By Evan Vitale
Did you survive a full, five-day work-week after the short holiday week? Well, things definitely picked up in the world of venture capital. Here are some of the stories that are making headlines:
Inc.com released an interesting piece on Philz Coffee, a popular and beloved institution in San Francisco. Once a family-owned business, Philz has grown into a fast-growing medium-sized business and is in the midst of a national expansion.
So, Inc. wants to know why the company announced recently that it has rained $45 million as part of a round of venture capital funding.
The full story is here: http://on.inc.com/2cONE9H
In another piece by Inc. (they were busy covering venture capital news), they uncover how a millennial-run venture capital firm is unraveling.
Rothenberg Ventures has been the talk of Silicon Valley over the last two weeks, as the small venture-capital firm led by charismatic 32-year-old Mike Rothenberg has essentially imploded.
Jessi Hempel and Lauren Smiley have the story over at Backchannel, and Business Insider has learned some additional details from a letter sent to the firm’s limited-partner investors on Tuesday morning.
The firm, which had had about $50 million under management, has run out of operating money, and all its employees except its lawyer were on unpaid leave as of mid-August, according to the Backchannel report.
The full story is here: http://on.inc.com/2cNMonl
According to Business Insider, startups are about to receive a billion dollar influx from one of the biggest software companies in the world.
Venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures, which is solely funded by enterprise tech giant SAP, has closed a $1 billion fund to invest in technology startups, becoming the latest investment firm to join a record-breaking clip of venture fundraising.
Sapphire has backed high-profile startups such as Square, Box, and Fitbit and plans to use the new fund to invest in growth-stage technology startups, the firm said on Wednesday.
You can read the rest of the piece here: http://read.bi/2d2hrPu
