New U.S. ‘green bank’ aims to steer over $160B in capital into climate techFor years, banks have been financing large renewable power projects, from utility-scale solar farms to horizon-spanning wind farms.
But the demand is there, which is why advocates have been clamoring for the federal government to support a so-called green bank, which will underwrite these sorts of projects.
That green bank is now a reality.
Green bank loans have a pretty good track record, too.
The Connecticut Green Bank, for example, has a delinquency rate that’s on par with other commercial lenders across both residential and commercial portfolios.
Get ready for an electrifying showdown as the “So You Think You Can Pitch” startup pitch competition at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 is set to be judged by an esteemed panel of industry experts.
We’ve already announced the startup finalists, and now you can meet our expert judges!
Joining her is Paris Heymann, partner at Index Ventures, whose deep understanding of software, data, and AI companies has positioned him as a sought-after adviser in the tech ecosystem.
With a background that spans prestigious firms like Bain Capital and Arena Holdings, Paris brings a strategic perspective honed by years of hands-on investment experience.
With judges of this caliber, the startup pitch competition at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 is sure to be a thrilling showcase of innovation and entrepreneurial talent.
But it’s unlikely that startups’ fundraising slog will become much easier soon, mostly because of venture capitalists’ own capital-gathering challenges.
In Q1, U.S. VC funds raised only $9.3 billion, according to PitchBook data.
At this pace, VC fundraising will end 2024 at just above $37 billion, the lowest capital raised since 2013 and a 54% decline from last year.
PitchBook estimates that dry powder, the amount of capital VCs still have to invest from previous funds, remains high.
“One low fundraising quarter is not going to make or break the future of VC,” said Kyle Stanford, lead venture capital analyst at PitchBook.
The round also includes existing investors, Notable Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and PLUS Capital.
“To have over 2 million workers on Homebase, which is over 2% of the workforce, is impressive for a private company,” Richards said.
In 2021, sources told TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden that the company’s valuation was between $500 million and $600 million.
“We are using technology to give workers superpowers and in fact, make the work more human, not less,” Waldmann said.
Small businesses have always provided that, and this, to me, is why our mission is so important to make these jobs even better.”
GGV Capital announced last fall that was splitting up its team amid growing tensions between U.S. and China, though it never cited the atmosphere as the explicit driver of the move.
The thinking in abandoning the GGV Capital brand, per a source familiar, was that because both teams are operating separately going forward, they felt it was best to develop new brands.
Oren Yunger, the newest member of GGV Capital, also remains on team Notable.
Another longtime managing director at GGV Capital, Eric Xu, who is based in Shanghai, will continue to oversee the original firm’s independently operated yuan-denominated funds.
Roughly 2.5 years ago, GGV Capital announced it has raised $2.5 billion for its new funds, marking its largest family of funds ever.
The deal is interesting on a number of fronts including the round’s structure and how Skyflow has been impacted by growth of AI.
The new capital comes after Skyflow expanded its data privacy business to support new AI technologies last year.
(In its latest news dump, Skyflow said that it expanded its support of China and that market’s particular data rules.)
This Skyflow round slots neatly into several trends we’ve observed recently.
The explosive growth in AI is creating healthy businesses for LLM infrastructure and support companies.
Byju’s secured favorable outcomes in two court hearings Thursday, paving the way for the embattled edtech startup to move ahead with the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for Friday.
The National Company Law Tribunal refused to stay on Thursday Byju’s planned EGM to increase the authorized share capital for the $200 million rights issue.
The matter will be heard again on April 4, but as the lawyer representing the estranged four investors of Byju’s warned, once the authorized share capital has been increased, it cannot be reversed.
Separately, the Karnataka High Court said Thursday it will only hear the case where the investor group seeks to remove Byju’s founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran from the firm after two months.
The rights issue is crucial for Byju’s, once India’s most valuable startup, as it seeks to tap the $200 million it has already received from a set of investors, including Raveendran.
The UK threw a splashy event in New York this week to woo more American VCs Welcome to the new UK: the Unicorn KingdomA 3-D hologram, dubbed the Ever-Changing Statue, will be on display at the Rise by Barclays workspace in New York until April 4.
Dealroom data shows that UK startups raised $31 billion in venture capital in 2022 and $41 billion in 2021.
It’s also still more than the $18 billion the UK raised in 2019 and the $12 billion raised in 2018.
Between 2009 and 2019, only 38 UK Black founders raised venture capital funding—that number now stands at 80, according to an updated report by Extend Ventures.
“The UK tech ecosystem has made significant strides, but work remains to reach the scale and influence of Silicon Valley,” Taylor told TechCrunch.
Borderless Capital, an investment firm that specializes in web3, announced Tuesday that it is acquiring CTF Capital, a quantitative trading and asset management firm headquartered in Miami, with technology and operation teams in Latin America.
With this acquisition, Borderless Capital will add AI-infused quant trading expertise to its own business.
After combining with CTF Capital, Borderless will have over $500 million in assets under management (AUM).
All the existing funds managed by CTF Capital will be merged into Borderless’s Multi-Strategy Fund V LP., launched last year with $100 million under management today.
“Borderless already has significant exposure through several portfolio companies from this geography [Latin America].
Crafting the perfect venture capital pitch is so simple that there’s an industry of consultants to help founders get their decks in order.
TechCrunch has a long-running series of Pitch Deck Teardowns to help founders, and you can find an infinite number of Twitter threads on the subject.
Enter Wing Venture Capital’s Sara Choi, who will give a talk at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 this April and take audience questions on how to pitch.
After all, when venture capital is harder to raise than it has been in years, nailing the pitch is critical for today’s early-stage founders.
Early Stage 2024 is just around the corner, so book your pass here before March 29 and save $200.
