Startups

I've been talking to founders across the Global South about generative AI (GAI) as often as I can since early 2023. The founders in our portfolio of 350+ companies are generative AI users, not creators. As with any other disruptive situation, these founders can be divided into three groups: Ah

Building and harnessing online communities has been a major driving force behind some of the world’s largest platforms, from Stripe and Slack to Figma and Notion. At the heart of the community-building ethos lies a strategy known as product-led growth (PLG), where companies rely on the produ

Flexport founder Ryan Petersen has joined venture capital firm Founders Fund as a partner, as reported by Forbes earlier today. Founders Fund confirmed the move to technewss, providing the following statement from General Partner Trae Stephens: “We've always struggled to define the quintesse

For the last decade, scoring a big round of venture capital funding has been the yardstick of success for startups across the ecosystem. After that, startups can finally get out of fundraising mode, focus on growth, reach scale and generate millions (billions?) in annual cash flows. But for many st

Intellectual property can be a powerful weapon in your startup's arsenal. It can protect you from competitors using your tech, and it can drastically improve how valuable your company is: If your IP is stopping a big company from doing what it wants, that could, in itself, be a good enough reas

How far are carnivorous people willing to go to fight climate change and reduce inhumane factory-farming conditions? That's a huge question when you're a player in the lab-grown meat industry. How do you overcome the initial “ick factor,” and what will it take to bring the cost of lab-g

Besides the billions of dollars from local and foreign investors, a strong factor behind Africa's growing tech ecosystem is its burgeoning talent. Being sought after locally and internationally, these homegrown talents — including software developers who, according to Google's Africa

Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday afternoon. I've been keeping an eye on the European startup ecosystem since well before I moved to the U.S., and today's report from Creandum about the state of venture investing in Europe gave me pause. This, alo

The waters are never calm when scaling a startup. In fact, they are typically quite choppy. However, by making the correct hire in the head of growth position, you can navigate to shore much more smoothly. The individual you're looking for will create and execute growth strategies, manage marke

Blockchain-based games want to go mainstream, but the million-dollar question is: What's the best way to do it? According to some web3 game developers, there might not be just one right answer. To win Web 2.0 audiences over, it appears the industry will have to meet them where

When Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in March, a flurry of startups rushed to step in to help fill a gap in the startup and venture capital community. One of those startups, Mercury, in particular found itself in the position of trying to meet a sudden surge of demand amidst the panic.

After reports that it is raising new funding, Indonesian aquaculture startup eFishery announced today that it has netted $200 million in a Series D. The company, which makes a smart feeding system for fisheries, says this makes it the first startup in the global aquaculture industry to pass a $1 bi

A California Senator is urging the state's Labor and Workforce Development Agency to conduct an investigation into the business practices of fintech turned HR startup Deel. Last week, Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) sent a letter to Stewart Knox, California Secretary of Labor, alleging that

Whenever I spend time in the European startup world, a lot of the conversation is focused on how it can differentiate itself. One of the recurring questions is: How do we build a startup ecosystem? That's an excellent question. The beginnings of an ecosystem are there, but unlike in the U.S., w