🗒️ Japan to let startups raise VC funding via digital assets: Nikkei
Blockworks: Japan is reportedly preparing to allow startups to raise fresh funding from venture capital firms through the sale of digital assets.
According to a report by Nikkei on Friday, the plan from the Japanese government is expected to be submitted to parliament as early as next year. Blockworks has reached out for further confirmation.
Traditionally, the VC environment in Japan has been seen as conservative compared to more aggressive markets like Silicon Valley. Regulations have been viewed as stringent and the investment scene risk-averse.
Limited partnerships, the common vehicle for VC investment in Japan, are generally restricted to more conventional assets.
The new rule would add digital assets to a list of investment avenues available to those firms looking to put money into budding crypto startups, including stock options and securities.
🗒️ Sequoia and Andreessen to take a huge hit on their 2021 Instacart investment, after a 75% plunge in valuation
CNBC: Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, two of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile venture firms, are poised to take a massive hit on their last investment in grocery delivery company Instacart, a deal that closed in 2021 as tech stocks were soaring.
In its latest IPO prospectus update, filed Friday, Instacart said it plans to sell shares at $28 to $30 apiece, valuing the company at around $10 billion at the top of the range.
That’s more than 75% below where Sequoia and Andreessen invested in early 2021. At that time, Instacart sold shares at $125 a piece for a $39 billion valuation. The delivery economy was booming because of Covid shutdowns, and Instacart’s services were seeing record demand.
🗒️ SEC Adopts Significant Rule Changes for Private Fund Advisers
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati: On August 23, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted or amended rules under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act) that impose significant new obligations on advisers to private funds.1
This alert outlines the new obligations for advisers to venture capital and private equity funds, including funds of funds.2
🗒️ Bootstrapping vs. Seeking Venture Capital — How to Decide the Best Avenue for Your Business
Entrepreneur: very person who's founded a business knows that financing your idea is one of the hardest but most important early steps. In fact, creating a stable financial nest for your new company might be the difference between a company that thrives and one that fizzles out.
There are two primary methods of financing: looking for venture capital and bootstrapping. Choosing which financing method you go with is a crucial decision that may have long-term impacts on your business.
So, how should you decide which method to pursue?
Top 3 book summaries this week 📚
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish
Verne Harnish is the founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company with over 210 partners on six continents.
He's been at it for three decades, and his book Mastering The Rockefeller Habits has been used by thousands of companies world-wide to learn and apply the tools they need in order to profitably run a fast-growing company.
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
Work hard. Become successful. Then be happy. That's a formula that you've probably heard and seen before, many, many times. It's a formula that's in-grained in our culture. The only problem with this formula is that it isn't true. Luckily for us, Shawn Achor is here to give us the inside scoop on how happiness actually works, and why we've got the formula exactly backwards - that happiness and optimism actually fuel performance, and is not the result of it.
Getting Things Done by David Allen
In Getting Things Done, you’ll learn two critical things:
· How to capture all of the things you need to get done (both now and in the future); and
· How do discipline yourself around the amount of “inputs” you allow into your life so you can take the appropriate next actions to get those things done.
What'll you'll end up with at the end this summary is a system to get control back over your life.
