John Taniskidis

The Information broke news that Insight Partners has just secured $10B in funding for their latest flagship fund. This is perfectly timed given their multiple $1B+ companies sold over the past week. This is a clear sight that #limitedpartners still have in their #privateallocations even during the current slow markets for #IPOs and #M&A. This would also appear to be good news for #AIfinancing and #SaaSFinancing. What do you think? #Management #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #CapitalMarkets https://lnkd.in/gXu_s8Qj

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Wonderful article about Emily Knight and the whole The Engine Accelerator team on the amazing work their doing changing the world with #ToughTech!

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I'm excited to share my thoughts about closing our latest fund at Companyon Ventures. Raising a VC fund as an emerging manager is tough enough without the added challenge of rising interest rates and inflation, punctuated by the 2023 banking crisis unfolding during our fundraising cycle. After countless meetings and hearing "no" more times than we'd like to remember, we're grateful for the support and introductions from our LPs and fellow VCs like Bob Mason. We surpassed our minimum target, raising $41M with an additional ~$20M from our LPs available for SPVs in our companies, bringing our AUM close to $100M. While small in today's VC world, we're very proud of how we've deployed that capital. My partners Firas Raouf, David McFarlane, and Ronny Chatterjee did much of the heavy lifting with the fundraising, but our entire team significantly contributed to the effort. Here are a few highlights and thank-yous we’re excited to share: 🙏 First, a huge thanks to the founders who accepted our investment during our fundraising process. Your powerful visions and amazing execution proved to our existing and prospective LPs that we can identify and attract some of the best founders in the industry. Thanks Stephen Gendron, Doug Neumann, Hersh Tapadia, Avante Price, Eli Taylor-Lemire, Zaid Rahman, Daniel Pelaez, and Ali Ansari! 🌟 With a larger fund than our 2020 fund, our focus and thesis have not changed. We believe we are the top firm to lead late seed, post-seed, and early Series A rounds when companies are navigating the tricky transition from a founder-led startup to the first stages of a scalable enterprise. 💰 We launched a new Capital Markets function in this fund built by my colleague Ronny Chatterjee. This has been massively impactful for our portfolio CEOs. Ronny has showcased our portfolio to more than 200 Series A, B, Growth, and PE funds, and dozens of debt providers with great success. His job is to find the right follow-on capital for our portfolio companies while saving our CEOs countless hours of blindly prospecting for dollars. 🛠 We still average ~4 new investments each year from the thousands of companies we encounter. It’s tough to pass on many of them, but our approach of offering deeply embedded GTM talent and playbooks requires a concentrated portfolio approach so we can provide the attention and bandwidth that our founders expect. 📈 We’re proud that about half of our existing portfolio from this fund and our prior fund (2020) have either already crossed the critical $10M ARR threshold or will likely do so within the next year. We're confident that many more will follow shortly after. Most were at or below $2M ARR when we invested. 99% of that operational success can be attributed to those founders, but we like to think that our 1% was well-timed and impactful. Thank you to everyone in our community who has supported us in so many different ways! https://lnkd.in/eFauhT4Q #venturecapital

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Q3 is out and Q4 is in!  This is a great read about Base10's strategic switch showcasing how Carta is simplifying fund administration for emerging managers, which is especially important now rolling into the year-end busy season. 

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To all #founders and #entrepreneurs out there, our intro meetings are conversational and easy going. Feel free to message me to setup a call. Learn what Pioneera Ventures can do for you!

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We're absolutely thrilled to announce a monumental milestone for Flo Health Inc.! After years of dedication to women's health, Flo, a long-standing member of the Target Global family, has secured over $200 million in Series C funding led by General Atlantic.This incredible investment propels Flo's valuation beyond $1 billion, officially making it a unicorn – a rare and remarkable feat in the femtech space. This accomplishment isn't just about numbers. It's a testament to the power of prioritizing women's health. Flo has seen phenomenal growth over eight years, becoming the #1 downloaded app in the Health & Fitness category. Today, Flo empowers nearly 70 million monthly active users (MAUs) and boasts close to 5 million paid subscribers. Notably, 1 in 4 US women trust Flo, solidifying its position as a leader in the global movement for women's health. But this is just the beginning! This investment fuels Flo's mission to revolutionize female healthcare experiences worldwide. By directing resources towards areas of critical yet unmet needs (which, let's be honest, encompasses a vast majority of women's health!), Flo will continue to be a driving force for positive change. Congratulations Dmitry Gurski,Yuri Gurski, and the entire Flo Health Inc. team! More in the Financial Times here ---->https://lnkd.in/dJZdajM4

