Tootfinder

Despite a crypto rally, VC funds focused on crypto are struggling to raise money, as limited partners prioritize tangible gains after the 2022 wipeout (Ryan Weeks/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Crypto Venture Capital Funds Under Pressure to Produce Returns
Judging by a record Bitcoin rally that fueled a $1 trillion jump in the digital-asset market this year, crypto fever is back. But look beneath the surface to trends in venture capital and a far more sober picture emerges.

"Dixon looked through his old Twitter threads and blog posts and said, effectively “Boom. Nailed it. No notes. People just need to hear what I have to say.”
He’s a venture capitalist who lacks the capacity to imagine a problem cause by Silicon Valley’s techno-capital machine that can’t best be solved by Silicon Valley’s techno-capital machine. I don’t doubt that he means well. But there are no new ideas in this book. It’s just a rehash of the applause lines he formulated during th…

Read Write Own, Reviewed
Chris Dixon's Read Write Own has a few problems. And the biggest problem is Dixon himself.

"Britain's economy is highly London-centric. Without the capital, the UK would be poorer per head than Mississippi"
I wonder what these stats look like if you separate out Scotland. It's our energy they're using.

🔊 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
Guerilla Toss:
🎵 Cannibal Capital
#GuerillaToss
https://open.spotify.com/track/5mhpd12wL82CIlXjUqngTA
https://guerillatoss.bandcamp.com/track/cannibal-capital

From the vault: 2021
The Nigerian dream is to leave #Nigeria
"In Nigeria, to be an emigrant is to possess illustrious social capital and a badge of honor that is not only reserved for you, but also for your family."

The Nigerian dream is to leave Nigeria
In Nigeria, to be an emigrant is to possess illustrious social capital and a badge of honor that is not only reserved for you, but also for your family.

Kuleba begins first trip to India: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/28/kuleba-begins-first.html

Lies, confections, distortions: how the right made London the most vilified place in Britain | Aditya Chakrabortty | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/25/lies-london-britain-capital

🔊 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
Guerilla Toss:
🎵 Cannibal Capital
#GuerillaToss
https://open.spotify.com/track/5mhpd12wL82CIlXjUqngTA
https://guerillatoss.bandcamp.com/track/cannibal-capital

We had to memorize the Periodic Table *AND* every American State name and State Capital.
When I met an American kid, I said, “You guys are so lucky. You only have to memorize our ten Provinces and Capitals.”
“We don’t study anything about Canada in school…"
WTAF!? 😳
That's when I realized Canadians were different from Americans. 🤣

PixiePancake (@MissPixiePancake@mstdn.social)
Attached: 1 image I had to memorize the Periodic Table of Elements and the associated atomic weights in the 9th grade. Where was this guy when I needed him? #Humor #Funny #Lol #Fun #Humour #Science

While Netflix is profitable in South Korea, local rivals Tving and Wavve lost a combined ~$165M in 2023 and are reportedly in talks to merge (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-25/…

Hollywood’s Streaming Malaise Infects South Korea, Asia’s TV Capital
After years of pumping out hit shows, South Korea’s biggest media companies are cutting back and consolidating to survive a global pullback in entertainment.

The same extremists lining up to support a #federal #abortion #ban, that would override hard-earned reproductive freedoms in states like Ohio, are now tripping all over themselves to profess their support for

National and Ohio Republicans desperately pretending they haven't been attacking IVF - Ohio Capital Journal
Frank LaRose, Bernie Moreno and Matt Dolan aggressively opposed Ohioans establishing a constitutional right “to one’s own reproductive medical treatment." Now they're desperately trying to backtrack after Alabama's IVF ruling, writes columnist Marilou Johanek.

