Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. LPs Still Believe Strongly in Venture Capital as a Diverse Source of Returns.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2.

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

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Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

San Diego-based Chalk Digital , a provider of location-based, mobile advertising technology aimed at local businesses, said today that it has raised a seed funding round. Size of the funding was not announced. The funding came from Composite Capital Partners, Kernal Capital Inc., READ MORE>>.

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Seed Funding Mobile Technology Funding 100

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. 2021 saw phenomenal returns for our industry and it topped off more than a decade of unprecedented VC growth. The answer is: not much.

Startup 408

Startup Venture Capital Writing Invest 408

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

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Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

Every year Upfront Ventures surveys Limited Partners (LPs) who are the main source of capital that invests in VC funds and thus the main source of capital that goes to startups to get an early-warning sense of the year ahead, leaving aside any Black Swans. Will they have enough capital?” Will it last?

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Startup Venture Capital Seed Funding Capital 286

socalTECH

JUNE 13, 2019

in a seed funding round. The funding round was led by the Tech Coast Angels, and the TCA's San Diego chapter. According to the TCA, its angel network members invested $2.5M in the round.

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Orange County Tech Coast Angels Artificial Inteligence Technology 124

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 6, 2011

Saturday, March 12, 2011 -- Angel Investing and Technology Trends. He will also touch on the technology trends that angels are currently interested in funding. Bootstrap2+2. See [link] (more)

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Invest Angel Technology Pasadena Angels 100

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2019

Los Angeles-based Red 6 Aerospace , a startup developing Augmented Reality software aimed at used in what it says are "high-speed, dynamic environments", has raised $2.35M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Moonshots Capital, and also included Irongate Capital Advisors, as well as angel investors.

Technology 153

Technology Training Seed Funding Capital 153

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Fika Ventures , a new startup venture fund led by venture capitalists Tx Zhuo, Eva Ho, and Arteen Arabshahi, has officially launched this morning, saying that it is investing in startups focused on data, related AI-enabled technologies, and automation.

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Seed Funding Funding Google Invest 124

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

There seems to a perpetual shortage of local venture capital investors in the region, despite the huge growth in startup activity here, particularly along Silicon Beach. Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here.

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Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

in its seed funding round. The funding came from Shima Capital, blockchain platform Forte, gaming community SNACKCLUB, guild and mod platform Overwolf, plus the founders of gaming companies Illuvium and investors Woodstock Fund, FJ Labs, Bixin Ventures, among others.

Chief Technology Officer 113

Chief Technology Officer Seed Funding Platform Entertainment 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which In the U.S. Most share expertise as well as money.

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Venture Capital Angel Seed Funding Invest 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 Identify the right people in the right venture firms.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2018

A new, $20M venture capital fund, TAU Ventures , based out of Tel Aviv, Israel, and Tel Aviv University (TAU), says it is specifically looking to link with the Los Angeles technology community--thanks to its link with Los Angeles investor Behzad Kianmahd--co-founder of Cross Campus. READ MORE>>.

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Funding Seed Funding Startup High Tech 113

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

According to the company, it has now raised $23M in total funding.

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Seed Funding San Diego Venture Capital Sales 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of things I’ve loved the most about doing now 11 weeks of This Week in VC is a chance to have an hour-long recorded conversation with investors. And in my interviews with many VCs I feel that people can watch these and get to know the VC’s as human beings a bit better. So how did Mike get into VC?

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Fandango 230

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. Put simply – if you invested early in Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Crosscut Ventures has just announced their 3rd fund and clocking in at $75 million , which will be focused heavily on Los Angeles – FTW. Rick was a partner there having previously been a Managing Director and founding member of Sun America’s venture capital practice and having been graduated from Harvard Law School.

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News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Leonardo DiCaprio is making a significant commitment to the Los Angeles-based investment firm, Struck Capital , as part of the actor’s commitment to building LA into a tech development powerhouse. DiCaprio has already made a number of investments in startup companies that have done very well for the Academy Award-winning actor.

