David S. Rose

Silicon Valley built venture capital. But New York's new guard is reinventing it. Just reviewed TechCrunch's Top New York VCs Under 30 List. The paradigm is shifting from the traditional Sand Hill Road model to something more diverse and dynamic, marked by: +Founders-turned-investors have hands-on startup experience +A deeper focus on overlooked markets and underserved founders +Cross-pollination between tech and NYC's legacy industries +An emphasis on sustainable growth over growth-at-all-costs As this generation steps into decision-making roles, they’re bringing a fresh take on community-driven investing, alternative funding structures, and an emphasis on long-term value creation. Congratulations to all the honorees. Young talent is reshaping VC but remember – great investors come at every age. (Fun fact: the average GP is 43!) Want to meet the next wave of NYC's venture talent? Follow along as TechCrunch updates their Under 30 list: https://bit.ly/4hiw4ef Thoughts on the approach of younger VCs? Would love to hear your perspective. #VentureCapital #StartupNYC #Innovation #TechNews" Data Sources: TechCrunch and SaaStr PS 🔔 Unlock a better way to raise capital with: 💸https://fundingstack.com/ for VCs and investors

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💰Contour Venture Partners Raises $42M for Fifth Fund 💼 Introduction: Contour Venture Partners, a New York-based seed investor known for early investments in companies like Datadog and Movable Ink, has raised $42 million for its fifth fund. The firm is targeting $90 million for this flagship fund and has been actively fundraising since May 2023. 💡Key Points: - **Fundraising Progress**: The firm closed on $42 million from 64 backers, aiming for a total of $90 million. It had previously raised $20 million as part of a parallel fund. - **Market Context**: Fundraising has been challenging for venture funds recently, with overall venture fundraising down more than 50% last year compared to 2022’s record-breaking numbers. 📝Investment Strategy: - **Check Sizes and Focus**: Contour writes checks between $500,000 and $1.5 million, primarily leading rounds in seed and early-stage companies. It focuses on sectors like SaaS, digital media, and financial services, with a preference for companies based in New York or the Northeast. - **Track Record**: Despite not having a massive war chest, Contour has a strong investment track record. Notable successes include:  - Datadog: Early investment in 2011, which IPO'd in 2019 with a $7.8 billion valuation.  - OnDeck: Invested in 2006, went public in 2014 with a $1.3 billion valuation.  -Pendo: Active portfolio company, raised over $460 million, valued at $2.6 billion.  - Movable Ink: Content personalization startup, raised nearly $100 million, valued at $1.3 billion. 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦Firm Background: - **Founders and Leadership**: Contour was founded in 2005 by Matt G. and Bob Greene, who continue to lead the firm. - **Capital Raised**: Over its nearly 20-year history, the firm has raised more than $370 million across four flagship funds and three opportunity funds. 🕯Conclusion: Contour Venture Partners continues to make significant strides with its fifth fund, demonstrating resilience and strategic prowess in a challenging fundraising environment reported TechCrunch. ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #VCfund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments (Series A/Series B)?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #VentureCapital #ContourVenturePartners #StartupFunding #Datadog #MovableInk #InvestmentStrategy #SeedFunding #TechInvesting

👀 Ethereum’s future could hinge on Blobspace. 🫧 David Grider explains why the upgrade limits fees today, but could drive ETH to new highs once demand spikes. 🚀 Full clip here 🎧

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The bitcoin stack is built on layers of simple modular markets that enable more complex applications. I walked through the bitcoin stack with Dhruv Bansal, Ryan Gentry and Allen Farrington. Great episode to learn about bitcoin's incentive systems. https://lnkd.in/gt4Cn9KA

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On final update before Wednesday's big event to kick off #CryptoForHarris. We have over 1,000 registered attendees representing some of the most important builders/founders, investors, and policymakers in the Web3 space. Here's just a short overview of some of the speakers for tomorrow. We'll be making some final big announcements in the morning as we welcome some of the highest ranking members of the U.S. government to the call. We have an amazing opportunity to reset Crypto Policy for all and make Web3 a post partisan issue. We're just getting started! SPEAKERS: (rep) Yadira Caraveo (rep) Wiley Nickel (rep) Don Davis (rep) Darren Soto (rep) Gabe Amo (rep) Adam Schiff (rep) Josh Harder (rep) Ritchie Torres (industry) Tonya Evans (industry) Carmelle Cadet / EMTECH (industry) Chrissa McFarlane. McFarlane / Patientory (industry) 🔮Adilah H. Holivay / Blockchain Brokerage LLC (industry) Sheila Warren (industry) Chris Kelly (industry) Justin Slaughter (industry) Anthony Scaramucci (industry) Mark Cuban (candidate) George Whitesides (candidate) Shomari Figures (candidate) Sam Liccardo

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Private equity typically hires an investment banking firm to run an auction to obtain the highest price when selling a portfolio company. But historically, the market for trading small companies (e.g., < $3M of EBITDA) has been fragmented and inefficient and that's one reason why valuation multiples at the subscale end of the market are relatively low. Start-ups like acquire.com and Axial leverage technology to create greater efficiency, and it's inevitable that AI technology can further help "match" potential buyers and sellers and drive better outcomes for both. https://lnkd.in/g_JqdAUp