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💰 Founders, are you wasting time and resources pitching to the wrong investors? 💰 In this podcast excerpt, David Forsberg, CFA from Ascent Energy Ventures shares a crucial piece of advice: Make sure your startup is truly venture-backable before you start seeking funding. 🎯 I've advised hundreds of startups that have raised billions in VC and venture debt funding, and I've seen firsthand the pressures founders face when growing their companies. 🌱 Listen to the full podcast for more game-changing insights. Link in the original Kruze Consulting post. 🎧 #startups #venturecapital #funding #entrepreneurship

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On this week's Andreessen Horowitz Raising Health podcast, Vijay Pande, PhD and I interviewed Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA. Our conversation spans lots of fun topics, including: -- Our love for our Oura rings, despite them being literal “buzz kills” in revealing the ruinous effect of alcohol on sleep  -- How the worlds of consumer and healthcare are merging, as consumers essentially now have access to clinical-grade wearable devices  -- How AI algorithms are deployed in wearable devices & what wearables might look like 20 years from now (implanted into our bodies and clothes)  -- How the sexiest people sleep in earplugs and eye masks Check it out! https://lnkd.in/eTAsX_sY

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Kettleborough VC has been active for ~6 years, invested in ~30 companies, gone through ~80 funding rounds, witnessed ~12 exits including ~4 instances of partial principal erosion, seen ~4 seed to $100M journeys, tracking ~29% XIRR across the portfolio. A couple of IPOs from the portfolio surely seem very much in line ahead.

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Excited to partner with Antonio, James, and the XP Health team. The need for vision care and benefits in the United States is substantial. More than 200M U.S. adults (79%) use a form of vision correction. 2 out of every 3 U.S. adults have some type of vision care coverage, even those with 20/20 vision. Vision benefits are considered table stakes for employers, who are generally not likely to sacrifice this coverage even during economic uncertainty. Yet, it dominated by 2-3 outsized legacy vendors and encumbered with horrible customer experience and exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for consumers. XP Health is revolutionizing the experience of eyecare across eye exams and eyewear shipping, through a digitally native product that significantly enhances customer satisfaction through personalized care and reduces out-of-pocket costs. Read the full TechCrunch article: https://lnkd.in/ggVicTHm QED Investors Amias Frank Shruti Adams Laura Ashley Rachel Nigel

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Series A or B wondering when to bring in a VP of Finance or CFO? It’s a crucial decision that can shape the future of your company. At this stage, financial leadership is not just about managing numbers but also scaling processes, securing funding, and driving strategic growth. My colleague Paul breaks down key signs that it’s time to hire and indicators for choosing between VP of Finance and a CFO #FinanceLeadership #CFO #StartupGrowth #SeriesA #SeriesB #NextGenLeadership

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What's the fast river in alts? Listen to the latest Alt Goes Mainstream podcast with Mercer's Gregg Sommer & CAIS' Neil Blundell to hear how they are helping advisors approach private markets. Gregg, Neil, and I had a fascinating discussion about how the wealth channel can approach alternatives and how they can think about both diligence and customization. We covered: * The case for alternatives. * How advisors currently approach alternatives and how they can think about it differently going forward. * How to think about portfolio construction that includes alternatives. * How alts can help advisors differentiate their practice and attract clients. * Following the fast river in a career and why alternatives are “the fast river.” * The meaning of “structure over strategy.” * The rise in popularity of evergreen funds. Thanks Gregg and Neil for sharing your thoughts and expertise on private markets. Thanks to our sponsor, Ultimus Fund Solutions, for making this episode possible. https://lnkd.in/eBtyw6Fm