I think a good solid path to sustainability is probably a game of stock market snake oil whackamole.
Have teams of pros hunt for the enshitification, the capital horded, the monopolies,
And replace them with greener community controlled things.
Axe big data centers, in favor of computing the community agrees upon
If every young person on the planet could vote on the auto manufacturers decision to make only plug in hybrids and EVs,
Or had a direct vote to replace every gas power plant

Among the questions that flood (or ought to flood) the mind of the average citizen are these:
Is Petaluma, California still "Chicken Capital of the World"?. And does Petaluma still host the Arm Wrestling Championships?
And, for cognoscenti of late 1960's Sonoma county, indubitably the most important question is this: Does anyone still remember the connection between Petaluma and a certain Norton motorcycle?

Buenos días pasados por agua en la capital imperial, mastodontes. Ahora luce el sol, y menos mal, porque tenemos un fin de semana lleno de interacciones sociales.

Daily Inspiration: "Creativity capital, experiential capital, collaborative capital, generational capital - these are now the new requirements necessary for innovation success!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Enhance your balance sheet!
You need to understand what's necessary with 21st-century capital: and why it's not just financial capital anymore!
In the 20th century, financial capital was the resource of choice. That doesn't cut it anymore. Today, it's…

I have a feeling it starts with Silicon and ends with Valley. Or maybe it starts with Venture and ends with Capital? Or perhaps simply starts with capital and ends with ism.
https://draw-together.small-web.org

Nastia @ Vernadsky Library in Kyiv, 2024
"Brace yourselves as Nastia returns to Kyiv, delivering her signature energy with the next techno DJ set 2024 recorded at one of the world's largest national libraries. The DJ, promoter, and label boss takes command on the decks in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, the impressive Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine."

AI-based photo editing app PhotoRoom raised $43M led by Balderton Capital at a $500M valuation, says it has 150M downloads and processes ~5B images annually (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/27/conf…

Confirmed: Photoroom, the AI image editor, raised $43M at a $500M valuation | TechCrunch
Photoroom, the AI-based photo editing app out of Paris that has been growing like a weed targeting people doing business online while also attracting a

Crooked Timber || Capitalism Is Dead – Long Live Capital
https://crookedtimber.org/2024/03/25/capitalism-is-dead-long-live-capital/

Once again, the headline is "<government> to ban driving". Then you look at the details, and it's "oh wait actually cars/driving *will* be allowed, it's just certain type of cars/driving will be restricted. but there will still be cars/driving"
And that's why we say #BanCars, because media editors are so fucking ridiculous; they've been huffin…

Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian@mastodon.online)
Attached: 1 image NEW: This year, Dublin will become the latest European capital to bar thru-traffic from its city centre. Private cars & commercial trucks will be allowed access only if their final destination is downtown. The goal is a 60% traffic reduction in the centre. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-17/dublin-takes-aim-at-traffic-congestion-with-a-car-ban-on-certain-trips

I’m no lawyer, but one thing you definitely don’t want to do if you’re about to go on criminal trial is piss off the judge. #Trump https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/dont-

Capital Cost of Co-op arena: £350,000,000
Annual Cost of Chorlton Arts Festival with its 145 events: less than £3,500.
Co-op Live: Manchester venue boss resigns after shows postponed - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68902287…

Co-op Live: Manchester venue boss resigns after shows postponed
Gary Roden quits days after he was criticised for telling BBC some grassroots music venues are "poorly run".

I learned just now that the #EncyclopediaBritannica used a photo of mine to illustrate their article on “development bank”: https://www.britannica.com/money/development-bank

Devolo durch österreichischen Investor gerettet
Die SOL Capital aus Österreich übernimmt wesentliche Teile des Aachener Powerline-Herstellers. Die zweite Insolvenz in zwei Jahren ist so beendet.
https://www.

