Our partnership announced that it had raised two new funds. We shared the news with our founders first at our founder camp — held virtually this year. These two new funds, totaling $840 million in fresh capital, are split between the seventh “core” early-stage fund, True Fund VII, at $465 million, and True Select Fund IV at $375 … Continue reading Some news today
My partner at True Ventures, Adam D’Augelli shares True’s journey into what is generically known as “computational biology” and “health 2.0.” And like everything else, it starts with the founders and our founder network guiding us to the future. This should give you an insight into how we at True think about opportunities and founders. … Continue reading On True’s Computational Biology investments
In the aftermath of HurricaneDorian, The Bahamas was pretty much underwater, including the Grand Bahama International Airport, Freeport. The yellow line is the coastline which shows so practically the entire island was underwater. Our True Ventures portfolio company, ICEYE shared this image from its satellite and has another more recent update coming that shows the … Continue reading Dorian almost drowns the Bahamas
Intentionet, one of True Ventures’ family of companies, has won the Best of Interop Award in the infrastructure category. Interop is a large conference and trade show focused on enterprise and infrastructure technologies. We partnered with the Seattle-based company two years ago, betting that the increasing complexity of networks and omnipresence of networking would require … Continue reading Intentionet wins the Best of the (Interop) Show
I spent the past few days celebrating the city’s startup ecosystem. Did you know that, of the top ten companies on CNBC’s latest disruptor list, four are based in New York, three are from China, and just one (AirBnB) is from the Bay Area? Software is, indeed, eating the world and creating opportunities everywhere.
New York is very special to me. It is the place where I found myself as a writer and as a man. I finally found a place to belong. While I live in San Francisco, unlike Tony Bennett, I left my heart in the Big Apple. Continue reading “In a New York State of Mind”
National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) named our partnership, True Ventures, as the venture capital firm of the year. It is always an honor to be recognized by our peers, but in the end, the award is a reflection of the people who we serve — the founders, their teams and their families. 10,000 of them. It has taken over a decade to get here — one startup at a time. Some of them are big (Automattic), some define the zeitgeist (Blue Bottle, Peloton, and Ring) and others are writing the script of tomorrow today, companies like Veniam and Zymergen.
Despite a boom in startup activity, more and more companies being formed, it doesn’t mean that more good companies are being created. I keep seeing the same names hit up investors again and again. A few successful ones are garnering a lion share of the total funding dollars, especially as they get more traction. Even those companies that have little traction are generating a lot of investor interest, while others who fall in the in-between range are getting less attention. Continue reading “Startups are a global opportunity!”
I was recording a podcast with Matthew Panzarino, editor of TechCrunch yesterday and the conversation turned to current state of Silicon Valley, and the point I made was that as an industry we have been focused on a limited set of metrics – growth and intelligence, for example. Sure, like any intellectually intensive industry needs … Continue reading Tech needs Emotional Intelligence
Time flies – and there is nothing to make you aware of that zooming through life than memories. I remember walking into the tiny offices of the yet fully formed True Ventures in San Francisco’s Presidio, not too far from the Lucas Arts sprawling campus. I sat down for a meeting with the core team of the newly founded True Ventures and walked out with a term sheet for my company. That was ten years ago. Continue reading “At True we have a new $310 million fund”
What an emotional week! I have been unable to comprehend the impact of United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union. It was not how I expected to end my week – considering I spent the first three days in uncharacteristically warm Stinson Beach, in the company of my colleagues from True Ventures. Continue reading “What a week that was”
