Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced take on this week’s startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and co-host of Equity Natasha Mascarenhas. To receive this in your inbox, subscribe here.
One of the quieter conversations in venture capital has only gotten louder, in my DMs and interviews, in recent months: Known bias in venture capital has been a branding issue for some of the various VC managers. emerging funds that are now making a splash in the market. scene.
They all have a story, but they all sound a bit similar: a female VC is launching a fund, and is compared to any other female VC with a fund, is expected to only invest in female founders or have a diversity, equity angle and inclusion. as the main thesis. The otherness that happens, from an increasingly homogeneous group of LPs or even founders who see female VCs as monolithic, has led some female VCs to rebrand their companies entirely so that they are seen beyond their gender.
Read my full take on this topic with Rebecca Szkutak at TC+: “For Women VCs, Bias Is a Brand Issue.”
In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about Upfront Summit 2023 and a surprising Better Deal. As always, you can follow me on Twitter either instagram to continue the conversation.
VC confab brings surprises and AI
All your favorite venture journalists were busy this week at Upfront Summit 2023, an invitation-only two-day event that brings together industry insiders and celebrities to discuss the future of capital. I interviewed the past and present guard at Kapor Capital. I shook hands with Jamie Lee Curtis and stole interview tips from Kara Swisher. And Al Gore tried to recruit the entire audience to take the fight against climate change more seriously.
Overall, the conference basically fueled my story plans for the next month, so stay tuned for lots of follow-up angles. And some firsts too. I’ll start with a summary of the AI conversations across the stage.
Here’s why it’s important: If you ask me, AI was the ubiquitous celebrity on Upfront. Not surprisingly: promoted technologies often garner inordinate interest. But the mood is different than it was in 2021 when investors were dumping billions of dollars into 15-minute grocery delivery companies and web3. Risk dry powder is locked in, deals are closing more slowly and some investors are still licking their wounds from the recession so far.
Image Credits: clark studio
monitoring
My colleagues took the microphone this week at Equity to discuss the latest and greatest headlines. The whole show was a hoot. Unexpectedly, for everyone, it was the return of Better.com. News broke earlier this week that Amazon is allowing employees to use their shares to finance the purchase of homes and even second homes.
Here’s why it’s important: It’s a creative partnership, but also an amazing one. Better has been an Amazon Web Services customer since 2015 and its loan origination system is fully powered by the software, according to a statement. Still, Better has been through his fair share of struggles that have put his future in doubt. Should we review all the files?
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
Etcetera etcetera.
Spotted on TechCrunch
Salesforce strikes back
Everything Elon Musk and the Execs Shared (and Left Out) at Tesla Investor Day
Chamath Palihapitiya: It could take three years for the market to re-price late-stage costs “accurately”
OpenAI launches an API for ChatGPT, plus dedicated capacity for enterprise customers
Players are fixing a video game ‘taken’ by hackers
Spotted on TechCrunch+
Maybe Substack can grow well without risk dollars
Launchpad teardown: Gable’s $12 million Series A deck
Does web3 need a business bailout now that AI has all the hype?
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