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Bloomstack Pivots, Seems on Track to Survive and Thrive
By Andy Gordon on April 14, 2022
We recommended Bloomstack last June. We liked founder and CEO Eric Delisle’s idea of combining all the systems and platforms cannabis operators use into a single platform. Not only was it a great idea, but it also seemed to be working. Bloomstack was picking up new customers at a nice pace and seemed to be on its way to help make the fast-growing cannabis industry expand even faster. That was then.
Now Is the Best Time to Be a Startup Investor
By Vin Narayanan on April 13, 2022
Andy Gordon and I recommend a startup for our First Stage Investor members to invest in every two weeks (click here to sign up). When Andy and I first started working on startups together in 2018, we couldn’t do…
Angel Insider: SEC Proposes SPAC Rule Changes
By Early Investing on April 12, 2022
SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) soared in popularity last year. In 2021, the market saw a record 613 SPAC ICOs. The popularity of these “blank check companies” is unsurprising. Going public via IPO is a complicated and expensive process.
Startup Insider: What Instacart’s Valuation Trim Means for the Startup Market
By Early Investing on April 11, 2022
Instacart got a haircut. The company sliced its valuation by nearly 40% from $39 billion to $24 billion — despite the fact that it saw 30% year-over-year growth last year. And Instacart is not the only high-tech company trimming its valuation. So what’s going on?…
New Crypto Recommendations and Other Changes to Crypto Asset Strategies
By Vin Narayanan on April 8, 2022
Last month Adam Sharp mentioned I would be taking over as your Crypto Asset Strategies guide. Adam has only been gone a few weeks. And he is sorely missed. But in the life of a crypto investor, the only…
Ethereum Merge Searches Give ETH a Boost
By Vin Narayanan on April 8, 2022
Google searches are an interesting signal in crypto investing. They’re not necessarily predictive. But they do often correlate with price. The correlation between Google searches for bitcoin and the price of bitcoin is fairly well established. The more searches…
New Pick: A Moonshot That’s Charging Into the Autonomous Driving Era
By Andy Gordon on April 7, 2022
Autonomous driving hasn’t quite arrived yet. But it has spawned several startups that are playing a critical role in advancing autonomous driving technology and adoption. The startup Argo builds cloud infrastructure — including maps, software and hardware…
Lessons From a New Startup Investor
By Allison Brickell on April 6, 2022
I’ve been working at investment-related companies since 2015. But I’m still pretty new to the investing world. My background is in communication and journalism, not finance. So for the last seven years or so, I’ve been researching the online startup markets and observing my colleagues’ approach to investing.
Investing With a Potential Recession on the Horizon
By Vin Narayanan on April 5, 2022
I broke my ankle pretty badly a couple of weeks ago. It’s going to take four to six months to heal. I’m wearing a walking boot now. And as far as I’m concerned, the walking boot might be the greatest invention since the printing press. The…
Crypto Insider: Vitalik Buterin Is Concerned About Crypto’s Future
By Early Investing on April 4, 2022
Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, is worried about the future of crypto. In an interview with Time magazine, he said he was concerned about the dangers to overeager investors, high transaction fees and the exorbitant displays of wealth that have come to be synonymous…
Crypto Monitor: Goldman Sachs Makes First OTC Crypto Trade
By Early Investing on April 1, 2022
Last week, Goldman Sachs made crypto history. The bank completed its first over-the-counter crypto trade with crypto firm Galaxy Digital. Goldman executed the transaction in the form of a bitcoin non-deliverable option (NDO). Goldman and Galaxy – which have an ongoing partnership – seem pleased with…
Goldman Sachs Signals Crypto Is Here for the Long Haul
By Vin Narayanan on April 1, 2022
Goldman Sachs has made its first crypto trade. No, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. The trade actually happened last week. It was a bitcoin derivatives trade with Galaxy Digital. And Goldman is interested in participating in a full-fledged options market…
VirZOOM Fights to Find Sustainable Growth
By Andy Gordon on March 31, 2022
It must be possible to feel very good and very bad about a company at the same time. Because that’s how I feel about VirZOOM. To refresh your memory, VirZOOM offers an app that can be used with just the Oculus Quest headset or in conjunction…
Startup Price Inflation Signals Danger for Investors
By Andy Gordon on March 30, 2022
Price inflation in the startup world is running rampant. This isn’t new. But I do wonder when it’s going to peak. We’re not there yet. If anything, it’s getting worse. I’ll give you a recent example. I was talking to a founder yesterday who…
Angel Insider: VCs Are Missing Out on Female Founders
By Early Investing on March 29, 2022
Historically speaking, funding for female founders has been pretty paltry in the venture capital (VC) world. From 2011 to 2020, the amount of VC money going to female-only-founded startups never went above $4 billion. In 2020 — despite U.S. startups raising a record $143 billion — funding to…
Startup Insider: Data Takes Over
By Early Investing on March 28, 2022
In 2011, Marc Andreessen — co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — proclaimed that “software is eating the world.” It’s been a mantra of tech investors ever since. But today an even more powerful force is overtaking software: data. Data is a gold mine for…