PIN'd

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
December 15, 2023

Welcome to PIN’d - our weekly newsletter where we pin (lol, bear with us) the most important tech/startup news of the week for aspiring angels, vc’s, startup investors, founders, etc. Expect a new weekly roundup from us every Friday morning!

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📰 This week’s best news

Andreessen Horowitz, a key player in the pandemic-era funding surge, recently outlined its new investment strategy to limited partners in Las Vegas. The firm is gearing up to launch at least three industry-specific funds, focusing on infrastructure startups, cloud application software, artificial intelligence, and American dynamism, to bolster U.S. national interests.

Elon Musk's rebranded Twitter faces revenue challenges

Elon Musk's social network X, formerly known as Twitter, is projected to earn about $2.5 billion in ad revenue in 2023, marking a notable decline from its previous year's performance of over $1 billion per quarter.

The Japanese beauty giant launched LIFT Ventures, its first Western VC fund, ready to invest in early-stage wellness and beauty startups. Shiseido is joining the big leagues, rubbing shoulders with giants like Estée Lauder and L'Oréal. They're not holding back, dropping hints about “multiple strategic investments” across different stages.

General Atlantic, known for investing in giants like Facebook Inc. and Airbnb Inc., has discreetly filed for an initial public offering. The firm aims for a potential listing in the upcoming year, subject to favorable market conditions.

The addictive short-form video app Tik Tok just smashed a major milestone: becoming the first non-game app to surpass $10 billion in consumer spending across the Apple App Store and Google Play combined. Those 60-second dance trends and hilarious skits are now out-earning mobile game giants like Honor of Kings and Monster Strike.


💰 Funding announcement highlights

Comun, a two-year-old New York neobank that enables customers to apply for an account using different forms of identification types from Latin America, including foreign country passports, has secured funding of $4.5 million. The round was led by Costanoa Ventures, with previous investors Animo Ventures, South Park Commons, and FJ Labs also joining.

Seam, a one-year-old web3 social platform that enables users to code, design, and curate their social spaces online, raised a $2.5 million seed round. The round was led by 1kx, including Seed Club Ventures, Sfermion, F7 Ventures, and Social Graph Ventures.

VirtualZ Computing, a five-year-old Minneapolis startup that claims to connect cloud apps to mainframe data in real time, raised a $2.2 million seed round led by Next Frontier Capital.

Armada, a San Francisco startup building a full-stack technology platform to bring AI-grade computing capabilities to industrial devices, raised $40 million in a Series A funding round led by return investor 8090 Industries and new investors Felicis, Contrary Capital, Marlinspike Partners, Valor, and Koch Industries.

Durable, a Vancouver startup that helps small businesses with website creation, has raised a $14 million Series A. Spark Capital led the round, joined by Torch Capital, Altman Capital, Dash Fund, South Park Commons, Infinity Ventures, and Soma Capital.  

📚 Interesting reads of the week

A roundup of the latest developments in the fintech sector, including the rise of new unicorns, the challenges and triumphs of existing giants, and the evolving landscape of financial technology. 

This insightful article takes a deep dive into the dramatic shift in Tiger Global's investment strategy, a stark contrast to its aggressive approach during the venture capital boom of 2020 and 2021. Once a leader in growth-round investments, Tiger Global has significantly scaled back its deal flow by over 90% in 2023 compared to the previous year. 

Benn Stancil offers a candid and insightful exploration of why startups are inherently challenging. He draws on personal experiences and high-profile examples, including Nvidia founder Jensen Huang, to underscore the immense effort and unexpected hardships of building a successful company. 

The future Internet: a journey into increasing weirdness

Rex Woodbury's article, “7 Ways the Internet Will Get Weirder,” offers a glimpse into the future of our digital lives. Woodbury, a keen observer of the intersection between technology and human behavior, outlines seven key trends to make the internet an even more bizarre and wonderful place. Want to know what they are? Keep reading. 

Charlie Munger, the esteemed vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, sat down with Stripe's John Collison last year (only released now) to share his invaluable insights on enduring business success, his perspectives on American society, and the unique qualities that define Berkshire Hathaway. 

💪 Tech Mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Grab

🤑 Total money raised by the McKinsey Mafia: $84 billion

Weekly tech mafia leaderboard

McKinsey’s alumni network has built some amazing companies, so we took a look at the top companies.

The McKinsey Mafia takes the 2nd spot, with 1,392 companies founded in total and $84.2 billion raised.

PS: Are you a McKinsey employee/alum interested in getting your community together to invest in the community (and earn carry/other benefits along the way)? Or are you a member of another community that you think would make for an amazing startup investment community? 😉

Learn more about us and sign up for the waitlist here.

📌 PIN tweet of the week

💼 Who’s hiring in VC?

Looking to get into VC? Below are this week’s curated VC job openings.

XRC Ventures is looking for an Accelerator Fund Partner.

XRC Ventures is looking for a Chief of Staff.

Hitachi Ventures (Silicon Valley) is looking for an Analyst.

Antler is looking for a VC Scout.

📠 Fun fact of the week

Non-US schools with the most US unicorn founders:

  1. 🏫 Tel Aviv University

  2. 🏫 Technicon Israel

  3. 🏫 Hebrew University

  4. 🏫 University of Waterloo

  5. 🏫 IIT Delhi

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