Armed men try to break into police department in Armenia’s capital: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/24/armed-men-try.html

Ethereum liquid restaking protocol ether.fi raised a $23M Series A led by Bullish Capital and CoinFund, as the total value locked on the protocol rises to $1.6B (Oliver Knight/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/02/2…

I think a good solid path to sustainability is probably a game of stock market snake oil whackamole.
Have teams of pros hunt for the enshitification, the capital horded, the monopolies,
And replace them with greener community controlled things.
Axe big data centers, in favor of computing the community agrees upon
If every young person on the planet could vote on the auto manufacturers decision to make only plug in hybrids and EVs,
Or had a direct vote to replace every gas power plant

What positions each NFL GM drafted in top 100 picks since 2011 https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/2024/03/27/what-positions-gms-nfl-draft-top-100-picks-since-2011-bill-belichick-les-snead…

What positions each NFL GM drafted in top 100 picks since 2011
Where Bill Belichick, Les Snead, Tom Telesco and some of the NFL’s longest tenured GM’s used their draft capital since 2011.

Among the questions that flood (or ought to flood) the mind of the average citizen are these:
Is Petaluma, California still "Chicken Capital of the World"?. And does Petaluma still host the Arm Wrestling Championships?
And, for cognoscenti of late 1960's Sonoma county, indubitably the most important question is this: Does anyone still remember the connection between Petaluma and a certain Norton motorcycle?

Neoliberal policies - ’Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/20/notting-hill-residents-capital-gains-exceed-people-of-three-cities-combined

Neoliberal policies - ’Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/20/notting-hill-residents-capital-gains-exceed-people-of-three-cities-combined

Deutsche Bahn: Die Mangelverwaltung geht weiter
Für die Bahn war 2023 ein Katastrophenjahr. Doch schlimmer noch ist der Ausblick: Aus der versprochenen Generalsanierung wird eine Dauerbaustelle ohne Aussicht auf Besserung
https://www.capital.de/wirt…

Deutsche Bahn: Die Mangelverwaltung geht weiter
Für die Bahn war 2023 ein Katastrophenjahr. Doch schlimmer noch ist der Ausblick: Aus der Generalsanierung wird eine Dauerbaustelle 

foursquare_global: Foursquare global check-ins (2013)
A bipartite network of users and locations, representing check-in events worldwide on Foursquare, from April 2012 to September 2013. Metadata include country, city name, city type (e.g. national capital), and vender's latitude and longitude.
This network has 3935215 nodes and 22809624 edges.
Tags: Social, Online, Unweighted, Metadata, Timestamps

🥸 US cyber investors pledge spyware is off limits — with a catch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/22/us-cyber-investors-pledge-spyware-is-off-limits-with-a-catch/

Investors' pledge to fight spyware undercut by past investments in US malware maker | TechCrunch
Paladin Capital Group says it doesn’t want to invest in spyware companies, but it invested in a U.S. based exploit maker in the past.

TIL that #Indonesia is planning to move their capital to an entirely different island.
https://restofworld.org/2024/indonesia

"Wirtschaftsstudenten wegen Wirtschaftsförderung von Wirtschaftsuniversität verwiesen"
(scnr) #vallendar #whu

Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending (Karen Weise/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/27/tec…

In Race to Build A.I., Tech Plans a Big Plumbing Upgrade
The spending that the industry’s giants expect artificial intelligence to require is starting to come into focus — and it is jarringly large.

Privatizing profits, socializing costs. I suspect, if all costs are properly tallied, that the current oil and gas industry generates ZERO societal benefits on the margin, and it’s a close call whether it does so on average as well. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the

The Rising Cost of the Oil Industry’s Slow Death
This article first appeared at ProPublica and Capital and Main. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in…

Whenever I'm tempted to make a disparaging remark about Ottawa, I have to remind myself that others have been making far more devastating quips about it than I'm ever likely to manage since the designation of the "city" as Canada's capital in 1857.

