Latest VatorNews stories

• Today's Entrepreneur: Lou Tomassetti

  by Jam Narte, September 26, 2016

  No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs: You will know soon enough who you can and cannot rely on

  I am a(n):Entrepreneur Companies I've founded or co-founded: SMARTRAZOR Companies I work or worked for: Walt Disney Achievements (products built, personal awards won):Brands: SmartRazor, ShaveMate Diva & Titan & Freedom, Safety-Sport, Dog Horn, Ultimate Sports Blaster, Official Party Horn, 00911 Safety Horn If you are an entrepreneur, why?I want to change the world. My favorite startups:SmartRazor,

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• Canvas Venture Fund raises $300M for its second fund

  by Steven Loeb, September 26, 2016

  The company will invest in AI, network marketplaces, fintech, digital health, and new enterprise

  Early stage venture capital fund Canvas Ventures has raised a $300 million fund, it was announced on Monday. This is the firm's second fund, so naturally it will be known as "Canvas Ventures 2.” The firm’s first Fund was capitalized at $175 million in August of 2013. The fund was oversubscribed, as the firm listed had listed $250 million as its target fundraising amount on their private

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• How does Laurel & Wolf make money?

  by Steven Loeb, September 24, 2016

  The company charges a flat fee per room, takes a 25% percent cut from each project

  Editor's Note: Our 6th Annual Vator Splash LA conference is coming up on October 13 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. Speakers include Mark Cuban (one of the hosts of Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas Mavericks); Leura Fine (Founder & CEO, Laurel & Wolf ); Nick Green (Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Thrive Market); Tri Tran (CEO & Co-founder, Munchery); Andre Haddad (CEO, Turo); and many more.

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• M&A roundup - week ending 9/24/16

  by Steven Loeb, September 24, 2016

  Facebook bought Nascent Object; Airbnb acquired Trip4real; Google purchased Api.ai

  Facebook acquired ,modular consumer electronics platform Nascent Objects. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. Baback Elmieh, CEO of Nascent Objects, and his team will be joining Building 8, a research lab formed earlier this year to focus on the hardware it is building, which is based on Facebook software. Founded in 2014, Nascent Capital had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from

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• When Turo was young: the early years

  by Ronny Kerr, September 23, 2016

  Originally created in 2008 as "RelayRides," the company created a Zipcar service without the fleet

  Editor's note: Our 6th Annual Vator Splash LA conference is coming up on October 13 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. Speakers include Mark Cuban (one of the hosts of Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas Mavericks); Brian Lee (Founder & CEO, Honest Company); Leura Fine (Founder & CEO, Laurel & Wolf ); Nick Green (Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Thrive Market); Tri Tran (CEO & Co-founder, Munchery);

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• Twitter soars 20% amid latest acquisition rumors

  The most likely purchasers are Google or Saleforce, which recently lost out on buying LinkedIn

  Something feels different this time, though. Maybe it's because even Twitter's own founders aren't dismissing the idea, or because the rumors are going beyond just speculation or informal talks. This time ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Facebook has been giving advertisers incorrect video stats

  The company was inflating the average time watched, by not counting anything under three seconds

  The company has been telling advertisers that it was calculating the Average Duration of Video Viewed by dividing the total time that the video was watched by the number of people who played it. Seems ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• 500M Yahoo users got hacked: here's what you need to know

  Verizon, which bought Yahoo for $4.83 billion, found out about this two days ago

  Remember when the Target breach happened a few years ago, and we all thought it was huge? After all, it affected 70 million people, cost the company's CEO his job and wound up costing the company hundreds ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Snaplytics will measure influencer success on Snapchat

  The company will help brands with native advertising on Snapchat, giving them deeper insights

  Snapchat has found plenty of success with its advertising platform, and the company is set to make a lot of money off of it very soon, but there are still plenty of brands that want to use the platform ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Amazon expands its Etsy competitor to Europe

  Handmade will now be available to customers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom

  Editor's note: Our 6th Annual Vator Splash LA conference is coming up on October 13 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. Speakers include Mark Cuban (one of the hosts of Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas ...
  By Ronny Kerr
  

• Verizon reportedly in talks to acquire Vessel

  Vessel is a subcription video service started by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar

  Despite paying around $9 billion combined in just those two deals, the company isn't slowing down, it seems. It is currently in talks to buy subcription video service Vessel, according to a report from ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• BrightFarms raises $30.1M to build local greenhouses

  BrightFarms has three greenhouses, and will use the funding to grow to 15 over the next five years

  Living in California, I think I'm spoiled when it comes to the options I have when it comes to healthy and organic food. There are a lot of places that would like to have access, but it's not feasible ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Gametime raises $20M to own the last minute ticket market

  Gametime is mobile-only, and allows its users to buy tickets to events at the very last minute

  If there's one thing that defines the Millennial generation (which I guess I am a part of) it's that we want thing when we want them. We apparently don't really like to plan ahead much, and as soon as ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Today's Entrepreneur: Jibin Jose

  Top lesson learned as an entrepreneur: Perseverance is key

  Today's Entrepreneur is Jibin Jose. Jibin is the Co-Founder of RideBlock, which is focused on developing cutting edge IOT devices & tracking devices for action sports to track tricks & analytics ...
  By Jam Narte
  

• Tech companies step up to help with global refugee crisis

  Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Airbnb, Twitter and Uber among the 51 companies pledging $650M

  There's currently a big refugee crisis going on, especially in Syria, (though you wouldn't know it by watching American news, which can only bother to mention it when a candidate's son decides to compare ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• IoT company Brava raises $12M round led by True Ventures

  Brava is an Internet of Things company currently focused on kitchen appliances

  A few years ago it seemed like all anyone could talk about was the Internet of Things. I envisioned a world of smart, connected devices. Maybe I got ahead of myself a bit, because I expected it to come ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Online pre-owned car retailer Vroom raises $50M

  Vroom will use the funding to grow geographically, and build out its brand

  After years of putting it off, I'm finally learning how to drive. It's easier than I expected it to be, however one thing does worry me: actually being able to afford to buy a car once I actually get my ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Today's Entrepreneur: Bryan Clay

  "Fitness can be intimidating and overwhelming for most. I'm working to change that."

  Today's Entrepreneur is Bryan Clay. Bryan’s 2008 Gold Medal and 2004 Silver Medal in the Decathlon has earned him the title of “World’s Greatest Athlete”. With a desire to change ...
  By Jam Narte
  

• Dundee secures $20M for Midwest-focused seed fund

  Effectively doubling its total capital raised, Dundee Venture Capital commits to the Midwest

  Editor's note: Our 6th Annual Vator Splash LA conference is coming up on October 13 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. Speakers include Mark Cuban (one of the hosts of Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas ...
  By Ronny Kerr
  

• Etsy buys Blackbird Technologies to beef up search

  Blackbird Technologies uses machine learning to delivery better search results

  Blackbird combines images and text using Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence techniques to power capabilities that include natural language processing, image recognition, personalized search, ranking, ...
  By Steven Loeb
  
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