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In venture capital, returns follow the power law — 80% of the wins come from 20% of the deals. Great venture capitalists invest knowing they’re going to take a lot of losses in order to hit those wins.
Chris Dixon of top venture firm Andreessen Horowitz has referred to this as the “Babe Ruth effect,” in reference to the legendary 1920s-era baseball player. Babe Ruth would strike out a lot, but also made slugging records. Likewise, VCs swing hard, and occasionally hit a home run. Those wins often make up for all the losses and then some — they “return the fund.”
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Brits have always loved to shop, and nothing typifies this love for spending more than the quintessential British High Street- the main retail strip found in every village, town, and city throughout the UK.
It's hard to believe that Christmas, the busiest shopping season of the year, is just 8 weeks away. And with the UK's most recognisable High Street, London's Oxford Street, set to turn on its famed Christmas lights in the coming days, we thought we'd take a deeper look at the changing face of the British High Street in our "Shifting High Street" series.
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In venture capital, returns follow the power law — 80% of the wins come from 20% of the deals.
Great venture capitalists invest knowing they’re going to take a lot of losses in order to hit those wins.
Chris Dixon of top venture firm Andreessen Horowitz has referred to this as the “Babe Ruth effect,” in reference to the legendary 1920s-era baseball player. Babe Ruth would strike out a lot, but also made slugging records.
Likewise, VCs swing hard, and occasionally hit a home run. Those wins often make up for all the losses and then some — they “return the fund.”
To read more, click here.
The landscape for early-stage investing looks entirely different today than it did just a few years ago.
Today, Series A investors are now looking for more and more traction before leading large Series A rounds. Institutional seed investors have followed suit — increasingly investing only in companies with some demonstrable success in the market. And because institutional seed investors are funding slightly more mature companies, a new pre-seed category has emerged to fund companies one step earlier.
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The UK government has said it will invest an additional £21m into Tech City UK in a bid to expand it into a nationwide network and boost the technology sector across the country.
As part of its plans, the government will also double the amount of visas available for high-skilled workers from outside the European Union following Brexit.
Additionally, the Prime Minister and Chancellor have also announced a new £20m fund to enable public services to take advantage of UK expertise in technologies such as AI.
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Reports about how drones have the potential to change the way businesses operate have dominated the headlines for years.
The adoption challenges are issues that Sky-Futures recognised and ultimately helped drive them to develop “Drone-to-Go”, a full package drone solution for enterprise users that is designed to enable adoption in a far shorter period of time. This complete package includes drone pilot training, regulatory support as well as software and services to ensure deployment. That speed along with the value the tools are opening up is what can and is making a difference.
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Being at an early-stage startup is a bit like being in grade school — but in this version, you have to skip a grade every 6 months and still get all As. You learn quickly because you have to. And while you manage to skip grade after grade, there are many times when you fall short. Then, once you’ve graduated, you look back and realize just how much you’ve learned, and how much you wish you could help others have an easier time with their path.
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Fifteen billion and counting. For once, the hype around an emerging technology looks to be justified: the Internet of Things (IoT) already encompasses a staggering number of devices and today’s total of 15 billion worldwide is expected to reach 50 billion by 2020.
Moreover, despite some technical jargon, the IoT is a simple concept. It is simply a network of devices containing technology that enables each of them to send and receive information via the internet. That might be anything from your exercise-monitoring watch to the components of a factory floor assembly line. The power of the IoT lies in the data it generates, which provides constant feedback about how devices and equipment are performing, where they are, and how their owners are using them.
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Trouva, an online marketplace for homeware and lifestyle brick and mortar boutiques, has raised a $10m Series A.
The round was led by BGF Ventures and drew the support of Index Ventures and Octopus Investments.
Trouva has built a proprietary technology platform to enable consumers to discover brands online. The platform also offers real time ‘click and collect’, one-hour delivery.
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UK FinTech firm Flux, winner of ‘Best Pitch’ at UKTN’s Elevator Pitch LIVE competition, has partnered with Barclays to trial instant digital receipts with 10,000 customers.
The pilot will also see both parties work together to allow major retailers to deliver receipts digitally.
Barclays will be trialling the service through its Launchpad app, its platform for testing new features with real customers.
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