Interactions between energy poverty, financial development, digitalisation, and human capital https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988324002767 @…

Kuleba fordert mehr Luftabwehrsysteme von Partnern
Nach den Angriffen auf Kiew hat der ukrainische Außenminister Dmytro Kuleba die internationalen Partner aufgerufen, mehr Luftabwehr zur Verfügung zu stellen. Es gebe keine Gräueltaten, die Russland nicht begehen würde, schrieb er auf X. Daher erinnere die Ukraine daran, dass sie die Luftabwehr dringend ausbauen müsse. Dafür brauche sie insbesondere P…
🐦

Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) on X
Children in Kyiv run for cover at 10:30 a.m. as deadly Russian ballistic missiles are shot down over the capital by air defense. There are no atrocities Russian bastards would not commit, including an attempt of a ballistic strike at the heart of a multimillion city. This is a…

'We trust Joe': Aaron Rodgers approves of Jets GM's first-round execution in the draft https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40027762/aaron-rodgers-approves-jets-first-round-2024-nfl-draft-fashanu

Aaron Rodgers approves Jets taking OT, trading back in first round - ESPN
The New York Jets acquired extra draft capital by trading back a spot and taking Fashanu in 2024 NFL draft.

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.16570 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qfi…

Epistemic Limits of Empirical Finance: Causal Reductionism and Self-Reference
The clarion call for causal reduction in the study of capital markets is intensifying. However, in self-referencing and open systems such as capital markets, the idea of unidirectional causation (if applicable) may be limiting at best, and unstable or fallacious at worst. In this research, we critically assess the use of scientific deduction and causal inference within the study of empirical finance and econometrics. We then demonstrate the idea of competing causal chains using a toy model adap…

Werden wir wohl um 20:15 auf #rbb📺 sehen
#CapitalB - Wem gehört Berlin?: Absturz am 21.02. um 20:15 Uhr auf rbb Berlin.
https://

None
Schnell und bequem Live TV streamen: Mit dem TV Programm von heute von ARD, ZDF, ProSieben, RTL und Motorvision+ im Web, auf Apple TV, Android TV, Android Smartphones, Tablets, iPhone, iPad & Windows

Wealthy Canadians demand the Liberals also raise taxes on the capital gains of the poor
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2024/04/wealthy-canadians-demand-the-liberals-also-raise-taxes-on-the-capital-gains-of-…

Lagos: drugs, firearms and youth unemployment are creating a lethal cocktail in Nigeria’s commercial capital
https://theconversation.com/lagos-drugs-firearms-and-youth-unemployment-are-cre…

Lagos: drugs, firearms and youth unemployment are creating a lethal cocktail in Nigeria’s commercial capital
Youth migration, unemployment, proliferation of small arms and drugs are some of the drivers of violent crimes in Lagos.

Cybersecurity startup Zafran, which develops risk mitigation services, emerges from stealth with a $25M Series A co-led by Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts (Meir Orbach/CTech)
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjhhpaz10

After fleeing Iran and an illustrious career in Israeli intelligence, Sanaz Yashar raises $30M for cyber start
Zafran, founded in 2022 by Yashar (CEO), Ben Seri (CTO) and Snir Havdala (CPO), develops a risk and mitigation platform to pinpoint the ‘exploitable’ threats in the organization and to mitigate their risk by mobilizing existing security controls

“Entrepreneurs are getting younger and even more willing to take risk”
https://buffalonews.com/news/local/business/entrepreneurs-are-getting-younger-and-even-more-will…

Prospectus: Entrepreneurs are getting younger and even more willing to take risk
The increased number of support organizations, mentors and coaches, and availability of investment capital, as well as the increased exposure to being an entrepreneur as a career path, is igniting

I learned just now that the #EncyclopediaBritannica used a photo of mine to illustrate their article on “development bank”: https://www.britannica.com/money/development-bank

So with a very high probability it was Islamic State (IS) that organised the terrorist attack in Moscow, that means Russian propaganda/disinformation needs to go in overdrive to link Ukraine in anyway and divert attention from Putin who was not able to secure his own people in his capital.
#geopolitics @…

This is a very cool hack. I mean, yeah, it’s an obvious idea, the hard part is making it commercially viable and demonstrating success that’ll attract capital investment. https://newatlas.com/environment/wings-cargo-ship-efficiency/

Wings make cargo ship efficiency soar
An age of greener, more efficient shipping may be in the offing as a specially modified 43,000-tonne bulk freighter completes a six-month sea trial using a combination of diesel engines and a set of high-tech automatic sails to catch the wind.

