Olivia Moore

As startups face higher interest rates and fundraising hurdles, venture debt remains a flexible, non-dilutive option for maintaining growth momentum. PitchBook’s Q3 2024 Venture Monitor shows that venture debt continues to play a vital role for startups navigating today’s challenging market conditions. Deal activity in venture debt is on track for a stronger performance this year, with total deal value reaching $34.7 billion so far. Late-stage and venture-growth companies account for nearly 75% of all debt raised, but we continue to see a need for the strategic use of debt by capital-intensive ventures at all stages. Download the full report from PitchBook here: https://lnkd.in/g-bEHTqC

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Want a front-row seat to the frontier of tech? We’ve got the role (or two) for you! We’re expanding our frontier-tech team at Blackbird by hiring a Frontier Tech Investments Associate and Foundry Fellows! Got questions? We've got answers... 1️⃣ What are the roles? 🧪 Associate = a full-time VC investment gig in our Blackbird Investments team, working directly with me. We’re looking for someone with a science and/or engineering background and more curiosity than they can handle. You’ll grow your own investment brand and practice, support our portfolio founders, and will help build Foundry, our early-stage frontier-tech accelerator. ✨ Foundry Fellow = a casual/contract gig in our Blackbird Investments team, ~15h per week for 3 months. The Fellowship is ideal for PhD students and ECRs who want to learn more about startups and VC. You’ll go deep on emerging areas relevant to your expertise (or curiosity!), get a front-row seat to groundbreaking companies in those areas, build out your non-academic network, and develop a solid writing practice. 2️⃣ Why are you hiring? We love frontier tech, and we’re ready to grow our team. 3️⃣ Wow, it’s so great that you’re starting to look at deep tech! Look, we get it: we don’t make a lot of noise about our frontier tech investing. Buuuut we’ve been deep-tech investors since we backed Tim Kentley-Klay to found Zoox back in 2014—we’ve been on incredible journeys with PsiQuantum (building the world's first utility-scale quantum computer right here in Australia!), Inventia Life Science (transforming drug discovery with high-fidelity cell models), Remedy Robotics (surgical robots for remote endovascular procedures), Opto Biosystems (minimally-invasive neural implants to treat cancer), and more. We believe that frontier technologies, and great frontier-tech investing, will be part of the solutions to the greatest problems humanity faces today. 4️⃣ When do applications close? May 31st at 11:59pm AEST. 5️⃣ I have more questions! I’m sure you do! Clare Birch and I are hosting an AMA to answer any and all questions about these roles. Want to know what a week in the life of our team looks like? What’s keeping us up at night? What our ideal candidate looks like? Come along and find out - registration link in the comments 👇 Apply for these roles: Associate - https://lnkd.in/gCfj4EUJ Foundry Fellowships - https://lnkd.in/gj6ATZVZ If you know anyone that we should meet, send me their details! Cameron Elise Ben Andrew Robin Joseph Adelaide James Olivia Lucinda Raghav Jesse Christie Mohamed Tom Amee Pablo Haya Loong Hon Joshua Benjamin Megan Harry Denzil Matthew Diana Daniel Tom Deanna Justin Amar Lilly Stone Thomas

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📝 Fundraising Playbook for 2024: The fundraising landscape has shifted. Here's what's working now: Key metrics investors are scrutinizing: Burn multiple (revenue growth/cash burn) Gross margins Customer acquisition costs Net dollar retention Growth must be strong (but that is assumed if you are raising from venture capital) Preparation essentials: Have 18-24 months runway before starting the process Build relationships early - start warm intros 3 months before raising Know your unit economics cold Understand how you differentiate from competitors What fundraising trends are you seeing? #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship

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How should founders mitigate 2024's economic headwinds? "Behave like you're owned by PE" shares Jonathan Heiliger, General Partner Vertex Ventures US. As the macro-environment gets tougher, founders have to shift their operating mindsets to that of proving value and watching each operating move. #venturecapital #founders #entrepreneurship

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Seed VCs are turning to new ‘pro rata’ funds that help them compete with the big firms Alpha Partners, SignalRank and now SaaS Ventures help seed VCs pay for shares when big VCs try to price — or push — them out Lee Edwards, partner at Root VC, has a saying at his firm that “pro rata rights are earned, not given.” That may be a bit of a stretch since pro rata refers to a term that VCs put in their term sheets that gives them the right to buy more shares in a portfolio company during consequent funding rounds to maintain an ownership percentage and avoid dilution. Still, while these rights are not exactly “earned,” they can be expensive. One of the latest trends in VC investing these days are funds dedicated to helping seed VCs exercise their pro rata rights. https://lnkd.in/dRM3RvdA By Christine Hall

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As a VC firm grows, so does the size of their investment team. But while that relationship is often linear, how do other key teams within VC firms scale during growth periods? True Search Partners Daniel Miller, Stina Ladd and Pamela Golding share their findings in “Scaling VC firms: Insights into Investors & Operations.” https://lnkd.in/edNEdsFR #VC #InvestmentManagement #Operations #Investors

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A new era of deep tech has emerged. First time funds will raise “unheard of” amounts of capital to fuel next gen deep tech startups - producing outsized, superior returns for LP’s compared to the rest. Prudent investors will act on this data and shift investment strategy as LP’s or risk being left behind savvy wealth managers and CIO’s / FO’s who saw this trend begin 4 years ago.

