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Connie Loizos

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Fake virtual identities are nothing new. The ability to so easily create them has been both a boon for social media platforms — more “users” — and a scourge, tied as they are to the spread of conspiracy theories, distorted discourse and other societal ills. Still, Twitter bots are...
Cowboy Ventures, the now-10-year-old, Bay Area-based seed-stage focused fund founded by renowned investor Aileen Lee, has closed on two new funds totaling $260 million in capital commitments. The outfit garnered $140 million in commitments for its fourth flagship fund and another $120 million for its first opportunity-type fund...
In recent years, working for, or banking with, a traditional financial institution was decidedly uncool. Far cooler was working for or banking with one of the many fintech startups that seemed to thumb their nose at stodgy bank brands. Then the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, stocks tanked, and...
Last night, at an industry event hosted in San Francisco by this editor, venture capitalist Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital sat down for a fireside conversation about the evolution of his storied investment firm, which has enjoyed a largely unblemished record of stunning success — a record since...
Yesterday, we had the chance to catch up with Fabrice Grinda, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded the free classifieds site OLX — now owned by Prosus — and who has in recent years been building up his venture firm, FJ Labs. He often likens the outfit to an...
Last week at TechCrunch’s annual Disrupt event, this editor sat down with VCs from two firms that have come to look similar in ways over the last five or so years. One of those VCs was Niko Bonatsos, a managing partner at General Catalyst (GC), a 22-year-old firm...
Cloudflare, the security, performance and reliability company that went public three years ago, said this morning that it will help connect startups that use its serverless computing platform to dozens of venture firms that have collectively offered to invest up to $1.25 billion in the companies out of...
Juul has long argued that it’s trying to save lives; meanwhile, its own existence seems precarious at times. Right now is one of those times. As reported earlier today by numerous outlets, the once high-flying e-cigarette company just agreed to a $438.5 million settlement with 33 states that alleged...
There’s a lot of confusion in the private market right now. On the one hand, venture firms are still announcing new funds on a daily basis. They’re hosting catered sushi brunches. On the other, layoffs abound, and titans of industry sound worried. JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon sees an economic...
It used to be that venture capitalists couldn’t sell their stake in a portfolio company before it sold or went public without raising questions about the outfit’s prospects. As startups began staying private longer, VCs and management teams grew more comfortable with selling some of their holdings to...