By Evan Vitale

What’s making headlines this week in the area of venture capital? Let’s find out:

The New York Times printed an interesting article on those who avoided seeking venture capital.

Ron Rudzin, an entrepreneur from Queens with a long history in the furniture business, took $350,000 of his own money to write a business plan in 2007 to form his online mattress company, Saatva.

“People who raise money, rather than be self-funded, tend to spend wildly because it’s other people’s money and they throw a bunch of stuff on the wall and see what sticks. I don’t do it that way,” Mr. Rudzin said. “I’m much more meticulous and efficient. I might go a little slower, but in the end I believe I win.”

You can read the full article here: http://nyti.ms/1sLRIOO

The New York Business Journal is reporting Signals Group hopes to tap new venture capital for an overseas expansion.

Signals Group, based near Columbus Circle in Manhattan, delivers intelligence and insights to support product development at major companies. It raised $10 million in a new funding round. The startup raised $15 million less than a year ago.

The full profile is here: http://bit.ly/1TY5KpH

According to YourStory.com, seed stage venture capital fund Romulus Capital announced closing its third fund of over $75 million in commitments. According to the founder, Krishna Gupta (28), the funds were raised from investors in 15 countries, including royal families from the Middle East, conglomerates from Asia, and individuals with strong ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The story is here: http://bit.ly/25CCrBy

Microsoft Ventures is Microsoft’s very own venture capital division. It’s main focus will be on early-stage startup investments. Don’t confuse this with Microsoft’s startup accelerator with the same name- that one’s being re-branded as Microsoft Accelerator.

In Microsoft’s official blog post announcing the change, Nagraj Kashyap, the corporate vice president of the new Microsoft Ventures, says that while the company has done a lot of investment in the past, it has not been focusing on investments in the early stage. What they have been looking at is investing alongside commercial deals. This is where their new venture capital division comes in. This new division will be more like Google Ventures, which takes risks on young companies for a potentially huge return.

You can read more about it here: http://bit.ly/1P8s8s5

By Evan Vitale

Here are the latest stories making headlines in the world of venture capital.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Asian startups are being hit by a venture capital slowdown.

According to the story, in early February, Yin Sang, a prominent Chinese entrepreneur, sent an email to all 600 employees at his karaoke-booking startup: His firm was running out of money after failing to raise funds and wouldn’t be able to pay staff salaries.

“Our cash flow is almost zero,” the 23-year-old chief executive of Yiqi Chang wrote in the email, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Our company is in a crisis.”

A year ago, Mr. Yin’s Shanghai-based startup was valued at more than $100 million and, in 2014, he made Forbes China’s list of the 30 most successful Chinese entrepreneurs under the age of 30.

You can read the rest of the article here: http://on.wsj.com/24OCdqF

In Cincinnati, Ohio, Mason-based startup ConnXus has secured $5 million from venture capitalists to help accelerate its growth, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Techstars Ventures, Serious Change LP and Impact America Fund are the investors that led the Series “A” funding round for ConnXus, which announced it obtained the money Wednesday. The three venture capital groups were already investors in ConnXus.

The new funding doubled the investments made in ConnXus since the company launched in 2010. CincyTech was among early investors in the firm.

The full story is here: http://cin.ci/1OpcTKV

And, according to ZDNet, HP has announced a new venture capital arm – HP Tech Ventures, which will focus on 3D printing and more.

Based out of Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, the Tech Ventures team will be led by HP’s “chief disrupter” Andrew Bolwell, who will report to HP CTO Shane Wall, the Wall Street Journal first reported. HP Tech Ventures will complement the company’s in-house innovation produced by HP Labs, according to Wall.

“The next technology revolution is shifting towards strategic markets that speak to HP’s strengths,” Wall said in a statement. “With our global brand and broad reach into consumer and commercial markets worldwide, HP can help startups bring product to market, build their business and scale in the global marketplace as they grow.”

HP new external investments will come off of its balance sheets, Wall said, rather than through a separate investment fund.

The details are here: http://zd.net/27gqfou

By Evan Vitale

Here are the top venture capital stories making headlines this week.

According to the New York Times, Xfund, a venture capital firm formed in 2011 as technology start-ups boomed, began coming undone last year when the relationship between its two partners soured.

The two venture capitalists, Patrick Chung and Hugo Van Vuuren, argued over the dismissal of an employee and who controlled the firm. The disagreements festered, setting off a chain of events including accusations of abuse, a restraining order application, revelations that a hidden camera was used to record an investor meeting, and an investigation by the fund’s investors.

Now the firm, which manages more than $100 million and has put money into start-ups like the genetics company 23andMe, is in salvage mode. Even so, Xfund is in no danger of immediately shutting down.

You can read the full story here: http://nyti.ms/1UBtJNg

CNBC wants you to meet the man who’s out to disrupt venture capital.

