude palm oil to molasses] in multi-modal containers. These containers have been around in the rest of the world since the 1950s; Fourcee was first to bring them here.

    It really seems like India is developing at two speeds.

    Absolutely. The twenty and thirtysomethings are looking for bleeding-edge technologies; they want free, perfect, and now. Then there’s the rest of the country.

    Sign up for our morning missive, StrictlyVC, featuring all the venture-related news you need to start you day.

    Connie

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  • StrictlyVC: December 18, 2013

    110611_2084620_176987_imageHappy Wednesday, everyone! Hope you’re enjoying your holidays. Like you perhaps, StrictlyVC just wants to relax and settle into an oversize sofa with a plate of venture capitalist-shaped sugar cookies already. But stay tuned — we have some good stuff coming over the next couple of days.

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    The price of bitcoin dropped a stunning 50 percent overnight, following an announcement from China’s largest bitcoin exchange that it would no longer be accepting new yuan deposits.

    —–

    A Storyteller Wade Into a Crowded Market

    Tristan Walker is a rarity in Silicon Valley. He’s a gifted storyteller who intimately understands mobile and social media, having interned at Twitter before joining Foursquare, where he led business development for three years.

    Those talents will come in handy, as Walker pulls the cover off his eight-month-old startup, Walker & Company, revealing its first product to be … a shaving kit.

    Worth mentioning straightaway: This is an exceedingly nice shaving kit. In addition to a pure brass handle and German-made blades, each kit comes with rich pre-shave, shaving, and after-shave lotions, all tucked thoughtfully into an elegant box that’s designed to take 2.5 seconds to open. (It builds anticipation, Walker told me during a recent visit to the company’s offices, located a few miles from Stanford University.)

    Priced as the kit is — a user pays $59 for his first, three-month supply, and $29 per month thereafter — it seems reasonably accessible, too, particularly considering the growing percentage of men willing to spend on grooming. According to the research company Mintel, the share of personal care products designed for men has grown to to 5.6 percent from 4.6 percent over the past five years.

    Still, to break into a crowded market that already features both high-end competitors and affordable alternatives, Walker needs a compelling story, and he has one that he tells well. As he explains it, black, Latino, and Asian men and women have few personal care options beyond the “ethnic aisle of Walgreen’s,” where they’re left to examine which “dust-covered” product might be remotely suited for their hair texture or skin needs. To underscore his point, Walker, who is African-American, shows me an off-the-shelf hair-care product featuring a balding black man wearing a bath towel.

    It’s that underserved market that inspired Walker & Co. The company’s shave kit, for example, has a single blade construction that’s particularly ideal for African-American men, who often struggle with extreme razor burn irritation because their facial hair tends to be curly.

    Yet the kit is just the start, says Walker, who observes that people of color will represent the majority of American in the not-too-distant future, as well as that they tend to spend more than other demographic groups on personal care products. (Black women, who represent just 6 percent of U.S. population today, account for 30 percent of hair care spend, says Walker.)

    Little wonder Walker is already imagining products such as high-end shampoos suited for the dry hair of African-American women, or skin-care products that address hyperpigmentation.

    And none will be relegated to a drugstore aisle, says Walker, who is employing a direct-to-consumer e-tailing strategy, along with reaching people where they gather online. (Among other examples: the urban style blog Street Etiquette will soon begin publishing grooming content co-created with Walker & Co.)

    Eventually, Walker & Co. — whose investors include Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel, Upfront Ventures, and Sherpa Foundry — will also sell its products offline, says Walker. But telling the story comes first, and the shaving kit is not the story; it’s just the prologue.

    “This is about fundamentally enabling access. It’s about making things more practical and delightful at the same time,” says Walker.

    Traditional consumer packaged goods companies have had their chance, he suggests. Walker & Co. is “going to create the experience that [people of color] deserve.”

    dropcam_300x250_learn

    New Fundings

    Atara Biotherapeutics, a year-old, Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company that’s developing drugs to treat debilitating diseases, has raised $38.5 million in Series B funding. Amgen Ventures, Celgene Corporation, and EcoR1 Capital led the round, joined by existing investors Alexandria Venture Investments, DAG Ventures, Domain Associates, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. FierceBiotech has much more on the company and its backstory here.

    Crescendo Biologics, a young, Cambridge, England-based biotech that’s working on differentiated medicines for cancer and psoriasis, has raised $28 million in funding led by Imperial Innovations with participation from new investor Astellas Venture Management and founding seed investor Sofinnova Partners.

    Datameer, a four-year-old, San Mateo, Calif.-based company that sells data analytics services to business users, has raised $19 million in Series D funding. Next World Capital led the round. Workday,Software AG and Citi Ventures also participated, alongside with earlier investors Redpoint Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. The company says it has raised a total of $36.2 million to date.

    DreamBox Learning, a seven-year-old, Bellevue, Wash.-based company behind a new interactive and adaptive educational system for teaching children math, has raised $14.5 million in Series A1 financing. The round was led by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and included private investments by venture capitalists John Doerr andDeborah Quazzo. GSV Capital also participated in the funding.

    Glue Networks, a six-year-old, Sacramento, Calif.-based company that sells an enterprise-grade, cloud-networking service, has raised $12.4 million from undisclosed investors, bringing its total funding to date to $16.9 million.

    iROKOtv, a Nigeria-based company behind a video-on-demand platform for Nigerian movies (it’s been dubbed the “Netflix of Africa”), has raised $8 million. The round was led by existing investor Tiger Global, which was joined by the Sweden-based investment companyKinnevik. New investor Rise Capital, a U.S.-based expansion-stage venture firm, also participated in the funding, which brings iROKotv’s total capital raised to $21 million.

    Kannuu, a six-year-old, Dallas-based company whose software makes it easier to quickly find content on smart TVs, tablets, and smartphones, has raised $2 million in capital from an unnamed private equity firm.

    Maxwell Health, a year-old, Cambridge, Mass.-based SaaS company that aims to simplify employee benefits for businesses, has raised Series A1 financing, led by Vaizra Investments, with participation from Catalyst Health Ventures and existing investors, Tribeca Ventures, Serious Change, Lerer Ventures, BoxGroup and individual investors. To date, the company has raised just less than $10 million.

    Planet Labs, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company with ambitions to map the entire Earth with a fleet of imaging satellites, has raised $52 million in new funding, led by early Facebook investor Yuri Milner. Other new investors include Industry Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Lux Capital, and longtime Venrock partner Ray Rothrock. Previous investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn Investment Group, O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, Founders Fund, First Round Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Data Collective, and AME Cloud Ventures also joined in the round, which brings the company’s total capital raised to date to $65 million.

    Sojern, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based “travel engagement platform” that makes it easier for companies like American Express to target and engage with customers, has raised $10 million in Series C funding. Triangle Peak Partners led the round with participation fromNorwest Venture Partners, Trident Capital, Focus Ventures andIndustry Ventures. According to Crunchbase, Sojern has raised about $42 million to date.

    Trinity Pharma, a nine-year-old, Waltham, Mass.-based company that sells its cloud-based data management and analytics services to the life sciences industry, has raised $15 million. Health Enterprise Partners, a New York-based growth equity firm, led the investment, which is Trinity’s first outside funding.

    ViewRay, a nine-year-old, Cleveland, Oh.-based medical device company that’s been developing advanced radiation technology to treat certain cancers, has secured $30 million in funding from existing investors Aisling Capital, Fidelity Biosciences, Kearny Venture Partners and OrbiMed Advisors, along with new investor Cowealth Medical Holding Co. Hercules Technology Growth Capitalprovided additional debt financing. ViewRay has raised at least $120 million over the years, according to Crunchbase.

    Wildcraft, a 19-year-old, Bangalore, India-based maker of outdoor gear, has raised Rs 70 crore from Sequoia Capital. The Times of India has much more.

    WyzAnt, an eight-year-old, Chicago-based tutor-student marketplace, has raised $21.5 million in funding from Accel Partners. TechCrunchexplains the funding, which represents WyzAnt’s first institutional round.

    —–

    People

    TiVo co-founders Michael Ramsay and Jim Barton are reportedly on the verge of releasing a new TV companion device that will combine video discovery with smart TV (i.e. Internet) functionality — kind of like a next-generation TiVo. GigaOm has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    PeerCDN, a year-old, Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup that made Javascript code to “turbocharge” users’ Websites, has been acquired by Yahoo for undisclosed terms. Yahoo told TechCrunch of the acquisition: “Yahoo has acquired PeerCDN. The team has a solid background in domain expertise and a passion for video that makes them a perfect fit for Yahoo. Three engineers have joined our media organization in Sunnyvale.”

    StackMob, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile platform designed to help developers easily build mobile business with full-featured applications, has been acquired by PayPal for undisclosed terms. The company’s team will be joining PayPal. StackMob had raised $7.5 million from Trinity Ventures, Harrison Metal Capital, and Baseline Ventures.