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🚀 Check out this week's venture capital investment summary (15 featured companies!) spanning early & growth-stage US based Environmental Technology & Enterprise Software startups! 🎯 Every Monday, the team here at Bearhug Recruiting aggregates, researches, and publishes a recap of the prior week's fundraising activity within the early and growth-stage Environmental Technology & Enterprise Software startup ecosystem. 🌎 This research not only allows us to keep our finger on the pulse of the type of startups we serve, but also benefits others who, like us, enjoy analyzing the latest trends that signal investor confidence AND startup growth within what we believe are the most exciting and impactful market segments. ❤️ We also hope the people and companies we feature enjoy both a virtual fist bump from the team at Bearhug, plus benefit from some additional free market exposure to amplify their mission. Click the link below to get caught up, and make sure you reach out to any that are interesting/relevant that you might be able to help! 💥 Link: https://lnkd.in/ejHWSUVD 👈 #subeca #ketos #xgsenergy #280earth #witnessai #simr #coactive #infinitform #aerominetechnologies #aerodome #patronusai #verse #socradar #thinklabsai #tractionag #environmentaltechnology #enterprisesoftware #startupfunding #startup #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #startups #funding #startupnews #venturecapital #technology #vc #investing #entrepreneurs

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In our newest blog post, Nine Four Ventures General Partner Kurt Ramirez shares some of his thoughts on the current environment of startup shutdowns and valuation resets, and if these are natural consequences of an earlier period of frothy investment and easy money. Some key points are around how:  ·        Startup failures are common and expected, especially after a period of high funding.  ·        The recent increase in shutdowns should be viewed relative to the outsized number of startups funded in the boom years of 2020 and 2021 and reaching their make-or-break moment now.  ·        Some of these startups may have been funded based on unrealistic expectations of future growth, leading to valuation drops. Read the full post on our site, Substack, or by clicking below to learn more. Please reach out with any questions or comments on trends, companies, or anything else. https://lnkd.in/dZm6vfis Cc Jeffrey Elowe, Kurt Ramirez, Paul La Londe, Sophia Ghadamian Kier, Avi Pradhan #VentureCapital #Startup #Valuation #Tech

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In the world of startups, a fascinating trend is emerging from Y Combinator (YC) cohorts: smaller rounds with higher valuations. Loren Straub of Bowery Capital noticed this shift while engaging with recent YC grads. These startups seek modest investments but aim for hefty post-money valuations, typically around $15 million. This departure from the norm reflects a nuanced understanding of market conditions. YC's stamp of approval holds weight, but founders are recalibrating their strategies. While some outliers like Leya and Yoneda Labs reel in substantial funding, many tread a leaner path, testing the waters with angel investors. Yet, this shift isn't without its complexities. This evolving narrative underscores the dynamic interplay between startup culture and investor sentiment. As the startup ecosystem continues to adapt, one thing remains clear: YC's influence reverberates far beyond Silicon Valley, shaping the contours of innovation. To delve deeper into this captivating narrative, check out the original article on TechCrunch.com 🚀 #StartupInsights #VCtrends #Cre8tiveCapital https://lnkd.in/g5aSS9gX

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🔋 #TodayinVC - All of the biggest deal announcements in venture capital - July 17th, 2024. Sourced from Litquidity's Exec Sum. 💰 Fundraising Announcements: - Botrista, Inc., a data-driven automated beverage platform, raised a $120M Series C led by JFC (PRN) - OCN (onecarnow.com), a fintech providing financial services for gig workers, raised an $86M round led by Caravela Capital, Collide Capital, and Great North Ventures (PRN) - Healthcare AI startup Huma raised an $80M Series D from AstraZeneca, Hitachi Ventures, and more (EU) - DreamBig Semiconductor Inc., a chiplet platform for AI inference and training, raised a $75M Series B led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and the Sutardja Family (PRN) - Energy transition transaction infrastructure provider LevelTen Energy raised a $65M Series D led by B Capital (FN) - DataCore, an edge data management platform, raised $60M in funding led by Vistara Growth (BW) - Data management startup One Data raised a $36.7M Series B extension led by Vsquared Ventures, Molten Ventures, and HV Capital (EU) - Infinitum, a creator of sustainable air-core motors, extended its Series E with $35M from Marunouchi Innovation Partners and Rice Investment Group (BW) - Vectara, a GenAI product platform, raised a $25M Series A led by FPV Ventures and Race Capital (BW) - Heimdall Power, a startup enabling power grid optimization for utilities, raised a $25M Series B led by Orlen and NRP Zero AS (BW) - Geo-distributed cloud storage startup Cubbit raised a $12.5M round led by LocalGlobe and ETF Partners (EU) - Indian ridesharing startup Namma Yatri raised an $11M pre-Series A led by Blume Ventures and Antler (TC) - Mira, a decentralized infrastructure platform for AI, raised a $9M seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures and Framework Ventures (PRN)  - itselectric, an EV curbside charging startup, raised a $6.5M seed round led by Failup Ventures and Uber (PRN) Congrats to all - what #startups do you have your eyes on? 👀 Follow @Today in VC for daily #venturecapital news! 📆

