By the looks of the largest VC funding deals of last week, investors are going all-in on deep tech, from a $600 million investment in autonomous cars to a $500 million bet, led by Sam Altman on fusion energy.
Something Ventured: Metafy CEO on breakneck Series A, what’s next
Life moves pretty fast sometimes, especially when you’re trying to raise venture capital. In early September, Metafy CEO Josh Fabian said he hoped to close a Series A for his Pittsburgh-based startup by early 2022. Instead, he raised that funding in the space of about a week. In this latest installment of our Something Ventured series, we chat with Fabian about what it’s like to go from scrappy startup to a rapidly growing—and now, well-funded—company forging ahead in a fast-emerging market.
Record VC dollars flooded HR tech in the past two months
With the “Great Resignation” still very much in the headlines and job openings plentiful, money is pouring into human resource tech like never before—with just the past two months alone proving unprecedented in terms of investment.
Inside Q4’s action-packed IPO pipeline
This year has already been a record one for IPO volume. By all accounts, the final quarter of 2021 is set to continue that momentum, with anticipated Wall Street debuts from big venture-backed companies including the biggest expected offering of the year: electric-truck maker Rivian. Here’s who else is expected to go public before 2022, and what investors are looking at.
When your sustainability initiative causes more harm than good
The climate crisis is the single biggest threat to humanity, and while some industries are obvious contributors to this state of emergency, the tech sector’s climate impact has flown under the radar, argues guest author Michelle You, co-founder and CEO of Supercritical. Even many well-meaning companies lack clarity on what makes for a robust and meaningful climate strategy, and what actually has a fighting chance of saving our planet, she says. Here’s how to do better.
Global VC funding continues on a tear
As we enter the final quarter of a blockbuster funding year, the record funding pace continues with $54 billion invested in more than 2,000 companies around the world in October. That marks the fourth-highest funding month in 2021, with year-over-year growth of 84 percent.
Where trial periods go wrong, and how to fix it
Free trial offers are one of the most common ways SaaS companies find and nurture new customers. Diogo Silva, senior account executive at sales CRM provider Pipedrive, shares a few common mistakes that salespeople make during the free trial period and what they can do to improve their closing rates.