Private equity firm attracts $350 million to support Ukrainian businesses, exceeding target by $100 million: https://benborges.xyz/2024/02/23/private-equity-firm.html

An active member of the US Air Force set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington on Sunday, officials said, as media reported he was protesting the war in Gaza.
Emergency responders rushed to the scene just before 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) in response to a "call for person on fire outside the Israeli Embassy," according to a message on X, formerly Twitter, by the capital's fire department.
They arrived to find that officers from the Secret Service -- the US…

US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli embassy in Washington

NewRetirement, which offers financial retirement planning tools for consumers and enterprise customers, raised a $20M Series A led by Allegis Capital (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/27/newretirement-want…

NewRetirement wants to simplify financial planning for retirement | TechCrunch
NewRetirement builds software to help people create financial retirement plans.

Neoliberal policies - ’Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/20/notting-hill-residents-capital-gains-exceed-people-of-three-cities-combined

NewRetirement, which offers financial retirement planning tools for consumers and enterprise customers, raised a $20M Series A led by Allegis Capital (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/27/newretirement-want…

NewRetirement wants to simplify financial planning for retirement | TechCrunch
NewRetirement builds software to help people create financial retirement plans.

Lagos: drugs, firearms and youth unemployment are creating a lethal cocktail in Nigeria’s commercial capital
https://theconversation.com/lagos-drugs-firearms-and-youth-unemployment-are-cre…

Lagos: drugs, firearms and youth unemployment are creating a lethal cocktail in Nigeria’s commercial capital
Youth migration, unemployment, proliferation of small arms and drugs are some of the drivers of violent crimes in Lagos.

🍄 How A Sleepy Pennsylvania Town Grew Into America's Mushroom Capital
https://www.metafilter.com/203192/How-A-Sleepy-Pennsylvania-Town-Grew-Into-Americas-Mushroom-Capital

How A Sleepy Pennsylvania Town Grew Into America's Mushroom Capital
The beds are covered with a mass of pure white, like bubbling foam: thousands of white button mushrooms. These are the mushrooms — along with other strains of this same species, the brown and...

Deebo Samuel trade rumors: Steelers had interest in dealing for WR, unwilling to meet 49ers' asking price

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/de…

Deebo Samuel trade rumors: Steelers had interest in dealing for WR, unwilling to meet 49ers' asking price
Pittsburgh wanted Samuel, but apparently didn't want to give up too much capital

Zelensky meets with Bulgarian PM in Kyiv: https://benborges.xyz/2024/02/26/zelensky-meets-with.html

"But I’ve come to think its the sheer scale of the money that matters most. There’s nothing new about rich capitalists adopting conservative orthodoxy and supporting the Republican party. There’s nothing new about finance guys pulling shenanigans that leave a trail of misery in their wake. But the sheer amount of capital at their disposal exerts market-warping force. They can ruin industries that they didn’t even intend to ruin, just by being the only source of significant capital while…

The Gravitational Force of Tech Money
The main story of the post-techlash years has been too few people with too much capital

Meta's stock drops 15% as the company issues a light Q2 revenue forecast and higher FY 2024 capital expenditures due to increased AI infrastructure investments (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/24/meta-meta-q1-2024-earnings-.html

La grosse panique toi. Les proprios vont devoir être taxé sur leur profit gigantesque qu'ils ont déjŠ généré par la hausse vertigineuse, des prix de l'immobilier.
C'est un bénéfice du budget, pas un problème. Quand on donne autant d'avantages fiscaux aux propriétaires qui possède plusieurs résidences on se ramasse dans un marché qui est fiscalement avantageux pour les gens Š acheter plusieurs résidences et ça augmente les prix pour les particuliers.

This is a very cool hack. I mean, yeah, it’s an obvious idea, the hard part is making it commercially viable and demonstrating success that’ll attract capital investment. https://newatlas.com/environment/wings-cargo-ship-efficiency/

Wings make cargo ship efficiency soar
An age of greener, more efficient shipping may be in the offing as a specially modified 43,000-tonne bulk freighter completes a six-month sea trial using a combination of diesel engines and a set of high-tech automatic sails to catch the wind.

