[ad_1]
Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced tackle this week’s startup information and developments by Senior Reporter and Fairness co-host Natasha Mascarenhas. To get this in your inbox, subscribe right here.
One of many quieter conversations in enterprise capital has solely grown louder, in my DMs and interviews, over the previous few months: The recognized bias in enterprise capital has been a branding problem for a few of the rising, various fund managers simply now splashing onto the scene.
Everybody has a narrative, however all of them sound a bit comparable: A feminine VC is launching a fund, and she or he’s both in comparison with each different feminine VC with a fund, anticipated to solely spend money on feminine founders or have a range, fairness and inclusion angle as a core thesis. The othering that occurs, from an ever-homogenous group of LPs and even founders who see feminine VCs as monolithic, has led to some feminine VCs rebranding their corporations altogether so they’re seen as past their gender.
Learn my full tackle this matter with Rebecca Szkutak on TC+: “For feminine VCs, bias is a branding problem.”
In the remainder of this text, we’ll speak about Upfront Summit 2023 and a stunning Higher deal. As at all times, you possibly can comply with me on Twitter or Instagram to proceed the dialog.
VC confab brings surprises and AI
All of your favourite enterprise journalists have been busy this week at Upfront Summit 2023, a two-day, invite-only occasion that brings collectively business insiders — and celebrities — to speak about the way forward for capital. I interviewed the previous and current guard over at Kapor Capital. I shook arms with Jamie Lee Curtis and stole interview ideas from Kara Swisher. And Al Gore tried to recruit the complete viewers to be extra critical on combating local weather change.
All in all, the convention principally fueled my story plans for the subsequent month, so keep tuned for many follow-up angles. And a few scoops too. I’ll begin with a recap on the AI conversations throughout stage.
Right here’s why it’s necessary: If you happen to ask me, AI was the omnipresent superstar at Upfront. It’s not stunning: Hyped-up applied sciences typically get outsized curiosity. However the ambiance is completely different from what it was in 2021 when traders have been throwing billions of {dollars} at 15-minute grocery supply corporations and web3. Enterprise dry powder is locked up, offers are getting finished slower and a few traders are nonetheless licking their wounds from the downturn up to now.
Picture Credit: Clark Studio
The follow-up
My colleagues took the mic this week on Fairness to speak via the newest and biggest headlines. The entire present was a hoot. Unexpectedly, for all, was the return of Higher.com. Information broke earlier this week that Amazon is letting staff use their inventory to finance dwelling purchases and even second houses.
Right here’s why it’s necessary: It’s a inventive, but in addition stunning, partnership. Higher has been an Amazon Internet Companies buyer since 2015 and its mortgage origination system is powered solely by the software program, in line with a press release. Nonetheless, Higher has been via its justifiable share of struggles which have forged doubt on its future. Should we run via all of the filings?
Picture Credit: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch
And many others., and so forth.
Seen on TechCrunch
Every little thing Elon Musk and execs shared (and skipped) at Tesla Investor Day
Chamath Palihapitiya: It may take three years for the market to ‘precisely’ reprice late-stage cos
OpenAI launches an API for ChatGPT, plus devoted capability for enterprise prospects
Players are fixing a online game ‘taken over’ by hackers
Seen on TechCrunch+
Maybe Substack can develop simply tremendous with out enterprise {dollars}
Pitch Deck Teardown: Gable’s $12M Collection A deck
Does web3 want a enterprise bailout now that AI has all of the hype?
And with that, thanks for being right here. If you happen to’re studying this on a browser, get this in your inbox too! Subscribe right here and share it with your folks.
[ad_2]