    —–

    Job Listings

    The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan — Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan, with roughly $130 billion in net assets — is looking for a Toronto-based senior investment associate. The pension invests in funds, it co-invests, and it even leads investments; this associate would join its technology, media, and telecommunications team to make and manage direct investments in those verticals, as well as weigh in on co-investment opportunities.

    —–

    Data

    So far this year, according to Dealogic, 166 companies have raised $64 billion through IPOs. That compares to roughly 120 last year, and the fewer than 80 IPOs each year in 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008. The volume of secondary offerings this year (in terms of number of deals and dollars raised), is also on track to break records. This piece nicely sums up what we’ve seen — and what we can expect to see over the next few months.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Hope you haven’t gone shopping at the Apple store lately. Its new Mac Pro becomes available for sale tomorrow. The price: $2,999.

    Should energy startups be funded as charities? Actor Will Smith thinks so, and he’s putting his money where his mouth is.

    —–

    Detours

    How to fire someone.

    A billionaire’s Detroit buying spree starts to spread.

    David Denby doesn’t mince words in his review of Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” calling it “relentless, deafening, deadening, and, finally, unilluminating.” (We’re still going.)

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Explore the ocean floor in your very own, $360,000 submarine. Because you were smart enough to buy Facebook shares at their all-time low. (Right? No? Sorry. We screwed that one up, too.)

    —–

    Please feel free to send us any and all story suggestions (anonymous or otherwise) by clicking here. If you’re interested in advertising in our email newsletter, please click here. To sign up for this newsletter, please click here.

    Connie

  • A Storyteller Wades Into a Crowded Market

    BevelKitTristan Walker is a rarity in Silicon Valley. He’s a gifted storyteller who intimately understands mobile and social media, having interned at Twitter before joining Foursquare, where he led business development for three years.

    Those talents will come in handy, as Walker pulls the cover off his eight-month-old startup, Walker & Company, revealing its first product to be … a shaving kit.

    Worth mentioning straightaway: This is an exceedingly nice shaving kit. In addition to a pure brass handle and German-made blades, each kit comes with rich pre-shave, shaving, and after-shave lotions, all tucked thoughtfully into an elegant box that’s designed to take 2.5 seconds to open. (It builds anticipation, Walker told me during a recent visit to the company’s offices, located a few miles from Stanford University.)

    Priced as the kit is — a user pays $59 for his first, three-month supply, and $29 per month thereafter — it seems reasonably accessible, too, particularly considering the growing percentage of men willing to spend on grooming. According to the research company Mintel, the share of personal care products designed for men has grown to to 5.6 percent from 4.6 percent over the past five years.

    Still, to break into a crowded market that already features both high-end competitors and affordable alternatives, Walker needs a compelling story, and he has one that he tells well. As he explains it, black, Latino, and Asian men and women have few personal care options beyond the “ethnic aisle of Walgreen’s,” where they’re left to examine which “dust-covered” product might be remotely suited for their hair texture or skin needs. To underscore his point, Walker, who is African-American, shows me an off-the-shelf hair-care product featuring a balding black man wearing a bath towel.

    It’s that underserved market that inspired Walker & Co. The company’s shave kit, for example, has a single blade construction that’s particularly ideal for African-American men, who often struggle with extreme razor burn irritation because their facial hair tends to be curly.

    Yet the kit is just the start, says Walker, who observes that people of color will represent the majority of American in the not-too-distant future, as well as that they tend to spend more than other demographic groups on personal care products. (Black women, who represent just 6 percent of U.S. population today, account for 30 percent of hair care spend, says Walker.)

    Little wonder Walker is already imagining products such as high-end shampoos suited for the dry hair of African-American women, or skin-care products that address hyperpigmentation.

    And none will be relegated to a drugstore aisle, says Walker, who is employing a direct-to-consumer e-tailing strategy, along with reaching people where they gather online. (Among other examples: the urban style blog Street Etiquette will soon begin publishing grooming content co-created with Walker & Co.)

    Eventually, Walker & Co. — whose investors include Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel, Upfront Ventures, and Sherpa Foundry — will also sell its products offline, says Walker. But telling the story comes first, and the shaving kit is not the story; it’s just the prologue.

    “This is about fundamentally enabling access. It’s about making things more practical and delightful at the same time,” says Walker.

    Traditional consumer packaged goods companies have had their chance, he suggests. Walker & Co. is “going to create the experience that [people of color] deserve.”

    Sign up for our morning missive, StrictlyVC, featuring all the venture-related news you need to start you day.

    Connie

    , , , , ,

  • StrictlyVC: December 17, 2013

    110611_2084620_176987_imageHi, very happy Tuesday morning, all!

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft are expanding their efforts to control more of the world’s Internet backbone, raising tensions with telecom companies over who runs the Web.

    President Obama is meeting with tech executives today including Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. On the agenda: a discussion about “national security and the economic impacts of unauthorized intelligence disclosures,” said a White House official.

    —–

    Why Andreessen Horowitz’s Fourth Fund is Likely Around the Corner

    Yesterday, in a WSJ series on venture capitalists’ predictions for 2014, Managing Partner Scott Kupor of Andreessen Horowitz was asked if “venture capital returns have improved enough to draw renewed limited-partner interest in 2014.”

    Kupor said the question was really “whether investment dollars will continue to be concentrated in the top firms that enable them to generate above-average returns.”

    Kupor shied from saying that fundraising for Andreessen Horowitz will be a walk in the park as always, but it’s a safe bet to make. In fact, it’s likely that Andreessen Horowitz will announce its next big fund in January or very soon after. (The firm declined to comment for this story.)

    Consider, for starters, that early last week, the firm announced a new general partner, Balaji Srinivasan, who cofounded a genetic-testing company that makes a saliva-based test for more than 100 serious inheritable diseases. VCs don’t always bring in fresh GPs before a new fund raise, but it’s a little cleaner that way. And Srinivasan gives Andreessen Horowitz an even stronger case to make to investors, given his background in consumer-facing healthcare — an increasingly attractive area of investment where he bolsters Andreessen Horowitz’s expertise.

    It’s been almost two years since Andreessen Horowitz debuted two funds totaling $1.5 billion. Most venture firms raise money every three years, but that’s never been the modus operandi of Andreessen Horowitz, whose biggest bets include Skype, Twitter, Facebook, andGitHub. (Readers might recall that Andreessen Horowitz collected $300 million for its first fund in 2009, $600 million for its second fund in 2010, and a $200 million co-investment fund in 2011, before announcing its biggest funds to date – a $900 million fund with a $600 million parallel fund — in January 2012.)

    A little basic math also points to a new fund in the very near future. When I sat down with firm cofounder Marc Andreessen in mid-October, he told me then that the firm’s third fund was “about 70 percent committed.” And if you’ve been following the news, you’ll notice the firm has led a string of very big investments since.

    Yesterday, Crowdtilt, a crowdfunding platform, announced it had raised $23 million in Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Last Friday, the startup Oculus VR revealed that it had raised $75 million to more broadly market its virtual reality headset. Its lead investor: Andreessen Horowitz. And last Wednesday, Andreessen Horowitz made a giant bet on Bitcoin, leading a $25 million investment in Coinbase, a company that makes it easier to buy and sell the digital currency.

    That’s saying nothing of the smaller deals in Andreessen Horowitz has helping to fund, including Koru, a young education startup, and Doctor on Demand, a new company behind a mobile app that connects users with physicians for a consultation fee.

    For a gun-slinging firm that likes to make outsize bets when it spies the chance, that doesn’t leave a lot powder — especially when taking into account reserves for follow-on fundings.

    “We’ll probably raise a new fund next year,” Andreessen had told me back in October. My guess: we can expect it much sooner than later.

    dropcam_300x250_learn

    New Fundings

    Infinio, a two-year-old, Cambridge, Mass.- maker of storage caching software, has raised $12 million in Series B financing from existing Investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Osage University Partners. The company has now raised $24 million to date.

    Invincea, a four-year-old, Fairfax, Va.-based cyber security company, has raised $16 million in Series C funding. New investors Aeris Capitaland Dell Ventures led the round with participation from return backersGrotech Ventures, Harbert Ventures and New Atlantic Ventures.

    Nanotronics Imaging, a five-year-old, Cuyahoga Falls, Oh.-based maker of optical inspection tools, has raised $7 million in Series B funding from Founders Fund, whose founder, Peter Thiel, will join the board. Last year, the New York Times featured the company in a piece that sheds more light on what’s interesting about its technology.

    Qazzow, a two-year-old, Seattle-based maker of customer service software, has raised $2.4 million in Series A funding. WRF Capital andVoyager Capital led the round with participation from Summit Capitaland the W Fund.

    Sailthru, a three-year-old, New York-based maker of marketing personalization software that makes it easier for brands to create personalized interactions with consumers in real-time, has raised $20 million Series C funding. Scale Venture Partners led the financing, which included Benchmark, RRE Ventures, DFJ Gotham, AOL Ventures and Occam Partners. Sailthru has raised $28 million altogether.