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Interesting post by Howard (Lee) Mosbacker IV, PhD on changing VC thinking in non Silicon Valley ecosystems. And yes, things have got to change. Howard argues that we need an active secondary market for VC positions at Series A rather than wait for those companies to become Decacorns. I completely agree... to an extent. Those secondary markets already exist, however. They are called stock markets. Hear me out. The VC world is so obsessed with Decacorn NASDAQ listings, that they've forgotten what built our industry. CISCO, Nvidia, AMD, Adobe, Amazon, Intel, all IPOd at sub $500m valuations. Companies are now being advised to wait until they have $500 Million in ARR before listing. This is madness. To be fair, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules and our litigious culture make a US IPO at a sub $1B valuation extremely difficult. Costs in the US are too high. Other global stock markets don't have that problem. For instance, on the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) AIM market companies regularly IPO doing $10-20m in ARR growing 30% a year. IPO costs are 30% vs US costs, the US has more class action shareholder lawsuits in a year than the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) has had in a decade. IN 2021, the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) had ~160 IPOs with an _average_ valuation of $100million. There's similar great small cap programs at the ASX, TSX Group and Euronext. The problem isn't the lack of a secondary market. The problem is that US VC's and board members don't look beyond the US to IPO. Maybe we should think outside of the box on this a little. BTW, I buy post Series B secondaries at Practical Venture Capital, and project manage small cap IPOs as a side hustle. You know... BYOL ( Bring Your Own Liquidity ) What would your fund's returns look like if you could get liquid at Series B?

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My 99-second pitch to the #Bitcoin community https://lnkd.in/g6h9R7YC If Ans(Y), 👉 https://lnkd.in/g7cZZ6Zq Over the last 2 years, the narrative has shifted and more people are coming to realize that Bitcoin could actually be net-positive for the environment. This next chapter is not only about defending Bitcoin from gaslighting, but also advancing our influence into new territories, specifically the territory of ESG investment committees who are gatekeepers to the Investment Committees deciding on where to allocate $35Trillion in AUM. These people are somewhat like me: environmentally conscious investors. They just don't know that Bitcoin can help them yet. Before meeting with them, there is much work to be done. These people are sophisticated thinkers. While the KPMG report on Bitcoin and ESG was great for the mainstream, it has not budged those with a deep knowledge of ESG, many of whom have, rightly or wrongly, already dismissed this report. Deeper research however will sway them. So will inspiring stories, such as the Gridless story (which most have never heard about). Companies like Gridless are incredible. What they have lacked is a megaphone to amplify their story to the audience that will drive institutional ESG fund adoption.

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How do macro factors drive crypto markets? From Gemini, a report covers the framework and metrics to consider this relationship

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Stripe has made a monumental move in the Crypto industry with its acquisition of Stablecoin Fintech Bridge, marking its largest acquisition to date at $1.1B. Notably, this acquisition is also the Crypto industry's largest ever, signifying a significant shift in the market. What's more astonishing is that this news comes just a month after Stripe reinstated Crypto Payments following a 6-year hiatus. With $3.2T of Stablecoins moving monthly, Stripe is strategically positioning itself to capitalize on this growing sector. https://lnkd.in/erfv5FJC #Stripe #Crypto #Acquisition #StablecoinFintechBridge

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A good case of glass half full or half empty. The $2tn investment is way short of what is needed to be net zero in coming decades. But, some of the categories like battery storage capacity or solar generation have been growing 100% or more annually for the last 10 year or so. Interesting short read. #Cleanteach #Climatecrisis #Energytransition https://lnkd.in/dAy9P3Jn

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AMPLE update : Juniper Ventures Signs up to AMPLE Marketplace AMPLE : B2B Marketplace for Fresh Food. Impact Investment. See https://buff.ly/3W32D7p Steve Thomas - CEO/Co-Founder of AMPLE provides an update on a most recent business partnership: "...Juniper Ventures, which supplies over 23,000 meals daily to students in the London Borough of Newham, has become a keen buyer on the Ample Marketplace. Incorporated in April 2018 from the council’s catering and cleaning service, Juniper aims to operate with the social aspects of the local authority but with the business acumen and autonomy of the limited company that it is. Michael Hales, chief executive of Juniper Ventures and vice-chair-elect of LACA, said: “It is shocking that in the UK we waste 13m tonnes of food every year. As a hospitality business we are determined to do all we are able to help reduce this figure....".   Read the full update. https://buff.ly/3WnGEar REMINDER Ample Marketplace is a new B2B channel for unsold fresh food integrating e-commerce, logistics, and digital marketing. Ample is the UK’s first smart marketplace for wholesale food (with expansion plans for the US, EMEA and APAC). Ample creates value by shortening the supply chain, giving more control to sellers and value for buyers.  AMPLE is a portfolio company of XSS Capital. Join us on this investment journey? DM me for more info. #e-commerce #logistics #Impact Investing

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