Last week I got a chance to listen to Paul Singh from 500 Startups talk about raising money at The Fort. First of all, I have to say that almost every sentence Paul uttered could have been used as a quote on its own. Below are the best ones, which I broke down into 3…
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Imagine using your media center as a server for your startup. You’re sitting there, watching Netflix, and suddenly, everything goes down. You realize your server just got hit because the Denver Post started using your startup. It happened to Paul Kenjora, and he proceeded to raise $1.5 million for that very same tech startup…in Arizona….
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Hi! I’m a recovering nice guy. I’m on the 3rd step of my 12 step program to get more direct and less nice. Thankfully, as an angel investor, I have lots of people helping me. Let’s start at the beginning. I have a full time job, and I donate much of my time in the…
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This morning HelloWallet announced that they closed $12 million in Series B funding. Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc. invested $6.75 million and DC-based TD Fund (TDF) invested $4 million. Existing investors and new investors also participated in the round. Morningstar and HelloWallet plan to co-market their services to employers and 401(k) providers. I had a chance to…
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DreamIt Ventures recently announced DreamIt Israel, the first hybrid Israel-United States accelerator program. DreamIt has run several high-profile accelerator programs out of both Philadelphia and New York, and has launched such names as SCVNGR, Take the Interview, Postling, Adaptly, Notehall, among others. This will be their first international version. This four month program begins on…
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It is certainly no secret that raising money for your startup requires that you have a proven product, a solid customer acquistion strategy, and a sustainable business model. If you’re in DC, though, you have a bit of an uphill battle, as Uppidy founder Josh Konowe shared with me yesterday. If you’re not familiar with…
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The University of Maryland is home to one of DC’s most active angel investor groups. In 2011, members of the Dingman Angels wrote checks for 9 companies, making 2011 the network’s most active year since its founding in 2004. Investments included Brazen Careerist, Cirrusworks, HugeFan, Nexercise, SevaCall, Spinnakr, Spotflux, Veenome, and YouEye. “Dingman Center Angels’…
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I love love love espresso – well, cappuccino to be honest – and though I don’t know how to code at all, I am super excited about the ZP Espresso Machine, a product design project currently on Kickstarter that was developed by engineers Gleb Polyakov and Igor Zamlinsky. While I dig the fact that their…
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Good news for venture capital firms and those seeking venture funding – in Q4 2011. According to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVTC), venture funds raised $5.6 billion last quarter. That was up more than $3 billion from the prior quarter and nearly $2 billion fromQ4 2010. Now the bad news: All…
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Back in July when I first covered Buyosphere, the Montreal-based startup felt like an iteration of Pinterest – you could curate collections of products, find interesting products through friends, and establish yourself as a tastemaker. I was skeptical about the future of the company – and said so. Co-founder and CEO Tara Hunt replied to…
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CitySourced, the Los Angeles-based real-time mobile civic engagement platform, has recently announced the closing of a $1.33 million Series A funding round. “Having attained profitability earlier this year, we weren’t actively seeking capital investment. But when the opportunity to work with our current investor presented itself, the strategic potential it brought to the table was too…
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TroopSwap.com, a DC-based startup we showcased at our Tech Cocktail DC Summer Mixer in June, just announced the closing of a $2.5 million round of equity financing. This follows the $925k they raised from angel investors in July. This fast-growing ecommerce platform (30,000 members since its launch in May – and counting!) delivers daily deals…
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The Startup America Partnership board convened yesterday and announced over $475 million in new committed resources. The new infusion of resources from more than 50 companies now pushes Startup America’s total commitment value to over $1.2 billion. Since the release of this platform back in September, more than 2,000 startups have joined the Start America Partnership. This…
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I’m a Dingman Angel, which is an angel network sponsored by the University of Maryland’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. As a member of the group, I recently encountered a disgruntled entrepreneur who was incredulous that his startup was eliminated during the screening process – before having a chance to present to the group. He couldn’t…
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CustomMade, a Boston-based online marketplace, just raised a nice $2.1 million in Series A funding – a nice holiday gift for the startup, whose platform connects shoppers with artisans who create handmade luxury custom goods. The funding will be used to expand the CustomMade team and its operations. If Etsy is Anthropologie – or a…
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Steve Case and Ted Leonsis, the pioneering founders of AOL, want to give back to the community that played home to their media enterprise’s early success. Frustrated by local businesses having to look toward Silicon Valley for the financial assistance necessary to grow, Case, Leonsis, and partner Donn Davis have raised enough capital to start…
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There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More
Coming off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would... Read More