    —–

    New Funds

    McRock Capital, a Toronto-based venture capital fund, has held an initial close on $50 million, the firm announced yesterday. The firm’s anchor tenant is BDC Venture Capital; other investors in the fund include unnamed Canadian and U.S.-based institutional investors and family offices.

    McRock was founded by veteran VCs Scott MacDonald and Whitney Rockley; its focus is on the “industrial Internet,” or opportunities “where sensors and software and large industrial markets intersect” particularly in large industrial markets looking to streamline their operations and make them more efficient. The firm’s fund announcement comes weeks after McRock announced it will be working with GE Canada to fund connectivity and analytics companies targeting Canada’s oil, gas, and mining sectors.

    —–

    People

    Blaise Agüera y Arcas, a longtime Microsoft engineer and software designer who was reportedly a top figure in the creation of Microsoft’s Bing Maps service, is joining Google.

    Violin Memory, the flash-storage player, just fired CEO Don Basile, following the company’s poor post-IPO performance and disappointing quarterly results. Company chairman Howard Bain will serve as interim CEO.

    —–

    Exits

    Gopago, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup whose mobile app enables users to pay ahead for goods they plan to pick up at a store, has reportedly been acquired by Amazon. Italian newspapers — interested in the story because Gopago’s founders are Italian — say terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. They also portray Gopago’s acquisition as centered narrowly on the company’s technology. (TechCrunch, which picked up the story, says it isn’t yet clear if any Gopago employees will go to work at Amazon.)

    —–

    Job Listings

    PayPal is looking for a director of business development. To apply, you need seven-plus years in business or market development at multiple companies, experience with mobile commerce/mobile apps, and an MBA from a top school. Former experience in venture capital, private equity, or corporate development is considered a plus.

    —–

    Data

    In case you’re curious: Pitchbook took a look at 2007 vintage U.S. venture funds with energy holdings to see which are faring the best. Of the 36 funds they dug up, the median IRR is currently 4.08 percent, and the top performers based on IRR are ARCH Venture Fund VII,Flagship Ventures Fund 2007, and Technology Partners Fund VIII.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    C’mon Silicon Valley, ditch the lazy lady tech.

    “How much traction do you have?” Even angel investors are now asking the question, which is generally starting to come too soon, argues Keith Teare, founder the Palo Alto, Calif.-based incubator Archimedes Labs.

    Yuri Milner, the Russian entrepreneur and early Facebook investor, is spending time less time focused on seed-stage investing. The result, says Y Combinator: he’s no longer part of the program he helped devise, which sees a group of investors invest in every single startup to pass through Y Combinator. Milner and SV Angel pioneered the model in early 2011, agreeing to commit up to $150,000 per company; by late 2012, SV Angel had bowed out and the remaining group of investors — Milner, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Maverick Capital, had lowered what they were willing to commit to each startup to $80,000. Now, with Milner out entirely, Khosla Ventures is stepping into his shoes, says the organization.

    —-

    Detours

    Infographic: What you look like to a social network.

    Oculus Primed: Meet the geniuses who finally mastered virtual reality.

    Apple supplier Pegatron is now using facial recognition technology to screen applicants for its iPhone plant. The idea: to guard against the growing problem of underage workers making their way into factories in China.

    Can’t find a way to explain Santa Claus to your
    children? This video would probably make things much worse.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    This Henry Wingman bag is perfect for the style-conscious bike commuter who dresses in an actual suit every day.

    Wow, 4,000 years later, somehow is trying to update the umbrella! Does it work? We can’t say. But we like the idea.

    Moustache tie clips. (Just try finding a better stocking stuffer; we dare you.)

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: December 16, 2013

    110611_2084620_176987_imageHi, everyone — good Monday morning! Just a quick, weekly reminder that if you have a tip, quibble, juicy gossip, or anything else you’d like to share, I’m always available at connie@strictlyvc or @cookie. To sign up,click here!

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Tim Armstrong is finally winding down Patch, the network of local news sites he helped found in 2007. The move brings to an end AOL’s “hunt to own the lucrative local advertising market.”

    —–

    A VC Helps Prisoners Start Over, with Startups

    Lately, the Bay Area tech community has come under fire for being overly detached from the broader community. But no one could accuse Chris Redlitz, a local venture capitalist, of being elitist.

    Three years ago, Redlitz cofounded the non-profit Last Mile program — an entrepreneurship course for inmates at California’s San Quentin prison. Today, Redlitz, who also cofounded Transmedia Capital in San Francisco (it has backed Newsle, Rap Genius, and TrialPay among others) is busily teaching volunteers how to replicate the model at L.A. County Jail. A state prison in Michigan is next, according to Redlitz, who says there’s “a lot of interest from different facilities. The challenging is managing it.”

    I asked Redlitz was driving him:

    Why start the program?

    I live in Marin [County], pretty close to San Quentin, and know people who were doing mentoring there – it has a [college degree-granting] program – so I went in and met some of the guys. I’d never been in a prison before and had the same perception of it that any have, that it’s ominous and everyone there is Charles Manson. I realized how wrong I was and I went home to my wife and said, “I think we could do something inside.”

    Last Mile has been cited as evidence of startup mania. Are you turning prisoners into founders or providing them with basic business skills?

    Several former inmates have created their own companies since Last Mile was started. One, whose goal was to become a programmer, now has his own Web consulting business and is totally self-sufficient. Another started a project inside [prison], a teen tech hub, and is now growing it in Richmond, [Calif., 15 miles northeast of San Francisco]. We want [former inmates] to go through an internship [first] so if they want to start a business eventually, they’ll have some experience. But there’s no anxiousness that, “You have to start a business.” Some of these people have been incarcerated for 15 to 20 years, so it’s a process to re-acclimate and get some confidence.

    The program involves twice weekly meetings over six months with up to 15 inmates who then present at a Demo Day. Who comes?

    We had 100 people from the outside during our last Demo Day, including 12 VCs. The room holds about 300, so the rest were invited inmates. Some [investors] said the pitches were as good or better than they’d heard on the outside.

    Do the most successful candidates have a particular profile?

    I’m not sure yet to be honest. There are people who’ve been through the program who I thought were never going to make it. Others who we think are shoo-ins struggle. They’re from all different ethnicities and economic backgrounds, though we don’t accept anyone [who has committed] crimes against women and children and other things that we consider less appropriate.

    What about murder?

    We have guys who are in for murder. I think it’s important not to judge all crimes the same. Many of the guys have been in gangs, so you have to look at that background and where they come from.

    We do require that they’ve graduated or are close to graduating from the prison’s university program. Otherwise, it’s just like in the real world: Some people don’t know they have special talents and can be effective entrepreneurs. Maybe these guys are A Type personalities. They were just selling the wrong stuff.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Abeona Therapeutics, a year-old, Cleveland, Oh.-based biotech startup focused on Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare, terminal, genetic disorder that kills afflicted children before they reach their mid-teens, has raised $750,000 in seed financing. Investors include The Children’s Medical Research Foundation, as well as the organizations Team Sanfilippo, Stop Sanfilippo and Fondation Sanfilippo. Abeona has now raised just north of $2 million altogether.

    Allegiance Software, an eight-year-old, South Jordan, Utah-based company, has raised $6.5 million in new funding, according to an SEC filing that lists the round’s target as $15.6 million. Allegiance’s software helps companies collect customer feedback in real time, including over social media, to engage and retain them users. According to Crunchbase, Allegiance has raised roughly $38 million over the years, including from Allegis Capital, Nippon Venture Capital, andRembrandt Venture Partners.

    Crowdtilt, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based crowdfunding platform, has raised $23 million in Series B funding led by its Series A lead investors, Andreessen Horowitz, reports TechCrunch, which says the company “wasn’t looking to raise another round.” Other investors in the round include SV Angel, DCM, Felicis Ventures, and a long string of individuals, with Sean Parker, Matt Mullenweg, Oliver Jung, Naval Ravikant, Alexis Ohanian, and Elad Gil among them.

    eGifter, a three-year-old, Melville, N.Y-based company behind a mobile gifting app, has raised $1.7 million, according to an SEC filing. Investors include Newlight Management, Wheatley Partners, and BDS Venture Fund. The company has now raised nearly $3 million in 2013.

    Fashion Playtes, a five-year-old, Beverly, Mass.-based online company that allows girls to design their own dresses and more for purchase, has raised $2.8 million, according to an SEC filing; the Form D shows the company is targeting a $4.2 million round. Fairhaven Capital, an existing investor, is listed on the filing. Other previous investors includeNew Atlantic Ventures, Golden Seeds, and LaunchCapital.

    Oktogo, a four-year-old, St. Petersburg, Russia-based hotel booking site, has raised $5 million in fresh funding led by VEB Innovations,reports TechCrunch. The company, which spent $2 million to acquire a guide company called Travel.ru is September, is also rebranding itselfTravel.ru. To date, Travel.ru has raised $31 million. Along with VEB, others of its backers include Mangrove Capital Partners, Ventech, andVTB Capital Investment Management.