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🌱 Seed & Pre-Seed Venture Benchmarks: Navigating SAFE and Priced Rounds 👉  Startups often navigate through different types of fundraising rounds—SAFE and Priced. The mix can lead to confusion in terms of valuation, dilution, and capital raised. Recent data from Carta highlights some clear differences between these rounds, and here’s what you need to know. ✅ Key Takeaways: 👉 Gap in Valuation: SAFE rounds at Seed stage reach a median valuation of $18M, while Priced Seed rounds come in at $13.7M. Why the gap? SAFE rounds often offer faster, simpler deals but can sometimes lead to a higher cap, potentially setting higher valuation expectations for future rounds. 👉 Dilution Differences: Dilution ranges vary significantly, with SAFE Seed rounds ranging from 17%-20% compared to 20.7% for Priced Seed rounds. Lower dilution in SAFE rounds may attract founders looking to retain control, but it’s essential to balance this against potential investor expectations down the line. 👉 Post-Seed Bridge Round Gaps: At the bridge round, the SAFE vs. Priced valuation gap is even wider, with SAFE Bridge rounds at $21M vs. Priced at $17M. Actionable Insights for Founders & Investors: 📣  For Founders: Consider your long-term strategy. SAFE rounds can help you raise quickly without setting a fixed valuation, but Priced rounds might offer more predictability as you move forward. 📣  For Investors: Be mindful of these valuation gaps. Higher SAFE valuations can affect future funding dynamics, especially when transitioning into Priced rounds. 💡  Conclusion: Understanding these nuances can guide better decision-making and align growth expectations. For more startup data and insights, explore . @Carta’s resources. 📊 -------------- ✅ 👉 Fundraising? Try KAARIA 🚀 Industry-leading valuation methodologies. 🚀 Reliable market data with PitchBook 🚀 Simple & transparent startup valuation 🚀 Accessible for founders and investors 🚀 Free Trial available here: https://lnkd.in/gvwD7SrF #valuations #startups #fundraising #founders #Startup #innovation #entrepreneurship #kaaria #sustainability #kaariastartupvaluation #investing #networking #venturecapital #kaariagetfunded #exits #valuations #startups #fundraising #founders #Startup #innovation #entrepreneurship #kaaria #sustainability #kaariastartupvaluation #investing #networking #venturecapital #kaariagetfunded #exits #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #SAFEvsPricedRounds #Valuation #Dilution #Startups ---------- Thanks Credit & Kudos to Peter Walker over at Carta

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What are the 3 biggest RevOps risks founders should avoid? 🚨 Robert Soffel, Notion Capital's RevOps Expert in Residence answers these questions and more in our RevOps Foundations series → Download the full resource pack here: https://lnkd.in/eiS7a5ma P.S What really drives Rob nuts? He shares that along with his mic drop moment at the end of the video 🎤 #RevOpsRob Stephen Millard Sebuh Mesfin Andreas Panayiotou #Revenue #GTM #Expert #NotionCapital #RevOps

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One of my proudest moments as an investor occurred today as Alaffia Health announced its series A because it shows how the Aperture® Venture Capital vision of multi-level, multi-generational #impactinvesting is succeeding in the marketplace. Here’s the model in its most basic form : ✅As diverse fund managers with meaningful capital to allocate, we are changing the VC landscape every day just by doing our day jobs. ✅As Black/Brown investors with ~40 years experience collectively, Aperture GPs have access to talent /excellence that others do not, so our portfolio *organically* is more inclusive by race, gender and geography even while optimizing for financial outcomes (all about the alpha). ✅Our most successful portco’s are using financial #innovation to solve market problems that impact underrepresented demographics and underserved communities. Alaffia Health is a shining example of the impact portion of our overall fund thesis, and we couldn’t be prouder of TJ Ademiluyi and Adun Akanni, MPH, PMP - the dynamic brother-sister founder duo whose vision we have steadfastly supported on their journey. Congratulations to TJ and Adun from William Crowder and myself, as well as the whole Aperture team- Marjorie King Philip McKenzie Yves Louis-Jacques Tanvi Lal Michelle Dhansinghani Lisha Bell Katie Kelly Amy Chung Cindy Chong, CFA Brian Fernandes-Halloran Monroe France Jayden Pantel Darren Herman Evan Wladis Neal Triplett Thomas Scriven Peter Ammon Irina Bit-Babik Tim Milanich Rob Rahbari

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Super helpful #Startup #Equity Calculator to determine the equity for early hires, thanks to Pear VC head of talent Matt Birnbaum! Thanks for sharing Pejman! 🙏🏼 You can read more here How to structure startup equity for early hires: https://lnkd.in/ggmpT5-Y Google Doc: https://lnkd.in/gjsvths6

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