By Evan Vitale
Here are a few stories that are making headlines in the world of venture capital.
It’s only a rumor folks, but the BIG rumor is Jay Z is launching a venture capital firm. Recently, Jay Z’s company – Roc Nation – formed Arrive, a VC “platform” that will help younger startups build that brands and their businesses.
You can read more details here: http://engt.co/2mxis6j
The Washington Post has an interesting article titled “The disrupters in the venture capital industry are ripe for disruption.”
More and more new venture capital funds are popping up in the greater Washington region. Funds such as Blu Ventures, Gula Tech Adventures, NextGen Venture Partners, DataTribe, Lavrock Ventures and Strategic Cyber Ventures are writing smaller checks and providing more hands-on mentoring than larger incumbent funds can. They challenge the prevailing model for existing venture capital funds and fill a void in the greater Washington region.
Arguably, the venture capital industry needs to be disrupted. Over the last 10 years, the herd has been winnowed significantly. Venture funding has been consolidated into fewer but larger funds, with $1 billion funds becoming more and more commonplace. Our region’s best-known venture capital organizations — name brands such as Revolution and New Enterprise Associates — are able to raise more money because of their investment success. In this way, the market works fairly, rewarding those who can generate positive returns for investors.
Read more here: http://wapo.st/2menYbo
Dark Reading is reporting that Symantec has launched a cybersecurity venture capital arm that will serve as an incubator for new startups.
The new Symantec Ventures aims to accelerate the startup process for entrepreneurs with funding and access to Symantec’s own enterprise Cyber Defense Platform and consumer Digital Safety Platform, as well as its threat intelligence data.
Symantec Ventures also would give Symantec access to possible acquisition prospects.
Details: http://ubm.io/2mAz1yP