    PassportParking, a nearly four-year-old, Charlotte, N.C.-based company that makes parking-management software for municipalities, universities, and private parking operators, has raised a $6 million in Series A funding co-led by Grotech Ventures and Relevance Capital.A consortium of angel investors also participated in the round, which brings the company’s funding to around $7 million.

    Pixalate, an 18-month-old, Santa Monica, Calif.-based real-time ad analytics platform, has raised $4.6 million in Series A funding led byJavelin Venture Partners.

    QuickPay, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose mobile app enables users to find, reserve and pay for parking at locations across the country, has raised $5.5 million in funding fromFontinalis Partners, Ecomobilite Ventures, and IncWell, a seed-stage venture firm in Birmingham, Mich. According to Crunchbase, the company — led by Powerset cofounder Barney Pell — has raised roughly $9 million to date, including from Advanced Technology Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.

    Wildflower Health, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile health engagement platform whose customers include health plans and Medicaid clients, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding. Investors in the round include KMG Capital Partners, Cambia Health, and HealthTech Capital.

    dropcam_300x250_learn

    New Funds

    Four Rivers Group, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based, expansion-stage venture firm that focuses on enterprise companies, has raised $52 million for its third fund, shows an SEC filing that was first flagged by Fortune. Farouk Ladha founded the firm and serves as its managing partner. Prior to founding Four Rivers, Ladha was a managing director at SVB Capital, the venture capital arm of Silicon Valley Bank.

    —–

    People

    Last Thursday night, Silicon Valley’s biggest stars joined (somewhat inexplicably) with Hollywood celebrities to honor the winners of the Breakthrough Prizes, which recognize scientific research. As the San Jose Mercury News puts it, there was even a “hold-your-breath, Oscar-like moment” when estranged couple Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki appeared together on stage to present a prize for research on Parkinson’s disease, which afflicts Brin’s mother. In the end, “Wojcicki took only a minor swipe at the Google founder, noting that his casual dress at a black-tie event showed that he is ‘genetically challenged at dressing,’” writes the Merc.

    Two more are out at struggling smartphone maker Blackberry, says the Journal. Its EVP in charge of global sales, Rick Costanzo, will be leaving by early next year; Chris Wormald, who heads BlackBerry’s M&A strategy, will be gone by December’s end.

    YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley has filed legal documents in response to the lawsuit filed against him by Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. The couple is suing Hurley over a few minutes of video footage that Hurley filmed of their recent engagement at AT&T Park in San Francisco, then posted to his newest video-sharing site, MixBit.Hurley had signed a waiver stating that he couldn’t film or post such footage, but he says he was misled into believing he was signing a waiver that would allow the couple to use Hurley’s image in an upcoming TV special.

    Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures talked with operator-investor Semil Shah over the weekend and the video outtakes are worth watching. On trying to identify promising entrepreneurs, Rabois notes that: “If you look at all the great technology companies and rank them by market cap, of the top 20, 10 to 15 were created and founded by people who had very different profiles than ‘central casting.’ So you can’t use a traditional resume and a traditional background as your filter or you’re going to miss all the most interesting companies.” Rabois, who was COO of payments company Square until February of this year, added that when hiring a “VP or marketing, VP of engineering, CFO, etc.” he could “probably look at a resume or a LinkedIn profile and in three seconds or less decide if it belonged in an ‘interview,’ ‘pass,’ or ‘study carefully’ [pile]. It’s very hard to do that with founders.”

    Russian entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov became a billionaire in October when his online bank, Tinkoff Credit Systems, went public. But don’t call him an oligarch. It “means a person who works close to the government,” he tells the Wall Street Journal, whereas Tinkov is outspoken and even publicly critical of the Kremlin. Asked if he doesn’t run the risk of getting himself in trouble with Vladimir Putin and company, Tinkov tells the outlet. “I don’t get involved in politics and I hope it doesn’t get involved in me.”

    —–

    IPOs

    Celsus Therapeutics, an eight-year-old, London-based clinical-stage biotech developing anti-inflammatory synthetic drugs, has filed to go public to raise up to $12 million. Until recently, the company’s name was Morria Biopharmaceuticals. Its biggest outside investors include Baker Bros. Advisors, which owns 13.1 percent; Franklin Advisors, which owns 17.4 percent; Broadfin Capital, which owns 8.7 percent; andSabby Management, which owns 8.7 percent.

    Delivery Agent, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based company that enables TV viewers to shop for things they see on screen, is planning to go public next year in an offering expected to value the company at up to $1 billion, sources tell the WSJ. The company has raised $117 million in funding over the years, including from Bessemer Venture Partners,Cardinal Venture Capital, Intel Capital, and Samsung.

    Nimble Storage, a five-year-old, San Jose, Calif.-based company that sells hybrid flash/disk storage arrays to enterprises, went public on Friday and investors drove up the initial price of $21 a share to a close of $33.93, a gain of 61 percent. “Companies are gathering an enormous amount of information and making lots of real-time decisions” that require faster and more efficient storage technology like the kind Nimble makes, CEO Suresh Vasudevan told Investor’s Business Daily.

    —–

    Exits

    Boston Dynamics, a 21-year-old, Waltham-Mass.-based engineering company that has long designed mobile research robots for the government, has been acquired by Google, the company confirmed on Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition marks the eighth robotic company that Google has acquired in the last six months. Observes John Markoff of the New York Times, the move is “also the clearest indication yet that Google is intent on building a new class of autonomous systems that might do anything from warehouse work to package delivery and even elder care.”

    Insightera, a four-year-old company with offices in San Mateo, Calif., and Petah Tikva, Israel, has been acquired by the marketing software company Marketo for a $6 million in cash and $14 million in stock. Insightera’s software helps companies personalize content on their Websites and had raised $8 million over the years, including fromLightspeed Venture Partners, Opus Capital, and Glilot Capital Partners. Marketo went public seven months ago; Insightera marks its first acquisition since the event.

    Moped, a two-year-old, Berlin-based company behind a messaging app, has been acquired by 6Wunderkinder, a three-year-old, Berlin-based startup behind a popular task management app called Wunderlist. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but a 6Wunderkinder spokeswoman told GigaOm it was a “technology acquisition only” and that the firm hadn’t acquired the Moped brand or hired its team. Moped had raised $1 million from Earlybird Venture Capital, Lerer Ventures,SV Angel and Betaworks. Meanwhile, 6Wunderkinder has raised roughly $24 million, including from Sequoia Capital, Atomico, andEarlybird Capital.

    —–

    Job Listings

    Google is looking for a corporate development associate in Mountain View, Calif. Responsibilities include identifying and evaluating acquisition targets and supporting deal execution. To apply, you’ll need at least two years of experience in corporate development, venture capital, private equity, or investment banking. An MBA or other advanced degree is preferred.

    —–

    Data

    Fifty-six start-ups focusing on home automation (think appliances, energy, security, etc.) have attracted $468 million in venture capitalsince 2012, according to CB Insights. As the Washington Post observes, home automation technology is a subset of the so-called “Internet of Things,” a term for a network of connected devices. Altogether, start-ups related to the Internet of Things, meaning that they have sensors that allow devices to communicate, have attracted $752 million in the past year, across 112 deals.

    The 2013 US venture capital boom, in charts.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Have you noticed? Non-tech giants are gobbling up startups.

    Fascinating cautionary tale: This computer engineer told the U.S. Army he’d invented a way to wield sound. He hasn’t been allowed to speak about it since. The Army ordered the USPTO to declare the invention top secret. That means the PTO can’t review his patent application, and the engineer is forbidden from using, or even talking about it. Worse, the Army has told the engineer the classification probably won’t be lifted during his lifetime.

    Rapper Nas and his manager have invested in 40 startups so far — andthey’re just getting started.

    —–

    Detours

    Drat. Studying more can’t really improve students’ fluid intelligence, says a new report by researchers at M.I.T, Harvard and Brown.

    Teens are often associated with driving and texting, but adults are much worse when it comes to putting down their phones behind the wheel, says a new AAA study.

    Everyone on Facebook knows the sensation of feeling a little left at times, but for many, Instagram presents a newer, more constant form of torture.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    We love this roll-up backgammon set. Not ideal for the plane but perfect once you arrive at your destination.

    Bicycle chocolates!

    Watch out: Esquire is trying to kill you.

    —–

    Please feel free to send us any and all story suggestions (anonymous or otherwise) by clicking here. If you’re interested in advertising in our email newsletter, please click here. To sign up for this newsletter, please click here.

    Connie

  • A VC Helps Prisoners Start Over, With Startups

    outofsfsan-quentin-19991Lately, the Bay Area tech community has come under fire for being overly detached from the broader community. But no one could accuse Chris Redlitz, a local venture capitalist, of being elitist.

