vc firm

This is our Wednesday show, focused on startup and venture capital news that matters. We pull the top stories from the week thus far, and give them the Equity treatment to put them into proper context.

On the show today:

• Microsoft invests in Mistral AI: Sure, it's not the biggest check, but as regulatory oversight hovers over Microsoft's shoulder, the deal makes sense.
• Thrasio files for bankruptcy: What happens if you raise billions to pursue a market opportunity, but the market shifts under your feet?
• Glean raises $200M: It turns out that you can raise mega rounds in 2024, you just need to work in enterprise AI, have a few hundred customers, and collect checks from a host of VCs at once.
• And on the venture side of things: COTU Ventures has put together a $54 million fund, while Zacua Ventures has put together a $56 million vehicle.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more!

Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

This is our Wednesday show, in which we talk through the week’s leading startup and venture capital news. This is short week, but there’s still a lot to talk about:

• Loora’s $12 million round is a reminder that AI is going to find purchase in a host of new markets. The company wants to use AI for conversational language training. Sure, humans are good at that, but they are also expensive. Software aims to be more affordable.
• Dili is building an AI service to help investors handle their due diligence. Given that some accounting and financial work can be described as rote, the concept here makes good sense. The company just closed $3.6 million.
• Reddit may include a neat way to get some of its power users onto its ownership docket for its upcoming IPO.
• And from the venture side of the startup coin, Bluestein Ventures has a new foodtech fund, while Partech has put together the largest African venture fund out there.

We’ll be back Friday morning! Chat then!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more!

Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Ever wondered why your startup story and pitch deck need to be razor-sharp? 

Sure, you want to impress investors, but there's more to it than meets the eye. Host Jason Yeh dives into the secret sauce of crafting a compelling narrative that not only wows investors but also ensures your story gets shared effectively.

In this episode:

💡 Discover the critical importance of a concise story that grabs attention

💡 Learn why your pitch deck is more than just a visual aid—it's your investor's roadmap.

💡 Uncover the hidden power of making your story easy to share, especially in firms with multiple decision-makers
 

Ready to be convinced to tighten up your pitch?

--

If you're looking for more fundraising content, grab our weekly newsletter packed full of strategies and insights around how to raise money: fundedpod.com/newsletter

In this episode, we explore the wisdom behind reconnecting with investors who previously passed on your pitch.

Remember, investor passes aren't personal; they often stem from timing or fit issues.

Before reconnecting, update your narrative with progress highlights.

When reaching out, exude confidence without begging.

Showcase your growth, increasing investor interest, and upcoming fundraising round.

These reconnections aren't just about securing funding; they're opportunities to refine your pitch and bolster credibility.

Ready to reconnect and ace that pitch?

Go ahead and give this episode a listen!

--

If you're looking for more fundraising content, grab our weekly newsletter packed full of strategies and insights around how to raise money: fundedpod.com/newsletter

This is our Wednesday show, where we sit down with a guest, talk about their work and dive deep into the rest. Mary Ann and Alex invited Marisa Warren onto the show. You may remember that we discussed her new fund — ALIAVIA Ventures’ first — on the show the other week.

We wanted to talk with her to go over a few key topics that we care a lot about:

• The current state of venture investment in women; why the numbers aren’t changing, and what she thinks could make a difference.
• When startups should target their second market, and how.

The two themes are not as far apart as they may initially seem. ALIAVIA invests in startups based in the US and Australia that have at least one female founder, and also helps their portfolio companies tackle new markets. It was a really interesting, and fun conversation. Enjoy!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more!

Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

In this episode of Business Ninjas, Olivia Gaudree, Partner and VP of Operations at Fuel Venture Capital, joins Andrew to talk about how this venture capital firm came to be.

Fuel Venture Capital is committed to propelling groundbreaking ideas into world-changing companies and democratizing access to the creative economy to shape the future of society. The firm’s “founder focused, investor driven” approach is led by a core team with more than 80 years of combined experience in investment banking, wealth management, executive leadership and entrepreneurship. The fund boasts a portfolio of more than 33 companies based around the globe across numerous sectors, bringing positive impact to virtually all corners of our modern economy.

Learn more: https://fuelventurecapital.com/


-----
Do you want to be interviewed for your business?  Schedule time with us, and we’ll create a podcast like this for your business:  https://www.WriteForMe.io/


-----

https://www.facebook.com/writeforme.io

https://www.instagram.com/writeforme.io/

https://twitter.com/writeformeio

https://www.linkedin.com/company/writeforme/

https://www.pinterest.com/andysteuer/

Want to be interviewed on our Business Ninjas podcast? Schedule time with us now, and we'll make it happen right away!

Check out WriteForMe, more than just a Content Agency!

See the Faces Behind The Voices on our YouTube Channel!

