EQT Ventures, a Europe-based investment firm that has raised over EUR 1.2 billion (US $ 1.4 billion), announced it has promoted Laura Yao to partner. At the same time, the company announced that it had recently hired Anne Raimondi, former SVP of Operations at Zendesk, as an operational partner. The company is based in Stockholm … Read more
With the closing of its latest mutual fund, Norrsken VC is taking an unprecedented step to tie partner compensation to the positive changes the company’s portfolio companies are making around the world – and not just to their financial returns. The company, which published its 2020 Impact Assessment last week, has invested in companies that … Read more
Apple has released an update for iPhones, iPads and watches to close a security hole that is actively being attacked by hackers. The security update is iOS 14.4.2 and iPadOS 14.4.2, which also contains a patch for older devices such as iOS 12.5.2. watchOS is also updated to 7.3.3. Apple said the vulnerability identified by … Read more
John Ruffolo is not as famous as some investors, but he is well known in Canadian business circles. Arthur Andersen’s longtime head of technology, media and telecommunications practice joined OMERS about a decade ago when a former colleague became CEO and brought him on board the pension giant to start a venture fund. The idea … Read more
Greed is God. At this pointUnless you go public through a direct listing, traditional IPO, or SPAC, are you a high growth company at all? Every CEO I speak to at a startup that generates more than just Series B revenue tells me that SPACs are circling and hungry for a deal so they don’t … Read more
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, was called on by Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) for tweeting during today’s Congressional hearing on disinformation and extremism. The tech manager’s tweet likely expressed frustration with the format of the hearing, which once again forced tech CEOs to convert their answers to complicated questions into simple “yes” or “no” answers … Read more
I recently attended a celebration from one of the collaboration technology pioneers, Ray Ozzie. Ozzie, the father of Lotus Notes, left Lotus and his startup company Iris after a hostile takeover by IBM and eventually switched to Microsoft when that company acquired its next startup, Groove. By “attended” I mean a virtual event at the … Read more
Nigeria stays one largely Cash dominated country. There are over 100 million adult Nigerians of whom More than half have little or no access to financial services. Today, Bankly, a Nigerian fintech startup that digitizes cash for non-banks, announced that it has completed a $ 2 million startup round. Founded in 2018 by Tomilola Adejana … Read more
On the third biggest TV show of all time (sorry Rolling Stone), one of the most famous fictional soccer players in Texas once said, “When all the scared rats leave a sinking market, a real entrepreneur comes in – a real visionary. ” If so, then renewable energy startup retailer Arcadia may be a true … Read more
Shares in Box, a well-known content and collaboration company that went public in 2015, rose today after Reuters reported the company was considering a sale. TechCrunch had previously discussed mounting investor pressures for Box to ignite its stock price after years in the wilds of the public market. As of today’s close of trading, Box’s … Read more