    Three years ago, Redlitz cofounded the non-profit Last Mile program — an entrepreneurship course for inmates at California’s San Quentin prison. Today, Redlitz, who also cofounded Transmedia Capital in San Francisco (it has backed Newsle, Rap Genius, and TrialPay among others) is busily teaching volunteers how to replicate the model at L.A. County Jail. A state prison in Michigan is next, according to Redlitz, who says there’s “a lot of interest from different facilities. The challenging is managing it.”

    I talked with Redlitz last week about what’s driving him:

    Why start the program?

    I live in Marin [County], pretty close to San Quentin, and know people who were doing mentoring there – it has a [college degree-granting] program – so I went in and met some of the guys. I’d never been in a prison before and had the same perception of it that many have, that it’s ominous and everyone there is Charles Manson. I realized how wrong I was and I went home to my wife and said, “I think we could do something inside.”

    Last Mile has been cited as evidence of startup mania. Are you turning prisoners into founders or providing them with basic business skills?

    Several former inmates have created their own companies since Last Mile was started. One, whose goal was to become a programmer, now has his own Web consulting business and is totally self-sufficient. Another started a project inside [prison], a teen tech hub, and is now growing it in Richmond, [Calif., 15 miles northeast of San Francisco]. We want [former inmates] to go through an internship [first] so if they want to start a business eventually, they’ll have some experience. But there’s no anxiousness that, “You have to start a business.” Some of these people have been incarcerated for 15 to 20 years, so it’s a process to re-acclimate and get some confidence.

    The program involves twice weekly meetings over six months with up to 15 inmates who then present at a Demo Day. Who comes?

    We had 100 people from the outside during our last Demo Day, including 12 VCs. The room holds about 300, so the rest were invited inmates. Some [investors] said the pitches were as good or better than they’d heard on the outside.

    Do the most successful candidates have a particular profile?

    I’m not sure yet to be honest. There are people who’ve been through the program who I thought were never going to make it. Others who we think are shoo-ins struggle. They’re from all different ethnicities and economic backgrounds, though we don’t accept anyone [who has committed] crimes against women and children and other things that we consider less appropriate.

    What about murder?

    We have guys who are in for murder. I think it’s important not to judge all crimes the same. Many of the guys have been in gangs, so you have to look at that background and where they come from.

    We do require that they’ve graduated or are close to graduating from the prison’s university program. Otherwise, it’s just like in the real world: Some people don’t know they have special talents and can be effective entrepreneurs. Maybe these guys are A Type personalities. They were just selling the wrong stuff.

    Sign up for our morning missive, StrictlyVC, featuring all the venture-related news you need to start you day.

    Connie

    , ,

  • StrictlyVC: December 13, 2013

    110611_2084620_176987_imageHappy Friday the 13th, everyone! StrictlyVC ran out of time for a planned column but you can find a bunch of good stuff here next week. In the meantime, we hope you’re in for a fun-filled holiday weekend.

    ——

    Top News in the A.M.

    The European Union today added to a string of recent warnings about the safety of using and investing in Bitcoin. The warning comes after China last week restricted its banks from using Bitcoin as currency because of concerns about money laundering and a threat to financial stability.

    —–

     

    Tony Fadell: Patent the Hell Out of Everything

    Earlier this week, at the Le Web Paris conference, Nest Labs founder Tony Fadell shared his unambiguous advice when it comes to patents. File for them early. File for them often. Then file some more.

    As a longtime exec at Apple, where Fadell was instrumental in creating both the iPod and iPad, Fadell is accustomed to both filing for patents and getting sued by other patent holders. Indeed, faced with a patent infringement suit from Honeywell last year relating to Nest’s first product, a smart thermostat, Fadell hired Apple’s former chief patent counsel Richard Lutton as Nest’s own VP and general counsel.

    Now fending off a second lawsuit relating to newest product, a smart smoke alarm, Fadell seems both incensed and ready for battle. (He says Nest already has 100 patents, 200 on file, and “another 200 that are going to be on file.”)

    Fadell also had plenty of patent-related advice for other entrepreneurs (and their investors).

    1.) Expect to be sued. It will happen. As Fadell noted, companies “don’t like some little upstart coming in [and] disturbing some business that they’ve had for 40 years … Instead of innovating, they litigate.”

    2.) Expect unscrupulous tactics by incumbents. “We’ve had all kinds of weird things thrown at us — very dirty tactics, very dirty, because they’re trying to keep us out,” he said. (As one small example, he mentioned “plants” paid to give Nest’s products terrible customer review online.)

    3.) Plan a very long time in advance for these lawsuits and other maneuvers. “When you see a lot of these Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects,” said Fadell, “there are passionate people behind them, but they don’t always necessarily understand what they’re getting themselves into. They’ll say, ‘Okay, I’m going to get in [to X market] and build [this one product].’ Well, you can build one of anything. To manufacture something and make 100,000 [exact replicas] is a whole other scale of problems you have to face.”

    More, once you “get to market, you have all kinds of litigation issues and other competitive issues. You really have to plan a year or two in advance for what really could be coming,” said Fadell. “Most people are like, “Whoa, we got there, we made the goal!” [once their product is out the door]. No, you’re just getting started…and if you didn’t plant those seed early enough to protect yourself [from legal threats etc.], you’re going to [face] a whole world of hurt.”

    dropcam_300x250_learn

    New Fundings

    Bitstrips, a six-year-old, Toronto-based company whose app allows users to create avatars, assemble comic strips, and then share the end product with friends, has raised $3 million in Series A funding from Horizons Ventures.

    Estimote, an 18-month-old maker of wireless sensors used to detect the location of smartphones, has raised $3.1 million from Innovation Endeavors, Betaworks, Bessemer Venture Partners, Birchmere Ventures, and Valiant Capital Partners. The company, which has offices in Krakow, Poland, and Walnut Creek, Calif., has raised $3.4 million altogether.

    Filip Technologies, a three-year-old, New York-based startup that makes a wearable “smart locator” and phone for kids, has raised $8 million in funding from Horizons Ventures, KEC Ventures and The Social+Capital Partnership.

    Highlight, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based app that provides users information about the people around them, has raised $4 million in new funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which was joined by Greycroft Partners, Haystack, and individual investor Dave Morin. Existing investors Benchmark and Crunchfund also participated in the round, reports TechCrunch.

    Koru, a young, Seattle-based education startup that’s targeting the “college-to-career” demographic, has raised $4.35 million led by Maveron. Other participants in the financing include Battery Ventures, First Round Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

    Norse, a 3.5-year-old, San Mateo, Calif.-based cyber security startup, has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Oak Investment Partners. Norse’s technology continuously collects and analyzes real-time Internet traffic to identify the sources of cyber attacks and fraud.

    Oculus VR, 18-month-old, Irvine, Calif.-based company that produces virtual reality goggles for video games, has raised $75 million in funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors in the round include previous investors Spark Capital, Matrix Partners, and Formation 8. VentureBeat has much more on the giant round here.

    Phononic, a four-year-old, Raleigh, N.C.-based company whose thermoelectric semiconductor chips capture waste heat and convert it into usable electric power, has raised $21 million in Series C financing. Beijing-based Tsing Capital led the round with participation from National Bank Financial and existing investors Venrock and Oak Investment Partners. The company has raised roughly $33 million to date from investors.

    Simpli.fi, a nearly four-year-old, Fort Worth, Tex.-based ad tech company, has raised $16 million in new funding, led by Frontier Capital. Contour Venture Partners also participated in the financing, which brings Simpli.fi’s total funding to $22.3 million, according to Crunchbase.

    TrueCar.com, an eight-year-old, Santa Monica, Calif.-based car pricing information and analysis website, has raised $30 million from Vulcan Capital. The company has raised a stunning $350 million to date, including from Anthem Venture Partners, Upfront Ventures,Capricorn Management, Passport Capital, and Allen & Co.

    Zubie, an 18-month-old, Charleston, S.C.-based startup that makes a “connected car” app that allows users to track and share their location with others, has raised $10 million in Series A funding. Investors includeCastrol innoVentures, Comporium and OpenAir Equity Partners.

    —–

    New Funds

    Dell Ventures is launching a new, $300 million venture capital fund called Strategic Innovation Venture Fund to focus on storage, cloud computing, big data, security, mobility and next-generation data center companies, reports Venture Capital Dispatch. A previous, $60 million fund established in 2012, Dell Fluid Data Storage Fund, is being folded into the newer pool.

    LiveOak Venture Partners, a three-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based venture firm, has so far raised $64.3 million of a fund that is targeting $100 million, according to an SEC filing. LiveOak was cofounded by Venu Shamapant and Krishna Srinivasan, both of whom were most recently general partners at Austin Ventures. A third cofounder, Ben Scott, was previously a venture partner at Austin Ventures. LiveOak has already made numerous investments; its newest portfolio company is NSS Labs, which analyzes information security products. The Austin-based company raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from LiveOak earlier this month.