The stars are aligned for accelerated growth in the UK’s space economy, thanks to an active venture capital community, close collaboration, and a government that’s increasingly cognizant of quantum computing’s potential.
Already, startups in the home-grown space industry are pioneering research that demonstrates the sector’s cutting-edge and world-leading capabilities.
Just take aerospace #Space…

Amplifying space’s potential with quantum

Russian missile attack injures 2 in Kyiv Oblast outside of capital: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/21/russian-missile-attack.html

French electrical equipment maker Legrand agrees to acquire Dutch health software company Enovation from PE firm Main Capital Partners, sources say for €500M (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-…

Legrand to Buy Dutch Health-Tech Firm From Main Capital Partners
French electrical-equipment maker Legrand agreed to acquire Dutch health-software company Enovation from private equity firm Main Capital Partners.

March 9, 1789 through April 25, 2024. The first is the date the US Constitution began operation, the second date is the day the US began its descent to monarchy.
After looking at Lessig's new book on stealing a Presidential election I have little doubt that at noon Jan 20, 2025, TFG will be standing on the capital steps, hand on a Trump Bible, Melanomia by his side, with John Roberts administering the oath of office. Twenty minutes later the arrests will begin.
If you want…

Dozens of Alden-owned newspapers ran editorials over the weekend arguing that Google's threat to cut off news in California "is a bully tactic" (Sara Fischer/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/16/alden-global-capital-newspapers-go…

Dozens of Alden newspapers run coordinated editorials slamming Google
The editorials are labeled differently by different outlets, obfuscating who is deciding to publish the editorial.

US investors, like General Atlantic and Sequoia, are facing increased pressure from state and federal lawmakers about their investments in Chinese companies (Lauren Hirsch/New York Times)
https://www.nytime…

TikTok Bill Would Complicate ByteDance Investments if Passed
Major U.S. investment firms such as General Atlantic, Susquehanna and Sequoia Capital own stakes in ByteDance, the parent of TikTok. Their investments are increasingly under fire.

Amadou & Mariam – Mogolu
https://amf.didiermary.fr/rss-club/amadou-mariam-mogolu/
New lead single “Mogolu” for the upcoming release of their second compilation album, La Vie Est Belle.
Shot in the Senegalese capital city of Dakar, the video feat…

Amadou & Mariam - Mogolu - African Music Forum
Amadou & Mariam - Mogolu - African Music Forum

March 9, 1789 through April 25, 2024. The first is the date the US Constitution began operation, the second date is the day the US began its descent to monarchy.
After looking at Lessig's new book on stealing a Presidential election I have little doubt that at noon Jan 20, 2025, TFG will be standing on the capital steps, hand on a Trump Bible, Melanomia by his side, with John Roberts administering the oath of office. Twenty minutes later the arrests will begin.
If you want…

Russia launches missile attack on Kyiv, buildings damaged: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/25/russia-launches-missile.html

Sources: Social Capital fired two of its partners after they tried to raise ~$2M from outside the firm for AI chipmaker Groq, which rankled Chamath Palihapitiya (Lizette Chapman/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Social Capital AI Startup Deal Led Palihapitiya to Fire Partners
Venture capital firm Social Capital suddenly fired two of its partners after they tried to raise outside money for an artificial intelligence startup — an endeavor that provoked the ire of the firm’s leader, high-profile investor Chamath Palihapitiya.

Q&A with Javonte Anderson, editor of Capital B Gary, a Black-focused nonprofit news outlet, on working with locals, shaping coverage via user surveys, and more (Will Fischer/Nieman Lab)
https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/02/capital-

Capital B Gary’s editor-in-chief on collaborating with his hometown community
"We want to meet the people where they’re at, whether that’s churches, neighborhood block clubs, salons, or barber shops."

