Imagine a young startup where two of three founders are pushed out the door. Imagine that this same startup parts ways with its COO, its SVP of Finance, its VP of Guest Experience, its VP of Engineering, its VP of Marketing and roughly half its other full-time employees, all within a period of months. Not […]
General Catalyst Partners
With $2.5 Million from VCs, Mapsense Charts Its Next Steps
Mapsense, a 12-person, San Francisco-based company that’s been quietly producing map analytics tools for corporate customers, is today revealing that it has raised $2.1 million in funding led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation from Redpoint Ventures, Formation 8 and Amplify. LA. The announcement is interesting for a few reasons, starting with what Mapsense is […]
Pushbullet, Beloved by Users, Shoots for Fresh Funding
Pushbullet, a San Francisco-based, six-person software startup whose free app makes it easy for users move notifications, links, and files between devices, is announcing $1.5 million in seed funding from General Catalyst Partners, SV Angel, Alexis Ohanian, Garry Tan, Paul Buchheit, and other angel investors. It’s in the market again, too. As is often the […]
Mithril Capital Bets Big on Diabetes
Mithril Capital Management prides itself on funding unique “growth companies regardless of sector or geography,” says Ajay Royan, who founded the San Francisco-based venture firm with investor Peter Thiel in 2012. Last month, for example, it backed a Berlin-based, publicly traded company with an approved treatment for brain cancer. Fractyl, a company aiming to better control type […]
A VC for Hard-Core Developers
StrictlyVC recently visited General Catalyst Partners in Palo Alto, Ca., as readers who’ve caught our interviews with Niko Bonatsos and Neil Sequeira know. Today, we conclude our General Catalystorm™ with Steve Herrod, a managing director who joined the firm last year after spending a dozen years with VMWare, the software giant that specializes in virtualization. Herrod was VMWare’s chief […]
VC: Opportunity for New E-Commerce Brands is “Endless”
In recent years, a seemingly unending procession of direct-to-consumer companies that make and sell everything from men’s pants to eyeglasses to snack foods has sprung up and nabbed venture capital. Think Bonobos,Warby Parker, and HelloFresh, among many others. In fact, based on venture cycles, one might be inclined to think that it’s time for investors to move […]
The Beauty of Annoying Apps
Earlier this week, I stopped at the Palo Alto offices of General Catalyst Partners, an East Coast heavyweight that’s been politely muscling its way into more West Coast startups since planting a flag in the Bay Area in late 2010. One of those companies is Snapchat, the popular mobile messaging startup, and one of the […]
That’s It?
Almost a week ago, some odious years-old emails written by Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel were leaked to the media, and it’s a wonder how quickly their content seems to be have been swept under the rug. It’s understandable, to a point. Spiegel’s emails were written when he was a college student trying to impress his […]
NatureBox Shows Why VCs Are Rushing to Back Food-Delivery Companies
Venture capitalists have seemingly gone bananas over food startups. According to VentureSource, in the last 14 months, 15 companies that deliver restaurant meals have been funded; meanwhile another 11 startups that sell general food products were funded last year – an industry record. Are investors overdoing it? Perhaps, though a peek into the business of NatureBox, […]
Innovation in Snapchat Time
There’s been a lot of talk of “ephemerality” in tech circles lately, driven in part by the rise of Snapchat, the popular mobile app that allows users to send self-destructing messages and images. But Niko Bonatsos, a principal at General Catalyst Partners — which participated in Snapchat’s A and B funding rounds — thinks the […]