    —–

    People

    Two high-profile VCs at Accel Partners are cutting back their roles, reports Reuters. Kevin Efrusy, whose profile soared after bringingFacebook to the attention of the firm, won’t be a managing member of Accel’s next venture fund, saying he wants less involvement in making decisions at the firm level. “I’m here, I’m doing investments, I’m not retiring. I’m working full-time,” he told Reuters. (Asked for more detail about the surprising news, Efrusy told StrictlyVC that there’s “not much more to talk about beyond what’s in the report.”)

    Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, who joined Accel 14 years ago, has told her portfolio start-up companies that she, too, will pass on a managing member role with the firm’s next fund. She’ll also stop making new investments. Ranzetta didn’t respond to a request for comment from StrictlyVC, but a source told Reuters that Ranzetta was dialing back her involvement because she wanted more free time. Either way, as the Reuters report observed, the move places Accel in the company of many other venture firms without a female managing member.

    Top Google executives saved millions of dollars by flying their private jet fleet on discounted fuel purchased from the federal government that they weren’t entitled to buy, says the inspector general of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apparently, the execs were authorized to buy the discounted fuel for government business, but instead, for six years(!) they were allowed to purchase it for private flights, too.

    Michelle Lee, a former deputy general counsel and head of patents and patent strategy at Google, has been chosen to run the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office beginning next month, says the agency. Lee is currently head of the USPTO’s Silicon Valley outpost.

    Steve Mollenkopf, the COO of Qualcomm, will become the company’s CEO in March, the company has announced. As TechCrunch observes, the news comes hours after a Bloomberg report said Microsoft was considering Mollenkopf as CEO.

    —–

    IPOs

    Care.com, the seven-year-old, Waltham, Mass.-based platform that connects families with caregivers, has filed to go public. The company, which is listing on the NYSE, expects to raised $80 million. Over the years, Care.com has attracted more than $100 million in venture capital, including from Matrix Partners (which owns 22.2 percent of the company), Trinity Ventures (14.4 percent), New Enterprise Associates (13.4 percent), and Institutional Venture Partners (10.2 percent).

    Coupons.com, the 15-year-old, Mountain View, Calif.-based online coupon company, plans to go public next year and has picked Goldman Sachs Group to lead the offering, says Bloomberg. In a $200 million round in 2011, Coupons.com was valued at $1 billion, says one Bloomberg source. The company’s backers include Passport Capital and Greylock Partners.

    Nimble Storage, a five-year-old, San Jose, Calif.-based company that sells hybrid flash/disk storage arrays to enterprises, begins trading on the public market today. The company had raised roughly $80 million in venture funding over the years, including from Accel Partners, Lightspeed Ventures Partners, and Sequoia Partners. A proud Jim Goetz of Sequoia writes here about Nimble’s “bet-the company pivot.”

    —–

    Job Listings

    Andreessen Horowitz is looking for a corporate development partner to join its Sand Hill Road offices. The job involves identifying and managing relationships with senior corporate, strategy, and M&A officers at major tech companies, along with helping the venture firm’s consumer Web startups with their corporate development activities. Applicants should have 10 years of corp dev (or similar experience), along with a strong network in Silicon Valley and beyond.

    —–

    Data

    CB Insights has published a list of the 26 private tech companies that are now valued at $1 billion or more, including Airbnb and Palantir Technologies. Forbes ports them into a snazzy slideshow.

    Pitchbook has looked at the 14 fund-of-funds that closed on between $500 million and $1 billion in 2005, finding that the median IRR of the group is 5.10 percent. The top performers based on IRR are Adams Street Partnership Fund 2005 US, Mesirow Private Equity III, andSiguler Guff Distressed Opportunities Fund II.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Yesterday, Instagram introduced a new app feature that enables people to receive private (or “direct”) photos both from friends and complete strangers. As Time observes, that means one thing, and we’re pretty sure you don’t want to see it.

    Real-time information streams are here to stay, but people are beginning to like them less, suggests Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic, noting that we may have seen a tipping point this year.

    —–

    Detours

    The Hollywood Reporter spends a couple of hours with longtime publicist Pat Kingsley, the entertainment industry’s once-most-feared woman. (Great profile.)

    In leased mansions, apartment buildings, and converted residential hotels, tech employees are quietly living in communes all over San Francisco.

    Want to live longer? Eat nuts.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Twenty-five hundred bucks is a bit much for a toboggan, though we might make an exception for this incredibly sleek, high-performance, carbon fiber Snolo Sled.

    We love the aesthetic of Filson, though $130,000 for a Jeep seems — how to say it? — ambitious. Even with those spiffy Horween leather seats.

    —–

    Please feel free to send us any and all story suggestions (anonymous or otherwise) by clicking here. If you’re interested in advertising in our email newsletter, please click here. To sign up for this newsletter, please click here.

    Connie

  • Tony Fadell: Patent the Hell Out of Everything

    Nest Labs CEO Tony Fadell InterviewEarlier this week, at the Le Web Paris conference, Nest Labs founder Tony Fadell shared his unambiguous advice when it comes to patents. File for them early. File for them often. Then file some more.

    As a longtime exec at Apple, where Fadell was instrumental in creating both the iPod and iPad, Fadell is accustomed to both filing for patents and getting sued by other patent holders. Indeed, faced with a patent infringement suit from Honeywell last year relating to Nest’s first product, a smart thermostat, Fadell hired Apple’s former chief patent counsel Richard Lutton as Nest’s own VP and general counsel.

    Now fending off a second lawsuit relating to newest product, a smart smoke alarm, Fadell seems both incensed and ready for battle. (He says Nest already has 100 patents, 200 on file, and “another 200 that are going to be on file.”)

    Fadell’s patent-related recommendations for other entrepreneurs (and their investors) includes:

    1.) Expect to be sued. It will happen. As Fadell noted, companies “don’t like some little upstart coming in [and] disturbing some business that they’ve had for 40 years … Instead of innovating, they litigate.”

    2.) Expect unscrupulous tactics by incumbents. “We’ve had all kinds of weird things thrown at us — very dirty tactics, very dirty, because they’re trying to keep us out,” he said. (As one small example, he mentioned “plants” paid to give Nest’s products terrible customer review online.)

    3.) Plan a very long time in advance for these lawsuits and other maneuvers. “When you see a lot of these Kickstarter and IndieGogo projects,” said Fadell, “there are passionate people behind them, but they don’t always necessarily understand what they’re getting themselves into. They’ll say, ‘Okay, I’m going to get in [to X market] and build [this one product].’ Well, you can build one of anything. To manufacture something and make 100,000 [exact replicas] is a whole other scale of problems you have to face.”

    More, once you “get to market, you have all kinds of litigation issues and other competitive issues. You really have to plan a year or two in advance for what really could be coming,” said Fadell. “Most people are like, “Whoa, we got there, we made the goal!” [once their product is out the door]. No, you’re just getting started…and if you didn’t plant those seed early enough to protect yourself [from legal threats etc.], you’re going to [face] a whole world of hurt.”

    Sign up for our morning missive, StrictlyVC, featuring all the venture-related news you need to start you day.

    Connie

    ,

  • StrictlyVC: December 12, 2013

    110611_2084620_176987_imageGood morning!

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Andreessen Horowitz has just made a giant bet on bitcoin, leading a $25 million investment in a San Francisco-based company that makes it easier to buy and sell the digital currency. (See also in Fund News below.)

    —–

    Focusing on Privacy Issues, Before the Sale

    Earlier this week, The Recorder observed that maintaining strong privacy standards is now a serious requirement for startups interested in M&A, not some “item on a deal-making checklist or a vague commitment to users.” Since the biggest asset of many startups is often data like subscriber lists, neglecting privacy standards can be a deal-killer, the outlet observed.

    Surprisingly (to me), one attorney told The Recorder of the issue: “Only a tiny minority of companies really have their act together; a good number of companies are completely out to lunch.”

    To find out more about how big a sticking issue privacy has become for acquirers, I talked yesterday with Christine Lyon, an attorney at Morrison Foerster who focuses on privacy and employment law.

    Lyon told me that a big part of the shift owes to increased regulatory scrutiny, saying the Federal Trade Commission “has been more active in privacy enforcement generally.”

    I asked Lyon who tends to be the most “at risk.” She cited mobile app makers, largely because “they might not think of themselves as collecting personal information, when they are.” (Names and email addresses are considered Personally Identifiable Information, or PII.)

    Sometimes, she said, it’s simply a case of “delayed compliance. The [mobile app] startup thinks, ‘Once we’re up and running and have more money, we’ll roll out a policy.’” Unfortunately, says Lyon, “at that point, you’ve collected data, and you’re sort of stuck figuring out how to implement [a privacy policy belatedly].”

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lyon also mentioned that two other types of companies that should pay special attention to new state and federal privacy laws are sites that either cater in some way to children or deal with health-related information. When it comes to both, the risk of a misstep is much higher, said Lyon — not to mention that buyers in both cases are always “very interested in what sorts of consents were obtained.”

