Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of the
I'm your host Alexei Oreskovic. Hit me up with your thoughts, tips, rants and raves at aoreskovic@businessinsider.com.
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Soundtrack: This week's newsletter has been specially designed to be consumed while $4
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Spring is here, arms are getting jabbed across the country, and in Silicon Valley the mood is feverish.
Every day brings news of big-ticket startup funding deals, eye-popping valuations, and fresh stock listings. It's not as if Silicon Valley was struggling to attract capital before. But with the tech business having proven surprisingly impervious to the pandemic, an emboldened industry now seems convinced that the re-opening will bring only more good times.
A $4, super-charging the pace and value of dealmaking.
- As Becky Peterson reports: "When a startup raises a smaller round at a lower valuation, whether it's out of necessity or just a strategic choice, fast moving investors can interpret that decision as a sign of weakness."
- MindPortal, a startup working on a brain computing interface, received reach-outs from more than 100 VCs and angel investors during the week of Y Combinator's Demo Day; $4
- Due diligence - the process by which VCs vet the companies they're considering investing in -$4
And SPACs are blooming. The proliferation of blank-check companies have opened up a new pathway for
- One question that's likely to become more relevant in the months ahead: $4
And because the funding frenzy means such a big range in the quality of startups and investors, Insider has embarked on a big project to separate the wheat from the chaff. The result is the Seed 100, in which Insider's VC/startups team worked with Tribe Capital to analyze data on 1,000 seed-stage investors to identify the 100 VCs who have mastered the art of early stage investing.