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Startup Blueprint: TC Disrupt 2024 Builders Stage agenda sneak peek! TechCrunch Disrupt, our flagship startup lawsuit held annually successful San Francisco, is backmost connected October 28-30 — and you tin expect a bustling assemblage of thousands of startup enthusiasts. Exciting news! We’re thrilled to unveil the near-complete docket for the Builders Stage, the culmination of months of hard work. This is conscionable 1 of six stages featured astatine this year’s event, with galore much announcements connected the horizon. P.S. The merchantability of early-bird tickets ends May 31. Book your walk contiguous to prevention up to $800! About the Builders Stage The Builders Stage serves arsenic a hub for dozens of panels and interviews dedicated to the indispensable elements of gathering and financing tech startups. This year, we’re doubling down connected our committedness to providing top-tier programming featuring innovation crossed each stages of a startup’s journey. Expect heavy dives into operations, endowment acquisition, fundraising, and different important topics tailored for the caller question of startup pioneers. Plus, don’t miss sessions specified arsenic “How to Find, and Keep, Product-Market Fit,” “What You Need to Raise a Series A Today,” and “When to Cash Out, When to Keep Fighting.” First look astatine the Builders Stage agenda How the Chainsmokers Bring Value Beyond Their Celebrity Status While a batch of celebrities put successful startups, the Chainsmokers are different. Instead of angel investing, Drew Taggart and Alex Pall launched a ceremonial fund, Mantis Venture Capital; put retired of a ceremonial closed-end fund; and backmost companies successful industries their personage prowess can’t ever assistance in, similar information startups and analytics platforms. In this session, Taggart and Pall volition beryllium joined by Dan Lorenc, the laminitis of Chainguard, to speech astir however they are an plus to their B2B startups. Alex Pall, General Partner, Mantis VC Drew Taggart, General Partner, Mantis VC Dan Lorenc, Co-founder and CEO, Chainguard How to Find, and Keep, Product-Market Fit Every startup knows that they request to find product-market fit. But erstwhile they bash find existent resonance betwixt what they are offering and what determination is request for, however should a startup guarantee that they bash not suffer the product-market acceptable they person gained? Finding PMF is 1 thing; maintaining it is another. Spenser Skates, Co-founder and CEO, Amplitude Tamar Yehoshua, President of Product and Technology, Glean How to Build a Company While Protecting Your Mental Health Everyone knows that it is stressful to physique a company. And it’s conscionable arsenic commonly known that endless chronic enactment tin pb to burnout. So, wherefore don’t we speech much astir laminitis int...

Which are Bristol's most promising startups? I spoke to VCs to find out who they've got their eyes on. --- The UK’s “Golden Triangle” startup hubs — London, Oxford and Cambridge — are the runaway leaders in the country’s tech funding — but Bristol is next up on the roster. Since 2020, its startups have raised over $2bn, according to Sifted data and comparable data from Dealroom. While that’s someway behind the $84.7bn London has raised over the same period, Oxford — the third-best funded ecosystem in the UK — picked up 3.6bn. The southwestern English city has also built a pedigree in semiconductors and quantum. Chipmaker Graphcore — which spun out of another Bristol-based semiconductor startup Xmos — raised $682m before being acquired by SoftBank earlier this year. The world’s best-funded quantum startup, Silicon Valley-based PsiQuantum, was founded in Bristol, before moving to the US and raising $1.6bn. Beyond deeptech there’s also Ovo Energy, which has picked up $569m since launching in 2008, and warehouse logistics startup Huboo, which picked up the city’s biggest round of 2024 in a £45m raise to bring its total funding to nearly $200m. To find out which startups could be among the next cohort of Bristol tech darlings, I spoke to Catherine Fletcher — SCVC, Harry Alexander — QantX, Matt Penneycard — Ada Ventures, Johnathan Matlock — Empirical Ventures and Julian Dennard — Mercia Ventures. There was just one rule: investors couldn’t nominate startups they’d already invested in. https://lnkd.in/eUQHe4e2

Capital Factory — a Texas company that supports, incubates and invests in tech startups — is establishing a D.C. outpost to help emerging companies working to produce products or services catering to national interests. When and where it plans to do that can be found in the story below! #startup #startups #technology #tech #innovation #dc #dmv #washingtondc #business #businessarticle #businessnews #capital #capitalfactory #incrubator #startupsupport

Big win for Minnesota innovation! The U of M launched 25 startups in fiscal 2024, breaking its record for the fourth year in a row. What’s even more impressive is that 88% of these startups are staying right here in Minnesota, fueling our local innovation economy. Initiatives like 'Discover, Advance, Impact' are proving what’s possible when we prioritize talent, tech, and teamwork. How we can scale efforts like this? What role do you think regional startups play in shaping the future of tech? #Minnesota #Innovation #startups https://lnkd.in/gHdN5eff 