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Happy New Year! This week Mikal Ventures brings you a 4-week breakdown of the US capital market with an emphasis on the Mikal verticals. Over the 4-week period ending January 6, just under 490 new companies were added, resulting in 101,793 companies included in the US Health Tech, Med Tech, Fin Tech, AI Tech, and Ed Tech verticals. The slowdown in overall activity in all verticals continues, furthered in part by the end-of-year holiday period. US AI Tech again saw the greatest percentage growth in new companies at 9%, vs. the vertical average of 5% for the period. AI Tech also led the group in transactions. US Fin Tech led in SEC Filings, while US Heath Tech led in news articles. Mikal Ventures publishes these stats on a rolling 4-week basis to provide a perspective on how the verticals and new startups move through time. We hope you find them informative and thought-provoking. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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It has been a crazy news week for M&A and IPO announcements. We haven't seen activity like this since 2021. Hopefully a strong sign of things to come in 2025 with a lot of pent up demand. The FirstPartyCapital team is joined on The FPC Podcast this week by Andrew Buckman, VP Marketing & Investor Relations, Azerion, to discuss latest announcements. Omnicom is buying Interpublic Group (IPG) Interpublic Group (IPG) is buying Intelligence Node Experian is buying Audigent Interpublic Group (IPG), Omnicom and WPP announce a strategic investment into Mediaocean Channel Factory has appointed Canaccord Genuity - Global Capital Markets to explore strategic options Vivendi is spinning out key media assets like Havas and CANAL+ Group which will IPO as standalone companies. We also discussed Azerion's M&A strategy and recent purchase of Goldbach Group AG Tune in and get up to speed! Links below 👇 #adtech #media #martech #data #mergersandacquisitions #IPO

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First Euclid Ventures essay of 2025! We analyze 100 public companies to tackle a big question: what TAM do you need for a venture-scale outcome? Thanks for inspiration from Ed Sim, Danny Rimer, Rick Zullo, Keith Bender, Mike Vernal and Bill Gurley.

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I recently joined Tyler Hogge and Sterling Snow on the IO Podcast to discuss frameworks for growth-stage companies and what sets great companies apart from the rest. Listen to our conversation here: https://lnkd.in/edRyAmbz And linking to the blog posts we get into on the pod for easy reference: 1️⃣ R&D is one of the most critical yet challenging capital to allocate. How to get it right: https://lnkd.in/gQ-bN87N 2️⃣ For growth-stage companies burning cash, these are the essential questions to answer before going public: https://lnkd.in/gdjT-Fy2 3️⃣ AI is revolutionizing computing. More on what we can learn from SaaS market dynamics as we enter this new era: https://lnkd.in/ePjw7SvT

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All VCs are founder friendly – we all collectively understand that without founders, we don’t have a reason to exist. However, being founder friendly means a lot of different things. We at Touring Capital take pride in being the first call when founders need a second pair of eyes as they view us as non-judgmental board members who can problem solve together. We also look out for founders by preserving founder dilution and raising the right amount of capital needed for the business. We don’t force founders to take a specific amount of capital because of our fund size. In fact, capital efficient founders self-select us as we work with them to minimize dilution and preserve optionality. If they want to go all the way and build a massive business with a view to a public market exit, then more power to them. We have backed founders like Eric S. Yuan at Zoom and Johan Brand, FRSA at Kahoot! which were able to go public with significant founder ownership. However, if our founders decide to team up with a larger company earlier in their journey, they still own a large chunk of the company and are rewarded with a lifechanging financial outcome. Founders like Ankur Singla and Tasso Roumeliotis decided to partner with larger companies in their first forays and are now back in the game with their next acts, Exaforce and Numa respectively (and we are lucky to back them the second time around). It’s all about providing optionality for founders, not about our check size. Here's to a true partnership with the next generation of visionary founders at Touring Capital. Samir Kumar Priya Saiprasad Evan Wijaya

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What role do you think public-private partnerships should play in fostering a resilient startup ecosystem? Our latest report spotlights how strategic state-backed VC can leverage significant private investment -> we drove $1.1 BILLION to be exact. I continue to be incredibly bullish on the intersection of public and private capital driving innovation. #venturecapital #kauffmanfellows #innovationecosystem

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Strategic and corporate venture funds are increasingly playing a bigger in role earlier stage startups, particularly for #deeptech companies needing design partners to build and test their beta products. Looking forward to discussing some lessons learned for earlier stage companies seeking strategic investment with my fellow panelists Michael (Mick) Gilbert, Kenzie Weston Mucci, Katerina Fialkovskaya, Adarsh Sowcar, Jianyu (Jerrold) Wang, MBA, Maria G. Manrique and moderator Stephen Brook. Thanks to Peter Walker and the team for organizing the annual New England Venture Summit. Definitely recommend the youngStartup Ventures conferences. #vc #cvc #startups #investment

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