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Capital Funding Los Angeles Invest 188

socalTECH

AUGUST 14, 2014

Vadio , the developer of a platform which helps match music videos and ads with streaming music , said Thursday that it has raised $2M in a seed funding round, which included Mucker Capital, Amplify.LA, as well as other LA investors. READ MORE>>.

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Capital Funding Seed Funding Incubator 138

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

On Funding?—?Shots Shots on Goal Being great as a startup technology investor of course requires a lot of things to come together: You need to have strong insights into where technology markets are heading and where value in the future will be created and sustained You need be perfect with your market timing.

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Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2013

Hossein Eslambolchi--former Chief Technology Officer of AT&T--said the new round brings its total raised to $2.6M. According to CyberFlow Analytics, the seed funding round is a part of a larger, $4M seed round that it expects to close by November. READ MORE>>.

Chief Technology Officer 170

Chief Technology Officer Seed Funding IP San Diego 170

socalTECH

JANUARY 25, 2019

San Diego-based Trust & Will , a startup which operates an online software tool to help people create their own estate plans, has raised $2M in a funding round, the company disclosed this week.

Tech Coast Angels 133

Tech Coast Angels San Diego Seed Funding Competition 133

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. In retrospect, our decision was both perfectly rational and completely lame. Unicornless.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

This is a relatively new term loosely applied to angels who invest their own money in a portfolio of startups (typically 20 or more) and are willing to lead multiple rounds, usually starting with a seed round. A micro venture capital firm. A “genesis” venture capital round. Business accelerator funding.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Today is amongst the proudest days I’ve had at Upfront Ventures — getting the chance to announce that Kevin Zhang has been promoted to Partner. years at Upfront has been both a pleasure and also has taught me a lot about venture capital. Watching him develop over the past 4.5 Kevin joined Upfront in 2012 as an Associate.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which In the U.S. Most share expertise as well as money.

Angel 126

Angel Funding Venture Capital Seed Funding 126

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2019

San Diego-based Trust & Will , a startup which offers up online services to help people create trusts, wills, and guardianships, has raised $6M in a new funding round, the company said on Tuesday. The startup had announced $2M in an earlier funding in January of 2019.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels San Diego Seed Funding Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

There is a lot of uncertainty about the state of the private, high-growth technology markets and the venture capital markets that underpin them. Perhaps I would call it “Mourning in VC” as in mourning for the days of rational behavior. Our late-stage, privately held technology market is clearly in a bubble.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Platform Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2013

The number of startups getting seed funding in 2012 jumped by 65% over the previous year to a total of 1749, according to a recent report by CB Insights. Seed investments” are early stage financings (typically less than $1.5 million) made by either Angels or venture capitalists, or both. This is nothing new.

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Startup Invest Venture Capital Seed Funding 99

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2020

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. Today, we share the thoughts of Peter Cowen , Managing Director of Sutton Capital Partners (www.suttoncapitalpartners.com).

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Capital SoCal Southern California SaaS 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2016

San Diego-based Molecular Assemblies , a startup developing enzymatic DNA synthesis technology, has raised $2.3M in a seed funding, the company announced this morning. Kamdar--said its technology is being targeted at use in the next generation of DNA-based products. Molecular Assemblies--led by Michael J. READ MORE>>.

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Seed Funding San Diego Invest Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

In the technology world there are a few websites that most startups track to keep up with the latest financings, acquisitions, product announcements and gossip: BusinessInsider, TechCrunch, Mashable, GigaOm, etc. In the VC & Private Equity world there’s a small number, too, with one of the most respected being PEHub.

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Venture Capital Slides Seed Funding Google 232

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

He knows every startup & VC in town.” I told him that our market was absolutely booming and was worthy of a commensurate investment. Invest they have. I told David, “Look at the changes we’ve seen in the VC / funding market. And he’ll be heading the Business & Technology Group.

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Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299