VC money is funding aggressive newcomers like Uber and Airbnb, and aims to create the next Teslas, Facebooks and Googles. Insurgent startups seem to be targeting every industry and even inventing new ones. The startups are wielding the weapons of the Internet—cloud, mobile, social, and data analytics—and deftly taking advantage of connectivity and the flattened business environment it enables. As we enter the most disruptive period in business history, established companies with deep pockets—the ones you might call the "disruptees"—are waking up and determined to fight back. Many are refocusing their own efforts to innovate and stay relevant. The result is a stunning range of initiatives. More
Tag Index / Showing 1 - 7 of 7 results for “Venture Capital”
Do We Get Sick Like Rats? A New Philip Morris Prize Asks the Crowd
It might be surprising to hear a tobacco giant described as a tech innovator. But Philip Morris researchers are pioneering new territory with a crowdsourced approach to checking the accuracy of life sciences data. In partnership with computational biologists at IBM’s Watson Research Center, Philip Morris's so-called sbv IMPROVER project creates open challenges to encourage scientists to augment traditional peer reviews of research data. On Monday, Philip Morris launched its Species Translation Challenge, which will award three $20,000 prizes to teams whose results best define how well rodent tests can predict human outcomes. More
With $30 Million, Shapeways Will Push 3D Printing Frontiers
Peter Weijmarshausen believes that 3D printing "is fundamentally changing the manufacturing ecosystem in its entirety." Several deep-pocketed investors agree. Weijmarshausen announced today that Shapeways, the 3D printing marketplace he heads, has raised $30 million in a series C financing led by Andreessen Horowitz. Existing investors Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, and Lux Capital also participated in the round. Since its founding in 2007, Weijmarshausen says Shapeways has seen a drop in 3D printing prices, an expansion of printable materials, and users upload over 1 million designs. More
Agile London Startups Give Banks a Run for Their Money
Refugees from London's financial sector are flocking to the the city's burgeoning startup scene, launching lean, Web-based companies that capitalize on public mistrust of banking institutions, and use tech tools to trim costs and improve customer service. More
With $68 Million from Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, Quirky Aims to Disrupt Consumer Products
Quirky has come a long way. Its roots lie in the distracted musings of inattentive high school student Ben Kaufman. Think of him now, instead, as wunderkind inventor. The New York-based social product design company, founded by Kaufman in 2009, last Wednesday raised a stunning $68 million in a venture round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins. More
The Andreessen Horowitz Effect
In the three short years since Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz set up shop as venture capitalists on Sand Hill Road, they’ve already established Andreessen Horowitz as one of the top VC firms in Silicon Valley, right up there with Accel, Benchmark, Greylock, Kleiner, and Sequoia. Some would argue that it is the top firm. They’ve raised $2.7 billion across three funds and they somehow seem to get into every deal that matters. The Andreessen Horowitz portfolio includes such marquee names as Skype, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, Airbnb, Fab, Groupon, and Zynga. More
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Erik Brynjolfsson Argues that Tech is Major Driver of Economic Growth
In this session from Techonomy 2011, in Tuscon, Ariz., Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the Center for Digital Business at MIT, argues that technology is a major driver of economic growth and productivity. Any lag in productivity, he says, is due to our inability to keep up with the changes in technology. This is Brynjolfsson's argument in a debate with Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University. More
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