In these times of GameStop arbitrage, Cryptocurrency, billion dollar companies, and trillion dollar budgets being bandied about, it’s a fair question: What is money?
Read MoreWhat even is money?
Tag: money
Which VC is most likely to be the “first money in” for your startup? The TechCrunch List aims to find out
“No one wants to be the first one in the pool” is a truism regularly bandied about the venture funded startup circles. That’s because — for companies that choose that equity based financing route — landing that first check can be the most critical component of fundraising. But which venture capital firm or Angel is truly the most likely to be that “first money in” for your company? That’s what TechCrunch is seeking to answer with The TechCrunch List.
Read MoreHelping parents approach challenging topics with A Kids Book About
In this day and age with the level of exposure and access to information, kids are often dealing with any number of topics far sooner than previous generations. And parents—who had a very different upbringing—are searching for ways to effectively support their kids. And that’s the opportunity that A Kids Book About is working to address. With books focused on kids that help parents discuss challenging topics.
Read MorePutting that money to work: Rigado opens up a bunch of Portland job opportunities
There have been any number of fundraising announcements in the past two weeks. And as compelling as that news is, it’s even more exciting to see the companies putting that money to work. Like Rigado, for instance. Which recently raised $15 million. And that led to a bunch of open jobs. Like nine of them.
A Tweetstorm about venture capital, racism, technology, money, and love
Used to be, back in the day, folks would blog. And sometimes, I’d take a snippet of those amazing blog posts and try to raise the volume a little bit. By posting on my own blog. But that doesn’t happen as much these days. Or when it does, it tends to happen on platforms that have their own volume mechanisms. But Portland founder Mara Zepeda just wrote something that I wanted to make sure that you saw. And so I’m trying to raise the volume a bit. Like we used to. Read More
Payback: Portland's Simple now offers immediate money transfer between accounts with Simple Instant
While Simple users have never been shy about their love of the banking experience with the company, there are few features that would make the experience event better. And today, the Portland company released one of those features. Now any Simple user can immediately transfer money to any other Simple user with Simple Instant. Read More
Support Portland by raising capital outside of Portland
There seems to be a constant stream of chatter about how the Portland startup ecosystem compares to the Bay/Seattle. Inherently, a major piece of this conversation is about the ability or inability to raise money locally. This assumes that if there is money to be had locally, it’s the better choice—raise locally, hire locally, and in doing so support the Portland startup scene. Read More
Jive Software lands an additional $30 million, bringing more Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers money to Portland
So when Jive announces that they’ve secured another $30 million in funding, I’m going to cover it. Because some of that cash is going to come through the Portland office. And because the investor—juggernaut Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers—just happens to be the firm that just dropped $5 million in Puppet Labs’ proverbial pockets.
[HTML3]Yes, yes. There has been much discussion about Jive Software and their decision to move Jive corporate headquarters from Portland, Oregon, to those more southern climes near that bay thing. But fact of the matter is, Jive spent a good deal of time as a startup headquartered right here. And they continue to be part of our community.
So when Jive announces that they’ve secured another $30 million in funding, I’m going to cover it. Because some of that cash is going to come through the Portland office. And because the investor—juggernaut Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers—just happens to be the firm that just dropped $5 million in Puppet Labs’ proverbial pockets. Read More
You may have already won a quarter of a million dollars
No, this isn’t some spammy email. It could prove to be true for startups in the Silicon Forest if everything goes right.
And it all begins with a very simple question: What could you accomplish with $250,000, this year? That’s what the folks at Portland-based Nedspace are asking, this Thursday.
Why? Because you may actually have the chance to get your hands on those funds.
Most importantly, though, the goal of this event is to prove to the State of Oregon that there are enough jobs, compelling ideas and entrepreneurs to warrant an immediate investment of $100,000,000 for start ups that want to hire local talent.
We are working to raise a $100M fund that makes small investments in Oregon-based companies who hire Oregon-based employees. Now, in 2009. Not next year or some point in the future. In growing these new startups, we are investing in innovation, creating jobs and building Oregon’s brand with innovators and entrepreneurs.
Oh, so now that question seems a lot more interesting, doesn’t it?
The event is a combined effort of Capybara Ventures, NW Technology Ventures, NedSpace, Oregon Angel Fund, Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, Reference Capital, Software Association of Oregon and Starve Ups. It will be held Thursday evening at Nedspace—right next door to the Lotus on SW 3rd.
If you would like to participate—and just between you and me, I think you should—be prepared to answer the following questions:
- Could your company hire $250,000 worth of Oregon-based talent in 2009 to get it to the next level?
- What could your company achieve during 2009 with a $250,000 investment?
- How many new jobs would be created if 400 new Oregon startups were funded?
- How would you like to see $100,000,000 invested in Oregon startups?
For more information or to RSVP, see “Startup Now: What Would Your Startup Do With $250,000 in 2009?”
[UPDATE]
Can’t make the event? They’ve set up a live stream.
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(Photo courtesy mashmal. Used under Creative Commons.)
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Strands announces Expensr acquisition, expanded recommending
Corvallis-based Strands, the service that recommends things you might like based on your behavior, has announced the acquisition of Expensr, a move that takes its recommendation services beyond the realm of entertainment to personal finance.
Expensr will be brought into the Strands fold as moneyStrands, a personal money management solution based on Strands recommendation technology.
moneyStrands is an online money management solution that allows users to aggregate their online financial information in one place, providing them with an instant snapshot of all their finances. With moneyStrands, users can anonymously compare themselves to others with similar traits, such as demographics.
The move also allows Strands to more clearly define the areas into which they’re planning to introduce recommendations, like business recommendation solutions that help people find content on sites, social media recommendation solutions that use online behavior to make recommendations, and personal finance recommendation solutions that helps individuals take more control of personal finance decisions.
Rest assured, there are also some other interesting undercurrents here—that I’m not yet at liberty to disclose—that promise to cause some interesting ripples here in the Silicon Forest startup scene.
To register for an invitation to the private BETA, visit moneyStrands. For more information on the plans for the product, see the Strands blog post on the Expensr acquisition. For more on the company, I’d recommend (get it?) visiting Strands.