Mary Ann and Alex were joined by Kirsten once again to parse the week’s news and call out the biggest stories in startups and venture:

• California passed a law that will require venture firms to disclose certain market data concerning whom they are investing in. Some investors and venture groups are opposed to the law.
• ALIAVIA Ventures has put together a new fund to invest in women building tech companies in Australia and the United States, with a focus on helping Aussie companies reach the American market.
• Canopy Servicing raised a $15.2 million Series A1. Alex caught up with the company, hoping to learn what it took to raise a fintech round in 2023. Things have changed since the go-go days of 2021 when every round felt like a fintech round and every fintech round felt like a pre-IPO deal.
• And rounding out our deals of the week, Kirsten brought a fascinating $200 million deal between a private equity group and EVPassport. If the world is going to move more toward electric cars, then we’re going to need more plugs in more places.
• From there, we worked to draw a connective line between the startup turbulence we’ve seen recently, with Braid shutting down, Shift and IronNet going under, and Blue Apron selling for a fraction of its former value.
• And to close, can technology solve a labor shortage in construction? And if so, what role will startups play in that work?

We had a great chat with the CEO of Medium earlier this week, and have a packed agenda for you including another interview that we’re excited about. More soon!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more!

Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

The TechCrunch Live Podcast is back for season 2 on February 6! Matt Burns sits down with experienced entrepreneurs and investors -- including market leaders from Benchmark, Sequoia, Index and Kleiner Perkins -- to help founders build better venture-backed businesses. 

First up, we're talking to: 

• Benchmark's Sarah Tavel and Cambly's Sameer Shariff. Register here to join us live!
• Cube's Christina Ross and Mayfield's Rajeev Batra. Register here to join us live!

The TechCrunch Live Podcast airs Mondays at 12 PT, wherever you get your podcasts. Want to join us live? TechCrunch Live streams on YouTube, Facebook, and Hopin Wednesdays at 12 PT. Visit TechCrunch.com for registration and more!

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Marlon Nichols (@MarlonCNichols), the founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in visionary founders building the future that the world wants to see, and helping entrepreneurs bring the future into focus to find their breakthrough moment. MaC Venture Capital is the result of the merger between successful Los Angeles and Bay Area based Seed funds, Cross Culture Ventures and M Ventures. They are focused on finding ideas, technology, and products that can become infectious, investing in technology companies that benefit from shifts in cultural trends and behaviors in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. They recently raised their $203M Fund II.

Marlon is a Kauffman Fellow who also serves on the Board of Directors. Prior to MaC Venture Capital, Marlon was founder of Cross Culture Ventures and served as Investment Director at Intel Capital. Marlon has an extensive background in technology, private equity, media and entertainment. His unique eye for global and cultural trends, along with shifts in consumer behavior, has helped him uplift and accelerate entrepreneurs and companies that are on the verge of their breakthrough moment. Some of his current and previous portfolio companies include Blavity, Gimlet Media, LISNR, Mayvenn, MongoDB, PlayVS, Pipe, Thrive Market and Wonderschool, among others.

Marlon was recently honored as a member of the 2022 class of the LA500 list and as a top early stage investor on Insider’s 2022 Seed 100 list. Additionally, he is the recipient of MVMT50’s SXSW 2018 Innovator of the Year award, Digital Diversity’s Innovation & Inclusion Change Agent award and was a TechWeek 100 winner. He was named Pitchbook’s 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and one of Silicon Republic's 26 VC professionals spearheading change. Marlon has been featured on TechCrunch, Fortune, Cheddar, MSNBC, Blavity and NBC, and is adjunct faculty in entrepreneurship and venture capital at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University.

Website: MaC Venture Capital

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marloncnichols/

Twitter: @MarlonCNichols

Marlon on the Just Go Grind Podcast in March 2021: Episode #285 on JGG

Show Notes:

• What enabled MaC Venture Capital to double their first raise, closing a $203M Fund II
• The value of a strong reserves strategy
• MaC Venture Capital’s investment in Pipe, which transforms recurring revenue into up-front capital for growth without dilution or restrictive debt
• The story behind MaC Venture Capital’s investment in Truebill, now Rocket Money (check out Co-Founder Haroon Mokhtarzada’s episode on the Just Go Grind podcast)
• What makes a stellar founder
• How they ended up investing in Mahmee and what makes their founder Melissa Hanna such an investable founder
• Where Marlon is excited to invest next
• How Marlon educates himself on new geographies and markets
• Marlon’s perspective on investing in the current market downturn

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Algebra Ventures Managing Partners Tarek Assaad and Karim Hussein

From a background of senior positions at multinationals, Algebra Ventures Managing Partners Tarek Assaad and Karim Hussein are driven by a belief that tech and entrepreneurship can enable tangible change in a region where basic services can often be major inconveniences. Established in 2015, Algebra Ventures is a USD 54 mn venture capital fund that invests in early stage tech startups in the MENA region. The fund is the largest of its kind in Egypt.

Assaad and Hussein outline the most important features they look for in startups, including tackling big markets and possessing a strong management team, as well as the red flags they avoid at all costs. Our host, Patrick, sat down with Assaad and Hussein in December, before Covid-19 put us all on work from home.

DISCLAIMER: Algebra Ventures Managing Partner Ziad Mokhtar could not join us for this interview.

Making It is grateful for the generous support of:

CIB, Egypt’s number-one private-sector bank and the partner of choice for CEOs and leaders of businesses at all stages of their growth stories

The United States Agency for International Development, which has a 40 year history of inspiring Egyptian success in partnership with the Government and people of Egypt.

** Subscribe to Making it here https://bit.ly/35lugvb.

** Subscribe to Enterprise, our 6am briefing on business, finance and economics in Egypt (also free) at www.enterprise.press. 

You can check out Algebra Ventures here: algebraventures.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.