Russia launches another missile attack on Kyiv, residential building damaged by debris: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/25/russia-launches-another.html

In one of the most notable developments under its new CEO Richard Teng, Binance spun out Binance Labs, its $10B venture capital arm, earlier this year (Ryan Weeks/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Crypto Exchange Binance Spins Off Binance Labs Venture Capital Unit
Crypto exchange Binance quietly spun off its $10 billion venture capital arm earlier this year in one of the most notable developments yet of Chief Executive Officer Richard Teng’s four-month-old tenure.

African tech investor TLcom Capital raised $154M for a new fund, attracting US and Europe investment; Africa-focused VCs have raised $655M since November 2023 (Aanu Adeoye/Financial Times)
https://t.co/DIlRCef7e1

FundGuard, which offers an AI accounting platform for asset managers, raised a $100M Series C led by Key1 Capital, taking its funding to $150M since 2018 (Marissa Newman/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

AI Accounting Startup FundGuard Raises $100 Million in New Funds
FundGuard, a startup that provides a cloud-based, artificial intelligence-powered accounting platform for asset managers, has raised $100 million in new funding, including from major global investment firms.

Pomelo, a "send now, pay later" startup that lets users in the US send money in the form of credit to people in the Philippines, raised a $35M Series A (Mary Ann Azevedo/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/22/pome

'Send now, pay later' startup Pomelo lands $35M Series A from secretive Vy Capital, Founders Fund | TechCrunch
VY Capital led the raise, which was among Keith Rabois’s last deals before his departure from Founders Fund.

Transnistria. Why it is relevant for putin now?: https://benborges.xyz/2024/02/24/transnistria-why-it.html

Sources: the Sequoia-Klarna spat stemmed from co-founders Sebastian Siemiatkowski and Victor Jacobsson, which dragged Michael Moritz and Sequoia into the fray (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20…

Sequoia Klarna Bank Spat Rooted in Tension Between Startup’s Founders
Sequoia Capital has named a new board member for fintech Klarna Bank AB, seeking to quell a conflict that has ensnared the storied venture capital firm, its high-profile former partner and one of the largest startups in Europe.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says, on his channel, that the company raised $330M through bond sales last week, and that the offering was oversubscribed (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/18/telegram-raises-330-million…

Telegram raises $330 million fresh capital through bond sales | TechCrunch
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said on his channel today that the company secured $330 million in investment through bond sales last week. Durov

The Browser Company, which makes the Arc browser, raised $50M led by Pace Capital at a $550M valuation, bringing its total funding to $128M (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/21/the-browser-company-raises-50-mil…

The Browser Company raises $50 million at $550 million valuation | TechCrunch
The Browser Company, which makes the Arc browser, has raised $50 million in a round led by Pace Capital at a $550 million valuation, TechCrunch has

How tensions between past and present leaders of Sequoia, which had a reputation for quiet competence, have spilled into the open with the Klarna boardroom spat (Financial Times)
https://t.co/aUcP241hFS

How tensions between past and present leaders of Sequoia, which had a reputation for quiet competence, have spilled into the open with the Klarna boardroom spat (Financial Times)
https://t.co/aUcP241hFS

Emails: Sequoia Capital retracted its request to remove Michael Moritz as chairman of Klarna's board; Sequoia partner Matthew Miller is leaving Klarna's board (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/sequoi…

Sequoia Retracts Request to Oust Moritz From Klarna Board
Sequoia Capital has retracted its request to remove Michael Moritz as chairman of Klarna’s board, according to emails reviewed by The Information. Sequoia partner Matthew Miller, the director who in recent days had asked Klarna shareholders to remove Moritz, is leaving the Klarna board. Sequoia ...

Emails: Sequoia Capital retracted its request to remove Michael Moritz as chairman of Klarna's board; Sequoia partner Matthew Miller is leaving Klarna's board (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/sequoi…

Sequoia Retracts Request to Oust Moritz From Klarna Board
Sequoia Capital has retracted its request to remove Michael Moritz as chairman of Klarna’s board, according to emails reviewed by The Information. Sequoia partner Matthew Miller, the director who in recent days had asked Klarna shareholders to remove Moritz, is leaving the Klarna board. Sequoia ...

