Technology
Instead of raising a new fund, Global Founders Capital will use Rocket Internet funds
Global founders’ capitala Berlin-based early-stage VC firm with close ties to German startup factory Rocket Internet will develop into the enterprise arm of Rocket Internet.
The VC had previously raised two $1 billion funds, and just a few years ago his name was featured in dozens of deals a yr. But then the situation calmed down. Now we all know why: in the longer term, the corporate will invest exclusively from Rocket Internet’s balance sheet.
Last yr Financial Times. announced that Global Founders Capital is within the midst of a major strategic change. A couple of weeks ago, the VC firm reached out to TechCrunch to verify the pivot and discuss the reasoning behind the change.
“To be transparent, there have been quite a few changes at Global Founders Capital in recent years – in terms of fund structure and team composition,” Global Founders Capital partner David Sainteff (pictured above) told us.
Sainteff said the corporate has decided it shouldn’t be the fitting time to lift one other fund since it shouldn’t be a good time to speculate since it doesn’t imagine there are numerous good opportunities that meet the corporate’s criteria and that it doesn’t need more capital to retain competing against other investors to shut a deal.
Global Founders Capital was originally structured as a traditional VC firm with several limited partners participating within the funds. With its first fund, it supported future unicorns comparable to Personio, Revolut and SumUp. With the second fund, the corporate invested in several TechCrunch-covered firms comparable to Pennylane, Ankorstore and Seyna.
Before joining Global Founders Capital seven years ago, Sainteff worked for Rocket Internet he was an investor in Global Founders Capital from the start. Therefore, there was a close bond between them from the very starting.
“After launching the second fund, we decided not to raise another one. Instead, we will use Rocket Internet’s capital,” he confirmed. “We have EUR 300 million on our balance sheet to use for venture investments. We are not planning any collections.”
Honestly, that is a little strange because the corporate’s performance to date seems pretty good. According to Sainteff, the primary fund will generate returns of 3x to 4x. “For the second fund, it is (to say) much too early,” he continued. “But we have some clear winners like Pennylane. We have entered the pre-seed stage and the company is worth over €1 billion.”
The new strategy signifies that Global Founders Capital is now much smaller than it was once, with only five partners left: Fabricio Pettena, Don Stalter, Cedric Asselman, Sainteff and, of course, Rocket Internet co-founder and CEO Oliver Samwer.
The new version of the corporate will also focus exclusively on early-stage investments, in addition to opportunities for further investments in later rounds (series A, B, C, etc.).
Has Global Founders Capital decided not to lift a third fund since it didn’t receive sufficient support from potential limited partners or because of the present technology downturn in comparison with 2021 (aside from the AI boom)? The decision probably relied on each aspects.
“It wasn’t the best time to raise funds with (limited partners),” Sainteff told us. “We believe it was difficult to introduce the need for capital.”
“It’s easy to make a decision when you have EUR 300 million in the bank,” he added. “If other VC firms were in the same boat, they would make the same decision. We do not rule out the possibility of obtaining a fund if the conditions are favorable.”
For now, the pivot is reversing much of the fund’s earlier expansion, because it expanded into more geographies, technology areas and financing stages and added the Global Founders Capital name to a number of deals.
Technology
US medical device giant Artivion says hackers stole files during a cybersecurity incident
Artivion, a medical device company that produces implantable tissue for heart and vascular transplants, says its services have been “disrupted” resulting from a cybersecurity incident.
In 8-K filing In an interview with the SEC on Monday, Georgia-based Artivion, formerly CryoLife, said it became aware of a “cybersecurity incident” that involved the “compromise and encryption” of information on November 21. This suggests that the corporate was attacked by ransomware, but Artivion has not yet confirmed the character of the incident and didn’t immediately reply to TechCrunch’s questions. No major ransomware group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Artivion said it took some systems offline in response to the cyberattack, which the corporate said caused “disruptions to certain ordering and shipping processes.”
Artivion, which reported third-quarter revenue of $95.8 million, said it didn’t expect the incident to have a material impact on the corporate’s funds.
Technology
It’s a Raspberry Pi 5 in a keyboard and it’s called Raspberry Pi 500
Manufacturer of single-board computers Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer keyboard device with higher specs. Named Raspberry Pi500This successor to the Raspberry Pi 400 is just as powerful as the present Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It is on the market for purchase now from Raspberry Pi resellers.
The Raspberry Pi 500 is the simplest method to start with the Raspberry Pi because it’s not as intimidating because the Raspberry Pi 5. When you take a look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you do not see any chipsets or PCBs (printed circuit boards). The Raspberry Pi is totally hidden in the familiar housing, the keyboard.
The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is you could connect a mouse and a display and you are able to go. If, for instance, you’ve got a relative who uses a very outdated computer with an outdated version of Windows, the Raspberry Pi 500 can easily replace the old PC tower for many computing tasks.
More importantly, this device brings us back to the roots of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational applications. Over time, technology enthusiasts and industrial customers began using single-board computers all over the place. (For example, when you’ve ever been to London Heathrow Airport, all of the departures and arrivals boards are there powered by Raspberry Pi.)
Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the roots of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a non-profit organization. It’s the right first computer for college. In some ways, it’s a lot better than a Chromebook or iPad because it’s low cost and highly customizable, which inspires creative pondering.
The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution. It costs $90, which is a slight ($20) price increase over the Raspberry Pi 400.
Only UK and US keyboard variants will probably be available at launch. But versions with French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nordic and Spanish keyboard layouts will probably be available soon. And when you’re in search of a bundle that features all the things you would like, Raspberry Pi also offers a $120 desktop kit that features the Raspberry Pi 500, a mouse, a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable.
In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced one other recent thing: the Raspberry Pi monitor. It is a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor that’s priced at $100. Since there are quite a few 1080p portable monitors available on the market, this launch is not as noteworthy because the Pi 500. However, for die-hard Pi fans, there’s now also a Raspberry Pi-branded monitor option available.
Technology
Apple Vision Pro may add support for PlayStation VR controllers
According to Apple, Apple desires to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive for gamers and game developers latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The Vision Pro was presented more as a productivity and media consumption device than a tool geared toward gamers, due partly to its reliance on visual and hand controls moderately than a separate controller.
However, Apple may need gamers if it desires to expand the Vision Pro’s audience, especially since Gurman reports that lower than half one million units have been sold to this point. As such, the corporate has reportedly been in talks with Sony about adding support for PlayStation VR2 handheld controllers, and has also talked to developers about whether they may support the controllers of their games.
Offering more precise control, Apple may also make other forms of software available in Vision Pro, reminiscent of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop.
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