Collaborate Disseminate
Some time ago, I gave up on the idea of identifying a thread that could connect each story in this weekly roundup. There are no unified theories for technology news. Continue reading Extra Crunch roundup: Antitrust jitters, SPAC odyssey, white-hot IPOs, more
The U.S. sanctioned an Iranian venture capital firm on Wednesday that the Treasury Department said invests in cyberspace and information technology. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control identified the firm, Barkat Ventures, as an arm of an organization that the supreme leader of Iran controls called EIKO, short for Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order. The sanctions also targeted a second Komeini-controlled organization, Astan Quds Razavi. “These institutions enable Iran’s elite to sustain a corrupt system of ownership over large parts of Iran’s economy,” said Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “The United States will continue to target those who enrich themselves while claiming to help the Iranian people.” Barkat Ventures has a small profile outside Iran. An apparent company website cites its desire to invest in technologies such as the internet of things, electronic health, cryptocurrency and software as a service. Its overall goal is to reduce barriers for entrepreneurs in “knowledge-based” businesses, […]
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Continue reading Iranian venture firm investing in cyber tech is subject of US sanctions
Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch this week. I hope we can all look forward to a nice, boring weekend with no breaking news alerts. Continue reading Extra Crunch roundup: 2 VC surveys, Tesla’s melt up, The Roblox Gambit, more
Dragos, a Maryland-based industrial cybersecurity company, said Tuesday it raised $110 million, the latest sign that investors are pouring money into securing the critical infrastructure frequently targeted by hackers. The Series C funding round comes courtesy of the investment arms of chemical manufacturing giant Koch Industries; multinational electricity and gas utility National Grid; Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil companies; and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Once an obscure field for investors, the security of industrial control systems (ICS) — the ruggedized computer systems that help run global factories and power plants — is now prompting some of the world’s richest companies to open their checkbooks. The investment shows that the security of such critical technology “is a large market that is something that the companies out there, the world leaders, really care about,” said Dragos CEO Robert M. Lee. It also shows that major industrial organizations are aware that state-affiliated hackers […]
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Last week was a busy week, what with an election in Myanmar and all (well, and the United States, I guess). So perhaps you were glued to your TV or smartphone, and missed out on our conversation with Asheem Chandna, a long-time partner at Greylock who has invested in enterprise and cybersecurity startups for nearly […] Continue reading Greylock’s Asheem Chandna on ‘shifting left’ in cybersecurity and the future of enterprise startups
Yes, there is an election, but that’s getting pretty boring at this point. What’s far more interesting is the future of enterprise and cybersecurity startups, markets where companies are dumping billions of dollars in the wake of the largest change in office work in decades. Old notions are being discarded, new ideas are in — […] Continue reading Extra Crunch Live: Join Greylock’s Asheem Chandna today at 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT on the future of enterprise and cybersecurity investing
Most venture capital firms are based in hubs like Silicon Valley, New York City and Boston. These firms nurture those ecosystems and they’ve done well, but SaaS Ventures decided to go a different route: it went to cities like Chicago, Green Bay, Wisconsin and Lincoln, Nebraska. The firm looks for enterprise-focused entrepreneurs who are trying […] Continue reading SaaS Ventures takes the investment road less traveled
Four years after the Great Recession, France’s newly elected socialist president François Hollande raised taxes and increased regulations on founder-led startups. The subsequent flight of entrepreneurs to places like London and Silicon Valley portrayed France as a tough place to launch a company. By 2016, France’s national statistics bureau estimated that about three million native-born […] Continue reading 12 Paris-based VCs look at the state of their city
The global legal services industry was worth $849 billion dollars in 2017 and is expected to become a trillion dollar industry by the end of next year. Little wonder that Steno, an L.A.-based startup, wants a piece. Like most legal services outfits, what it offers are ways for law practices to run more smoothly, including […] Continue reading Steno raises $3.5 million led by First Round to become an extension of law offices
Fewer face-to-face meetings between security startups and potential investors contributed to a steep decline in the number of venture capital deals since COVID-19 spread throughout the world. Investments in early stage cybersecurity companies fell by 37.7% during the second fiscal quarter of 2020, compared to the same time period in 2019, according to a financially-focused paper published Tuesday by venture firm DataTribe. It’s a downward trend that began at the end of last year and continued into the first months of 2020 as global economies reacted to the coronavirus pandemic. Early stage investments in the overall technology sector are down by roughly 45% over the first two quarters of this year, according to DataTribe co-founder Mike Janke. Other external factors — such as uncertainty about U.S. politics, shifting monetary policy and increasingly high investment levels — also are fueling the decline in investing. Venture deals typically close 90 days after […]
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Continue reading Decline in early cyber investments continues alongside coronavirus concerns