Meta's stock drops 15% as the company issues a light Q2 revenue forecast and higher FY 2024 capital expenditures due to increased AI infrastructure investments (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/24/meta-meta-q1-2024-earnings-.html

Letter: Chamath Palihapitiya's VC firm Social Capital said it fired two of its partners, citing an undisclosed "situation", and hired a law firm to investigate (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Palihapitiya VC Firm Social Capital Fires Two Partners, Hires Law Firm
Social Capital, the venture capital firm led by podcaster and former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, has fired two of its partners, according to a letter sent to its investors that was reviewed by Bloomberg. The firm has also hired a law firm to “investigate the matter,” the letter said.

Letter: Chamath Palihapitiya's VC firm Social Capital said it fired two of its partners, citing an undisclosed "situation", and hired a law firm to investigate (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Palihapitiya VC Firm Social Capital Fires Two Partners, Hires Law Firm
Social Capital, the venture capital firm led by podcaster and former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, has fired two of its partners, according to a letter sent to its investors that was reviewed by Bloomberg. The firm has also hired a law firm to “investigate the matter,” the letter said.

Source: Mistral is in talks with investors about raising several hundred million dollars at a $5B valuation, after raising $415M at a $2B valuation in Dec. 2023 (Kate Clark/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/mi

Mistral, an OpenAI Rival in Europe, in Talks to Raise Capital at a $5 Billion Valuation
Mistral, a Paris-based startup developing artificial intelligence that is open source, has been speaking to investors about raising several hundred million dollars at a valuation of $5 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge. The company, which has just recently begun to generate ...

Presentation: OpenView plans to return ~75% of a $571M fund it raised in 2023 to its LPs by Q3 and use the remaining capital to back ~30 portfolio companies (Natasha Mascarenhas/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/em

Embattled Venture Firm OpenView to Give Back 75% of Capital to Investors
OpenView Venture Partners, the Boston-based venture capital firm whose abrupt decision to wind down late last year epitomized the challenges facing startup investors in the aftermath of the tech funding boom, has figured out its final chapter. The 18-year-old firm plans to return the majority of ...

Paris-based Payflows, whose automated financial management SaaS could be deployed on top of existing ERP systems, raised a €25M Series A led by Balderton (Tom Matsuda/Sifted)
https://sifted.eu/articles/luko-fintech-raise-b2b-news/

Luko alumni raise €25m from Balderton and Ribbit Capital as B2B fintech reigns
The fresh funding round is the latest sign that fintech investors are continuing to focus on the B2B segment.

PitchBook and NVCA report: US VC investments in Q1 2024 hit $36.6B, lowest since 2017, across 2,882 deals, down YoY from $51.6B across 4,026 deals (Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat)
https://venturebeat.com/ai/u-s-q1-2024-venture-capital-investme…

U.S. Q1 2024 venture capital investments fall 29% to $36.6B | NVCA
The first quarter of 2024 was a relatively calm (or weak if you prefer) quarter for U.S. venture capital investments.

A look at Marc Andreessen and a16z's political efforts, including starting the Keep Startups in America PAC and giving millions to a pro-crypto dark-money group (Theodore Schleifer/Puck)
https://puck.news/marc-andreessen-eats-washington/

Marc Andreessen Eats Washington
After a long political “spirit walk,” Silicon Valley’s most famous V.C. is starting PACs, hiring elite political consultants, messaging with his favorite right-wingers and once again spreading capital across D.C.—all to pump up his investments and spread the gospel of Marc.

NY-based Campus, which is building an online alternative to traditional community colleges, raised a $23M Series A extension following a $29M Series A in 2023 (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/23/camp

Campus, a community college startup, receives $23M Series A extension led by Founders Fund | TechCrunch
Although many students in the United States enter community colleges intending to transfer to four-year universities, only 16% of those students receive A year after closing a $29 million Series A, the online community college raised additional capital for fueling growth.