Raspberry Pi's Landmark IPO - A Boost for UK Tech Startups Raspberry Pi, the pioneering company behind the affordable credit card-sized computers, made history this week by going public on the London Stock Exchange. The successful IPO has been lauded as "faultlessly executed" by influential board member Sherry Coutu, who highlighted the brokers Peel Hunt and Jefferies for their roles. Coutu, a renowned serial entrepreneur and non-executive director at Raspberry Pi, drew parallels between the company's market potential and tech titans like Apple. She also commended the London Stock Exchange for supporting Raspberry Pi's journey, including putting the CEO through their elite scale-up program years ago. This milestone debut is a testament to the flourishing startup ecosystem in the UK. While Silicon Valley continues to dominate headlines, Britain has rapidly emerged as a hub for tech entrepreneurs and disruptive innovation. The UK ranks third globally for producing unicorn startups valued over $1 billion, behind only the US and China. What makes Raspberry Pi's IPO particularly inspiring is that it bucks the trend of relying on excessive venture capital. The company has achieved worldwide success with its affordable Arm-based microcomputers by solving real problems, empowering educators, and cultivating a passionate community of makers. As Raspberry Pi embarks on this new chapter, their public listing could pave the way for more UK-bred startups to access capital markets and scale their ambitions globally. It sends a powerful signal that transformative tech companies can be born and nurtured to an exit right here in Britain. For the UK's entrepreneurial technology sector, this is likely just the beginning. The affordable venture capital provided has already led to a flurry of British startups like Revolut, Wise, Cazoo and many more making global waves. Raspberry Pi's successful IPO will surely inspire the next generation of innovators.

*Bridging the Funding Gap: Why Grants Matter for Startups* *OkayKer, a company transforming auto care for 300,000 automotive service providers across the MENAP region, has made significant strides in a challenging funding environment. The startup successfully raised USD 700,000 with backing from **Orbit Startups, Cur8 Capital, Loyal VC, FRIM Ventures,* and angel investors. In recent months, OkayKer has focused on reducing customer acquisition costs and improving margins through strategic partnerships. These efforts have significantly lowered costs while enhancing customer experience and increasing efficiency. Despite this progress, OkayKer, like many startups, continues to face a tough global funding landscape. In this climate, bridging capital such as grants has become crucial for startups to survive and grow. As *Anusha Shahid*, the co-founder of OkayKer, explains, “For many founders, grants offer breathing space to pivot, experiment, and refine their business models before seeking larger rounds of investment. Programs like Women In Tech are especially valuable, offering support to founders at critical stages of growth.” Grants offered by the *Women In Tech Programme* play a key role in helping startups like OkayKer bridge the funding gap. They provide the necessary capital to test and scale, allowing businesses to refine strategies and demonstrate their potential without the immediate pressure of securing large investments. With its newly redesigned framework, the *Women In Tech Programme* presents an attractive opportunity for startups. By offering flexible, grant-based support, it enables founders to innovate, improve customer acquisition, and drive growth, positioning them for success in the next stage of their journey. For female-led, tech-enabled businesses with big ambitions, the Women In Tech Programme is an unparalleled opportunity to gain essential support in navigating the challenging funding environment. Apply today to take your venture to the next level. OkayKer Anusha Shahid *Apply here:* https://lnkd.in/dpWYAtHd

Attention startups! Seattle is “in talks” to start throwing money at you if you join this newest incubator that’s intended to encourage more innovation in the AI space. Check out the article here from GeekWire #patents #startups #patentlaw #startupfunding

