Forging your own path, the future of retail investing, and the decline of Silicon Valley
Your weekly guide to start-ups and venturing
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Welcome to tonight’s issue!
This week I learned that 90% of women-led funds are led by first-time fund managers and that half of all female VC partners are founding partners who got their jobs by creating them for themselves, not by climbing a career ladder and hoping to get a promotion. You can read more about this here. With Kamala Harris’s history making election to be the US’s first ever female Vice President perhaps the real lesson this week is the importance of forging your own path.
Round-up of the news this week
Facebook’s review of its Trump ban is setting a critical precedent for how big tech firms handle political speech. Forget TikTock, Clubhouse is the next big social media app and its finally making an app for Android users. Whatsapp could be fined up to €50 million over violations of the European Union's data protection rules.
Multiverse, a startup which connects apprentices with companies, has secured $44m in new funding — the biggest ever funding round for a UK edtech company. The company was founded by Tony Blair’s son Euan Blair in 2016. Deliveroo is now valued at $7B. Online luxury fashion retailer Mytheresa jumps 37% in stock market debut.
Tom Blomfield is leaving the UK challenger bank Monzo. In a great week for women Lucile Cornet is Eight Roads Ventures’ newest partner. Wendy Xiao Schadeck has also become a partner at Northzone.
From the investors
“Stocks only go up, right?*” Mercedes Bent of Lightspeed Venture Partners
Liina Lehtonen of Butterfly Ventures analyses how due diligence works in venture capital
Anjel Noorbakhsh Ashman talks about becoming an Ada’s Angel and backing overlooked founders
Anna Ottosson of Trellis Road on The A-Z of Foodtech Incubators, Accelerators & Grants
Kim Mai-Culter on why post-pandemic Silicon Valley isn’t a place. Her argument is neatly visualised in the below graph. Before the pandemic we were already seeing an increase in remote working and now that trend has acutely accelerated.
Mercedes Bent of Lightspeed Venture Partners on how retail investing products are evolving and what’s next post Robinhood
From the operators
“Entrepreneurs are negotiating constantly, yet few are ever taught how” Nicola Thomas
Dianna Lesage the founder of Studio Upstart on the impact of VC firms becoming accelerators
Ashwini Asokan the founder of artificial intelligence start-up Mad Street Den on why and how she put diversity at the heart of her group
Nicola Thomas on how to negotiate as a start-up founder
Events
How to manage culture when teams go remote on 28 Jan at 3 pm GMT by Sifted
Social Entrepreneurship with Tessy Antony de Nassau (Co-Founder, Human Highness) 2 Feb at 5 pm GMT by Ecoystem Giants
Female Office Hours 27th Jan 3.30pm - 5.30pm GMT hosted by Huckletree, LocalGlobe and Connect Ventures
Opportunities
A great list of VC scout programs
YSYS are hiring a Head of Operations.
OnBoard is offering a programme designed for those interested in gaining experiences on company Boards.
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
If you have any comments, questions, or want to chat about start-ups and venturing, then do drop a comment below.
Written by Alexandra Wyatt, based in London but a global traveler. You can also reach me on Twitter and Instagram.