Pitch, the company behind a collaborative presentation software for businesses, is scaling back and bootstrapping, with CEO and co-founder Christian Reber stepping down and two-thirds of its employees losing their jobs.
This translates roughly to 80 personnel, based on the 120 headcount figure Pitch has published on its about page.
As with just about every other VC-backed startup, Pitch has clearly faced challenging times in terms of maintaining growth and keeping their investors happy.
“Despite having more than 4 years of runway, we know that a sustainable path has a much higher chance of success than the path we were on,” Reber added.
“Going forward, we’ll be a significantly smaller team focused on creating maximum value for our customers and driving sustainable growth.”
New fundsWe started the year with news of a couple new venture funds that will be writing checks into fintech startups.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Ruth at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 and was impressed with her knowledge and insights around venture capital.
Back in October, I reported on this after speaking with Synapse, which operates a platform enabling banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services, and Evolve.
— Mary AnnMeanwhile, Mary Ann looked back at the biggest fintech hits and misses of 2023.
Among the fintech companies were Braid, Daylight and ZestMoney.
Down under, only 3% of venture capital funding went to all-women-founded teams, and 10% went to teams with at least one woman founder.
In 2021 and 2020, 21% and 25%, respectively, of VC funding in Australia went to startups with at least one woman founder.
A report commissioned by consulting firm the Creative Co-Operative found that in 2021, despite a record increase in VC funding in Australia — about $10 billion — just 0.03% went to Bla(c)k women and women of color founders.
The VC aims to raise another $100 million for its Fund 2 in the spring of 2024.
Beyond just giving women money, Warren and F5 want to create generational change for a billion women across India, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Sophie is passionate about transcending borders, expanding opportunity, and connecting the world by practicing compassionate, visionary, and expert immigration law.
TechCrunch+ members receive access to weekly “Ask Sophie” columns; use promo code ALCORN to purchase a one- or two-year subscription for 50% off.
Yes, the International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP) program remains available, but the time it takes for the U.S.
“The [IEP] program requires private venture capital firms to justify their track record and that they’ve made good investments,” says Newbold.
Let me describe how the IEP program works and dive into how to qualify for IEP and offer alternatives.
Terran Orbital may be close to receiving a major payment from its biggest customer, CEO Marc Bell announced internally at a company-wide meeting earlier this month.
While Terran is pursuing other lucrative contracts that could comprise billions in work, its $2.4 billion contract with Rivada is by far the largest it has secured so far.
Earlier this quarter, Terran had to adjust its full-year financial outlook after Rivada delayed paying an incremental $180 million toward that total contract award.
“I had dinner with [Rivada CEO] Declan Ganley last week in DC,” Bell told staff during the meeting, a recording of which was obtained by TechCrunch.
As of November, Terran reported a backlog of future work of $2.6 billion, of which $2.4 billion is from the Rivada contract.
The idea “originated out of his hatred for California’s proposed high-speed rail system,” according to his biographer Ashlee Vance.
And the news of its demise broke less than two weeks after the Biden administration announced $6 billion in funding for high-speed rail projects across California.
It’s a big win for public transit advocates, many of whom have spent decades stumping for not just high-speed rail, but better rail service overall.
Thankfully this country was already building momentum back up for investing in its rail system, with a focus on faster trains.
Brightline is also building what it calls “the nation’s first true high-speed rail network” between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
In the face of recent economic downturns and fears of a startup bubble-burst, it may be surprising to hear that startups are faring better than you might think.
I’ve been talking to a bunch of founders who are struggling to raise funding — and that is a real problem — but there are some startups that focus on the business fundamentals that are still thriving.
Looking at the numbers, this presents as an uptick in median runway length, a decrease in operating expenses, and an encouraging rise in profitable revenue.
This is founders focusing on being more efficient,” Healy Jones, VP of financial strategy at Kruze Consulting, told me.
It now stands at an impressive 12.5 months, significantly higher than the nine to 10 months usually expected after an average funding round.
He said there are around 350 shows published weekly, with only around “a handful” of creators making multiple shows, meaning it has around 350 creators using the platform today.
The Danish Export and Investment Fund (EIFO) is leading the round, with HighlandX and Augustinus Fabrikker also participating.
Strunge said that prior to this round, the company had raised just over €200 million.
Podimo’s funding and traction are coming at a tricky time for the podcasting industry.
The plan will be to take this model further, Strunge said, with a focus on ever-more “hyper local” content.
Crypto valuations ‘came back to earth’ in 2023, but VCs expect them to rise again in 2024The past couple of years have proved to be a turbulent time for the crypto industry.
But a recent spike of interest in crypto, driven by rising Bitcoin and Ethereum prices, is rebuilding momentum, and many think that next year could be promising for crypto startups’ valuations.
Fundraising was difficult for both startups and venture capitalists in 2023, according to Lydia Chiu, VP of business development at Ava Labs.
In 2022, the crypto venture capital deck “saw a complete reshuffling,” with “many tourist VCs in retreat and their weaker portfolio investments bleeding out,” he added.
“Anyone should’ve expected venture funding to dry up in 2023, and it did,” said Will Nuelle, general partner at Galaxy Ventures.
ShareChat is in final stages of deliberations to secure about $50 million in new funding that trims the startup’s valuation to below $1.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The terms of the talks, which are still ongoing so they may slightly change, currently value ShareChat below $1.5 billion, the sources said, a steep drop from the $4.9 billion valuation at which ShareChat raised funding early last year.
(In late 2020 and early 2021, X explored buying ShareChat in a $2 billion deal, TechCrunch exclusively reported earlier.)
Prosus recently marked down the valuation of Byju’s to below $3 billion, down from $22 billion in early 2022.
Byju’s has raised more than $5 billion in equity and via debt over the years.