June has brought several successes for startups with 1876 Ventures, including the recent qualification of an AI startup from our fall 2023 cohort for the summer 2024 batch at Y Combinator in San Francisco, CA. Completion of the program from July - October 2024 will result in an automatic $500,000 investment for the company, to be announced later this summer. Quitting their jobs to participate, the team must relocate to Silicon Valley until Oct. 2024. A generous Aggie VC from the Menlo Park area offered a $15,000 housing allowance to offset unexpected relocation costs for this exemplary team, former students from Texas A&M University College of Engineering. Approximately 1% of startups that apply to YC are admitted to the VC fund's program, widely ranked as the #1 accelerator globally. Founded in 2005, YC is responsible for 64 unicorns. To our knowledge, our Aggie team is the first from Aggieland to qualify for YC, although one other Aggie co-founded startup was accepted in 2022 (Fetii, cofounded by Matthew Iommi) from an Austin innovation hub. 1876 Ventures presented our YC qualifier last month to a subset of Aggie investors from in Bryan, arriving from Silicon Valley and Austin to specifically hear pitches from eight of our spring 2024 cohort. We had a startup win the Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation (BVEDC) $15,000 Launch Prize at last month's Texas A&M New Ventures Competition, plus another $5,000 for taking First Place in the Elevator Pitch Competition. The winner is a mere 20 years old and competed against non-students at the annual Texas A&M University System event. Paradigm Robotics also won the Student Startup Division of SXSW Pitch 2024. Action Face was just acquired. CEO Kenny Davis pitched in Bryan at our Investor Day 2022. Last summer, we qualified a Techstars team -- Hifive, two founders in Bryan, graduates of Allen Academy. They received a standard investment from the world's #2 accelerator. We also had two startups qualify for Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, which received investments -- Quicc and Rivalry Tech. Another of our startups qualified for NSIN - National Security Innovation Network's accelerator, a local founder from Brazos County. This month and last month have been good for our startups, including Screen Skinz -- which announced the closing of a $1.5 million raise. Also working to close a bridge of $2 million, Troverlo Inc. has brought on board a successful C-Suite exec from Viasat (which acquired the local CEO's last startup in College Station for a reported $60.2 million in 2014). Trovelo also added a second ViaSat C-Suite exec last month as an investor. Graham Weston investment Special Leaf has added an exec from CELSIUS Holdings, Inc., while Circuits Evolved has added two experienced VCs from Cubic | GRIDSMART. Giga Energy is blowin' and goin' globally now, still hiring. Giga is one of our original student startups from 2019. Watch for student startup Switchless on the Chris Howard podcast.

Tech startups are rising and they’re coming in fast, but the major challenge is that most of these startups are lacking funds to grow their products or services. It’s a hard-to-do investment for most business men and women to invest a sum amount of their money into startups with zero market share and zero revenue. Investors are into numbers always (which makes sense) but the truth is the idea is the selling product. All big tech companies started with ideas. The proof from the founder of Ring, his idea (product) was rejected by the Shark Tank investors and now has a net worth of over $1 billion. Major tech companies were once startups. Let’s put more effort on the grounds. Read more here..

Business planning startup Pigment raises $145 million round in rare French tech megaround Paris-based startup Pigment has raised a $145 cardinal backing circular conscionable 5 years aft its inception. The endeavor bundle institution offers a concern readying level truthful that ample companies tin visualize their past fiscal show and forecast upcoming quarters. This backing circular comes arsenic a spot of a astonishment arsenic ample rounds person been fewer and acold betwixt successful France. According to a recent survey from EY, backing rounds successful the French tech ecosystem were down 38% successful 2023 compared to 2022. But if you region buzzy AI startups similar Mistral AI and capital-intensive infrastructure plays that are not truly tech startups similar EV charging networks (Driveco) and EV artillery factories (Verkor), backing rounds are drastically down. Pure bundle startups person had a unsmooth mates of years. Pigment appears arsenic an objection with its Series D. Existing capitalist Iconiq Growth is doubling down by starring this caller backing round. Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, IVP, Meritech, Greenoaks and Felix Capital are besides participating — many of them were existing investors too. And there’s a crushed wherefore Pigment managed to rise truthful overmuch astatine a importantly higher valuation little than a twelvemonth aft its previous backing round. In 2023, the startup managed to triple its gross and treble its lawsuit basal with well-known clients similar Unilever, Datadog, Kayak and Merck. Half of Pigment’s clients are based successful the U.S. “Our existent investors told america ‘if you’re going to rise wealth successful 18 months to standard with others, we mightiness arsenic good connection you large presumption close present for an interior round.’ And everything happened precise rapidly . . . In 1 week, it was a done deal,“ co-founder and co-CEO Éléonore Crespo told me. Before founding Pigment, Crespo worked for VC steadfast Index Ventures and Google. She co-founded Pigment with Romain Niccoli who was the co-founder and CTO of Criteo — an aboriginal occurrence of the French tech ecosystem. “IVP — 1 of our backers — benchmarks the maturation complaint of each SaaS companies. And since we’ve been selling our product, we’ve been successful the apical 5% of SaaS companies with the champion maturation complaint ever, successful presumption of gross growth,” Crespo said. Image Credits: Pigment Pigment is simply a flexible concern readying instrumentality that is utilized by main fiscal officers and concern teams to make reports and budgets. It’s a modern SaaS platform, meaning that you tin integrate it with each your company’s information (ERP, HRIS, information lakes, etc.) and usage it arsenic a collaboration tool. In summation to conc...