    To correct what the FTC would consider a material issue in their privacy policies, a startup can do a couple of things. First, it can try getting the consent of its users retroactively, though most users won’t give it. (Who wants to be bothered?) Another option is to offer users the opportunity to “opt-out” from permitting a company to transfer its data to an acquirer.

    Unfortunately, neither solution may be enough to appease a potential acquirer in the current environment. “An area that’s high risk for enforcement will get buyers’ attention,” she’d told me. “We’re just seeing a lot more issues like this cropping up and sometimes killing deals.”

    The lesson here is obvious: companies that skimp on privacy could ultimately end up leaving a lot of money on the table.

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    New Fundings

    Bluenose Analytics, a year-old, San Francisco-based enterprise software analytics service focused on keeping its clients’ customers happy, has raised $10 million. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, which included Social+Capital Partnership.

    Coinbase, an 18-month-old, San Francisco-based company that makes it easier for users to create a bitcoin wallet and begin buying and selling the digital currency, has raised $25 million in a Series B round led byAndreessen Horowitz. Existing investors Union Square Ventures andRibbit Capital also participated in the round, which brings Coinbase’s total funding to $32 million.

    InVitae, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based genetic diagnostics company that develops tests for hereditary disorders, has raised $40 million in Series E financing. Genomic Health, Randy Scott, Thomas McNerney & Partners, Redmile Group, Genesys Capital and Casdin Capital participated in the funding. According to Crunchbase, the compny has now raised nearly $72 million altogether.

    MomentFeed, a 3.5-year-old, Santa Monica, Calif.-based location-based marketing platform, has raised $5.5 million led by Signia Venture Partners, with previous investors Draper Nexus, DFJ Frontier, Double M Partners, and Daher Capital also participating.

    The Orange Chef, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based company behind a “smart food scale” that communicates nutritional data to users’ iPads, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding led by Google Ventures and Spark Labs. Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments,Kima Ventures, The Social+Capital Partnership, Graph Venturesand angel investors also participated in round, which reportedly remains open to further investment.

    Ooyala, the six-year-old, Mountain View, Calif.-based company has raised $43 million in new funding from the Australian telco Telstra. The round brings its total funding to date to $122 million.

    Shopify, an eight-year-old, Ottawa, Ontario-based technology company that fuels the online stores of more than 80,000 retailers around the world, has raised $100 million led by OMERS Ventures andInsight Venture Partners. Other participants in the financing includeBessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Georgian Partners, and Felicis Ventures. The company has now raised $122 million altogether. The WSJ has much more here, including details about Shopify’s plans to grow online — and its offline — retail business.

    Snapchat, the two-year-old, L.A-based company behind one of the hottest messaging apps on the market, has raised $50 million in Series C funding from the hedge fund Coatue Management. Business Insider has more on the low-flying investor here.

    UlEvolution, a 13-year-old, Kirkland, Wash.-based software company that helps customers like Toyota reach consumers with everything from their mobile apps to digital signage, has closed $8 million in funding.Intel Capital led the round with participation from Shaw Ventures.

    VIPtela, a new, San Jose, Calif.-based still-stealth networking startup, has raised $4 million from Sequoia Capital, reports AllThingsD. The company’s founders come from Juniper Networks and Cisco Systems.

    XL Hybrids, a five-year-old, Boston-based maker of low-cost hybrid electric powertrains designed for commercial fleet vehicles, has raised $3 million in a pre-Series C debt financing round from WindSail Capital Group.

    —–

    People

    A spat played out in Boston yesterday between Boston’s startup community and organizers of a startup conference that charged $1,095 for attendees to hear tips from venture capitalists. According to the Boston Globe, some regional VCs and angel investors were so incensed by the high price of the event, they held a free eventsimultaneously yesterday — at no cost to attendees.

    General Partner Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is becoming the firm’s first “chief product officer,” leading a university-like program for Kleiner founders called KPCB ProductWorks. As a result, Gordon told reporters yesterday, he’ll be scaling back his board involvements.

    —–

    Ebates Shopping.com, a 15-year-old, San Francisco-based online coupon company, is planning to go public next year and has already picked JPMorgan Chase to lead its offering, says Bloomberg. According to eMarketer, 100 million U.S. adults will use digital coupons in 2014, up from 96.6 million this year.

    Zoosk, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based company behind a popular online-dating service, is also eyeing a 2014 IPO, reports Bloomberg, which says the company has already picked Bank of America to lead the offering, along with Citigroup and Royal Bank of Canada.

    —–

    Exits

    Carrot Creative, an eight-year-old, New York-based digital agency that creates apps, websites games for media companies and brands, has been acquired by the growing media conglomerate Vice Media, reports the New York Times. A person familiar with the acquisition said the deal was valued at $15 million to $20 million in stock and cash.

    Evenly, a year-old, San Francisco-based startup whose online payment app was designed to allow users to easily split transactions (like dinner), has been acquired by the mobile payments company Square.Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Evenly’s service will be shut down next month.

    Xlogics Group, a Rheinbach, Germany-based “intelligent shipping company” has been acquired by the similar, 14-year-old companyMetaPack, which has offices in London and Hamburg. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. MetaPack is venture-backed by Index Ventures, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners and Brainspark.

    —–

    Happenings

    Harvard is hosting its Conference on Web and Internet Economicsthrough Saturday in Cambridge. You can learn more here.

    The Le Web Paris conference winds up today. You can find video of the event here.

    —–

    Data

    Japan now spends more on mobile apps than any other country.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    In troubling news for Udacity and its ilk, a study of a million users of massive open online courses by the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education has found that, on average, only about half of those who registered for a course ever viewed a lecture, and only about 4 percent completed the courses.

    From this weekend’s New York Times Magazine: Some day, “Your house keys will tell you that they’re still on your desk at work. Your tools will remind you that they were lent to a friend. And your car will be able to drive itself on an errand to retrieve both your keys and your tools.” Its a future in which are maps are required and Google, naturally, plans to dominate that future.

    —–

    Detours

    Yikes. The U.S. government lobotomized at least 2,000 mentally ill veterans during and after World War II, according to forgotten memos, letters and government reports unearthed by The Wall Street Journal.

    The first documentary on cult-favorite Sriracha hot sauce is available for download.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Fun with motorcycle helmets!

    This holiday season, do not buy her the ex-boyfriend revenge kit, which costs a fortune and includes knuckledusters, a crowbar, and a single dose of — wait, what? — sodium amytal?! We’re no retailing experts, but if you have to alert customers that “not all the items in the kit are able to be legally sold in all countries and may require permits,” maybe it’s not such a great gag gift after all.

    —–

    Please feel free to send us any and all story suggestions (anonymous or otherwise) by clicking here. If you’re interested in advertising in our email newsletter, please click here. To sign up for this newsletter, please click here.

     

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: December 11, 2013

    110611_2084620_176987_imageGood morning!

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    That new Palantir Technologies round, the one valuing it at $9 billion, has shot past $107 million, according to an SEC filing. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    The Part-Time VC

    Semil Shah has a full-time job, spending most of each week doing mobile product marketing for a company called Swell in Palo Alto. The rest of the time, Shah is either writing a weekly column for TechCrunch; working as an informal (but paid) mobile technology consultant to several Sand Hill Road firms; or trying to participate in competitive seed-stage financings using a $1 million fund called Haystack that he raised last year.

    Shah — who has so far backed 16 companies and is beginning to think about a $5 million to $10 million second fund – calls his schedule “not normal.” However unusual it may be, Shah could well represent the future of early-stage investing given its ongoing atomization. I talked with him about his immediate plans over coffee last week. Our conversation has been edited for length.

    How does someone with a.) a regular job and b.) no investing track record raise a million dollars?

    I’ve always been interested in investing and basically wanted to get practice, so I turned to [VCs and founders] who I know for help. There’s a ton of trust involved and every LP is different. Even just getting a $25,000 LP check from someone who has the means isn’t easy. But I think people knew that I wanted to do it and was having a hard time, and [eventually] I sort of passed the passion test. I also invested some of my own money [in the pool] and didn’t charge a management fee.

    How has it been going?

    I’ve now invested in 16 startups across four areas, including marketplaces, core infrastructure, online and offline commerce logistics, and mobile computing. Quite a few are doing well, includingHired [which marries tech talent with jobs]; Paddle8 [a virtual art auction house that has already gone on to raise a Series B round] andInstacart [a same-day delivery grocery startup that counts Sequoia Capital’s Mike Moritz as a board member].

    What size checks are you writing, and what are you getting in return for them?

    I can write between checks of between $25,000 and $100,000, though they’ve usually been around $25,000. And as someone on the edge of these deals, you aren’t setting the terms; you’re asking to be in the deal. For me, you take what you can get. It’s very competitive; I was surprised by how competitive it is.

    How are you selling yourself to sought-after entrepreneurs?