As you may know, a long-anticipated regulatory change is expected in May that will allow retail investors to join in start-up funding alongside millionaires and venture capitalists.

Unaccredited investors will be allowed to put money into start-ups, letting the average investor compete alongside the Marc Andreessens of the world to back up-and-coming companies, and potentially to make enormous profits in the process.

Rohan Shah, a student at University of Pennsylvania who founded Slice Capital, is one of the entrepreneurs leading the charge. His online portal that connects companies raising early-stage capital with investors of all sizes has the potential to disrupt venture capital, he said.

Here’s the scoop: http://cnb.cx/1SYuQnJ

A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. unit has invested $25 million in ON24 Inc., an 18-year-old software company that survived the dot-com bust and lately is seeing growth again after several strategic shifts, this according to The Wall Street Journal.

The story is here: http://on.wsj.com/1OfsP2j

By Evan Vitale

Here are the latest headlines making news in the world of venture capital.

According to the Greenville News, venture capital is not out of reach for Southern start-ups.

For young companies, money is fuel. When those companies get investments from venture capital and angel investments, it could be a rocket to success. Many of the firms providing that investment are concentrated in Silicon Valley and the Northeast, leaving startups in the Southeast to duke it out for funds from a smaller number of groups in regional hubs like Atlanta and Charlotte, as well as growing markets like Charleston and Chattanooga.

But if they’re willing to look outside their backyard, entrepreneurs can still land significant investments to help their companies grow.

Check out the full article here:

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/money/2016/04/27/venture-capital-not-out-reach-southern-start-ups/83614014/

Forbes is reporting that Rhode Island Governor Raimondo is redefining venture capital success.

In 2006, the Employee Retirement System of Rhode Island committed $5 million of worker retirement assets to a small Point Judith II venture capital fund managed by Gina Raimondo—a Rhode Island native who would go on to become, as General Treasurer, the chief fiduciary of the state pension that invested in her fund.

During her first year as Treasurer, she spearheaded a “reform” of the pension which reduced the state’s assumed return on pension investments, slashed workers’ benefits, exponentially increased fees paid by the pension to Wall Street money managers and resulted in the fund significantly underperforming its peers.

The full story is here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2016/04/27/rhode-island-governor-raimondo-redefines-venture-capital-success/#64d4be45257b

Kansas City is seeing a jump in venture capital, according to an article by the Huffington Post.

Kansas City has been on a roll the last few years in the entrepreneur, technology and development space. The city has the top researchers and leaders in the world for entrepreneurs at the Kauffman Foundation. KC has some of the best resources for entrepreneurs in the United States through organizations like KCSourcelink, Think Big, UMKC SBTDC and the Sprint Accelerator powered by Techstars. It boasts some of the highest speed internet as the first city to launch one gigabit Google Fiber and is a pioneer in the Smart City movement in the United States as a Cisco Smart + Connected Community.

You can read the full story here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-grill/kansas-city-seeing-jump-i_b_9765348.html

By Evan Vitale

Here are some of the recent venture capital stories that are making headlines this week.

According to The Orange County (CA) Register, the boom in venture capital for growing Orange County businesses slowed by nearly 11 percent in the first quarter, mirroring a similar dip nationwide.

During the first quarter of 2016, only 15 deals were inked and roughly $158 million invested. In the same period last year, venture capital firms sunk $177 million in 23 deals, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.

“Internet of things” company Greenwave Systems, an Irvine software and services company, received $45 million in a Series C financing round in January, one of the biggest funding rounds in the quarter.

You can read the full report here:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/venture-712935-first-deals.html

The New York Times is reporting, that General Mills and 7-Eleven are joining the venture capital crowd.

General Mills, based in Minneapolis, is part of an increasing number of old-economy companies, including the convenience chain 7-Eleven and the Campbell Soup Company, that have joined a crowd of technology companies to create venture capital funds. Through them, they scout for new products or services and promising potential business partners.

Their moves have accompanied a surge and recent crest in the valuations of many venture capital-backed start-ups. Critics say the corporate-run funds have contributed to inflated valuations for start-ups, and some funds have begun selling stakes even as they face reduced valuations on some holdings.

The full story is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/business/dealbook/general-mills-and-7-elevenjoin-the-venture-capital-crowd.html?_r=0

At TechCrunch.com, the CrunchBase Women in Venture report is the third study in its ongoing analysis of women and their participation in the startup ecosystem. Read it here:

http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/19/the-first-comprehensive-study-on-women-in-venture-capital/

Bloomberg reports the University of Michigan’s endowment has bolstered its alternative assets with more than $100 million in commitments to venture capital and real estate funds.

Michigan also plans a new commitment of $50 million, subject to approval, to CD Capital Natural Resources Fund III, a London-based pool that will invest in early-stage mining opportunities, according to the agenda for the Board of Regents meeting on April 21.

Catch the story here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-19/michigan-endowment-adds-venture-capital-real-estate-commitments