    I do think that by working full-time in mobile, I connect better with entrepreneurs because my operational knowledge is sharper. I also tell everyone my terms of engagement, which are that I’m on call for the entrepreneurs. I let them know that I think [they’ll] figure out what they need to do, then to call me if I can help in a certain area or just to talk to, because I’m not one of the big players. I kind of underpromise and try to be helpful and available, rather than say, “I’m going to do all these awesome things for you.”

    For those who might like to do what you’re doing, how would you advise them to separate themselves from the pack?

    I think firms and individuals have to brand themselves because it’s so competitive, and there are three ways to do it: there’s content marketing, including through blogs and social media; there’s referral marketing – you work with someone and give them an amazing reference; and there’s performance marketing. At the beginning, what do you do? You media market to gain exposure. Either way, entrepreneurs are smart; they figure out [who adds value and who doesn’t].

    Any big surprises now that you’re so entrenched in the market? What trends are you seeing?

    There are a lot of companies coming out of Y Combinator and [other high-profile incubators] that are getting fancy with terms and trying to get cute with the caps, and the market doesn’t really bear that out. I think sometimes with first-time founders, you get into the game, and you just get caught up in everything.

    I think another thing that most people on the founding side don’t understand is the exit profile of most companies. There’s a $20 million to $50 million band, and a $50 million to $100 million band, then the curve just drops. Entrepreneurs and investors publicly say, “Oh, we’re not going to talk about exits,” but everyone is silently making their own exit profile when they’re considering making an investment.

    Do you think when the time comes to raise a second fund, investors will be ready to bet on you again?

    I hope so. I’ve gotten lot of inbound [deal flow] from my other deals. I feel like I’ve passed the trust threshold and also the he-got-into-early deals threshold. I want to be investing in private, early-stage technology for the rest of my life.

    dropcam_300x250_learn

    New Fundings

    CarbonCure Technologies, a six-year-old, Halifax, Nova Scotia-based company that repurposes waste carbon dioxide to make “greener and stronger” concrete, has raised $3.5 million led by BDC Venture Capital. Other investors in the round include Eagle Cliff Partners, 350 Capital, Innovacorp and an unnamed strategic Shanghai-based investor. The company previously raised $1.4 million, in January 2012.

    Datahero, a two-year-old, Palo Alto, Calif.-based company whose Web application helps users visualize and understand their data, has raised $3.15 million in additional seed funding by existing investorFoundry Group. Foundry committed $1 million to the company last year, along with Neu Venture Capital and numerous individual investors.

    Doctor on Demand, a new, San Francisco-based company behind a mobile app that connects users with physicians for a $40 consultation fee, has raised $3 million in seed funding. The capital comes fromVenrock, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Lerer Ventures,Shasta Ventures, and Athena Health chief executive Jonathan Bush. VentureBeat has more here.

    Egnyte, a seven-year-old, Mountain View, Calif.-based company provides enterprise file-sharing and storage, has raised $29.5 million in Series D funding led by Seagate, CenturyLink, and Northgate Capital. Previous investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,Google Ventures and Polaris Partners also joined the round, which brings the company’s total funding to $62.5 million.

    Extole, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based referral marketing platform, has raised $5 million from Norwest Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Trident Capital.

    FirstFuel Software, a four-year-old, Lexington, Mass.-based energy analytics business, has raised $8.5 million in Series B funding led by new investor E.ON SE. Previous investors Battery Ventures,Rockport Capital and Nth Power also participated in the round, which brings the company’s total backing to $21 million.

    Jamf Software, an 11-year-old, Minneapolis, Minn.-based maker of Apple device management software, has raised $30 million in funding led by Summit Partners, which was joined by GSV Capital Corp.

    Loop Commerce, a two-year-old, Mountain View, Calif.-based “gifting service,” has raised $4 million from PayPal. The funding, which comes just one month after Loop closed on a $7.2 million Series A round, brings the company’s total funding to $12.2 million.

    Novomer, a nine-year-old, Waltham, Mass.-based chemistry technology company, has raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding from Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Saudi Aramco. Novomer has disclosed previous funding of $31.4 million, according to Crunchbase, including from Physic Ventures and Flagship Ventures.

    Simulmedia, a four-year-old, New York-based company specializing in so-called “targeted” TV advertising, has raised $25 million in Series D funding led by Valiant Capital. R&R Venture Partners, a new fund created by Dick Parsons and Ronald Lauder, also participated in the round, alongside previous investors Avalon Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Time Warner Investments and Allen & Company. Simulmedia has raised nearly $59 million to date.

    StarMaker Interactive, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based music entertainment platform behind mobile apps like “The Voice,” has raised $4 million in Series A financing from Qualcomm Ventures andiGlobe Partners.

    Talend, an eight-year-old, Los Altos, Calif.-based open-source data integration company, has raised $40 million from Bpifrance, Iris Capital, and Silver Lake Sumeru. The company has now raised just north of $100 million, according to Crunchbase.

    Utilidata, a Providence, R.I.-based maker of grid management systems for the electric utility industry, has raised more than $20 million in Series B financing, it announced yesterday. Formation 8 Partners and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures led the round, joined by existing investors Braemar Energy Ventures and American Electric Power.

    Yodo1, a three-year-old, Beijing-based mobile games publisher and platform, has raised $11 million in Series B funding led by GGV Capital. Singtel Innov8, Pavillion Capital, and Iris Capital also participated in the round, which brings the company’s total funding to $18 million.

    The Zebra, a two-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based automotive insurance comparison platform, has closed $3 million as an add-on to $1.5 million that the company had previously raised for its seed round. Investors in the financing include U.K tech entrepreneur Simon Nixon, Mark Cuban, Mike Maples, Jr., Floodgate, Silverton Partners, Birchmere Labs and Swallow Point Ventures.

    —–

    New Funds

    Dubai-based investors Arya Bolurfrushan and Paul Kenny have formed a new, early-stage venture capital firm called Emerge Ventures that will focus on Middle East technology companies. The firm isn’t disclosing how much money it will be investing, but it has already backed three companies, including Lumba, a San Francisco-based mobile-gaming company that caters to the Arabic-speaking world.

    —–

    People

    Chip Wilson, who founded Lululemon in 1998, is stepping down from his role as chairman after offending the company’s customers with some public comments. (Most notably, he suggested that women’s thighs make Lululemon’s yoga pants see-through, telling a Bloomberg interviewer: “It’s really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time and how much they use [the item].” Wilson, one of Canada’s richest businessmen, will remain on the board. The company has also named a new CEO. More on the story here.

    Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer really wants to acquire Imgur, reports Business Insider, saying Yahoo has been talking with the four-year-old, San Francisco-based photo-sharing service all fall. If founder Alan Schaaf sells the company for as much as BI speculates that it’s worth, he’ll make a huge fortune; Schaaf has never raised outside funding.

    —–

    Exits

    Ideeli, a six-year-old, New York-based women-focused flash sales site that has raised more than $100 million from investors, is trying to sell itself whole or piecemeal, sources tell AllThingsD. The company’s investors include Next World Capital, StarVest Partners, andKodiak Venture Partners.

    —–

    Happenings

    Harvard is hosting its Conference on Web and Internet Economics today through Saturday in Cambridge. You can learn more here.

    The Le Web Paris conference rolls into its second day. The agenda is here; you can find video of the event here.

    —–

    Job Listings

    Comcast Ventures is looking to hire an associate in San Francisco. To apply, you need at least two years of experience at a venture capital firm, investment bank, or consulting firm; people with biz dev or product management experience will also be considered. Applicants should also have an “established industry network” within the San Francisco venture and startup community.

    —–

    Data

    According to the WSJ, companies aren’t waiting nearly as long as they once did to stage secondary offerings. The median time this year between a company’s IPO and the completion of its second stock offering has been just 151 days, down from 368 days in 2011.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    As the world awaits the announcement of Microsoft’s newest CEO, Microsoft’s top executives, and Steve Ballmer himself, reflect on the man and his legacy.

    Vanity Fair takes a fresh look at numerous tech giants’ sudden interest in architecture, and what the choices of Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon say about their culture.

    —–

    Detours

    Forget cocaine; drug cartels are now selling our stolen iPhones.

    Malcolm Gladwell on why being nice really isn’t so awful.

    Even as content goes digital, “talent” is stuck with obsolete contractsthat give most “home video” proceeds to studios, which once needed the money to make and distribute VHS tapes.

    Time looks back at 2013, publishing a “selection of underreported, improbable and astounding images” that we couldn’t stop scrolling through.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    It’s too cold for camping, but come springtime, this flashlight, which doubles as a USB backup battery source, could come in very handy.

    “Ah, this sweater is precisely what I’ve been looking for,” said no grown man ever.

    —–

    Please feel free to send us any and all story suggestions (anonymous or otherwise) by clicking here. If you’re interested in advertising in our email newsletter, please click here. To sign up for this newsletter, please click here.

     

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