INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s startups and venture capital news
Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit
Last week, I wrote about All Raise’s expansion, Uber the TV show and the unicorn from down under.Remember, you can send me tips,
suggestions and feedback to kate.clark@techcrunch.com or on Twitter @KateClarkTweets
If you don’t subscribe to Startups Weekly yet, you can do that here.The SoftBank sagaAccording to a new report from The Wall Street
Journal, SoftBank plans to take a more conservative approach as it begins deploying capital from Vision Fund II
Why? The Japanese mega-fund’s track record is less than stellar
Not only has it lost billions on WeWork, but several of its other portfolio companies are suffering through layoffs, mismanagement and
more.Fair.com, a startup building a flexible car ownership business that is valued at $1.2 billion — backed by some $500 million in equity
from SoftBank and others, plus billions more dollars in debt funding — said this week that it will be laying off 40% of its staff
On top of this, it’s removing its CFO, Tyler Painter, the brother of the CEO and co-founder (and car business veteran) Scott Painter
He’s being replaced in the interim by Kirk Shryoc
Read more from TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden.WeWork, the co-working giant we’re all too familiar with at this point, has benefited from
$18.5 billion from SoftBank, according to Marcelo Claure, a SoftBank executive who’s speech to WeWork employees was leaked to Recode this
“We have guaranteed the future of WeWork, but more importantly is we’re putting the future back into our hands
There’s no more days needed to go fundraising …The size of the commitment that SoftBank has made to this company in the past and now is
To put the things in context, that is bigger than the GDP of my country where I came from
That’s a country where there’s 11 million people.” Now nearly every single WeWork investor, particularly SoftBank, is entirely under
water.There’s more where that came from
Brandless, another … star of SoftBank’s portfolio, has struggled greatly with layoffs and a CEO shake-up, according to The Information
The dog-walking startup Wag raised $300 million from SoftBank, has also endured layoffs and management changes, and has failed to protect
the safety of its pets, per this great report from CNN
And Compass, a real estate unicorn, has lost its CFO, CMO and CTO in what’s been labeled “Another SoftBank-Fueled Real Estate
Exodus.”BERLIN, GERMANY – DECEMBER 05: Clue Co-founder - CEO Ida Tin talks at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2017 at Arena Berlin on December
4, 2017 in (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch,)Meet me in BerlinThe TechCrunch team is heading to Berlin again this year for
our annual event, TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin, which brings together entrepreneurs and investors from across the globe
We announced the agenda this week, with leading founders including Away’s Jen Rubio and UiPath’s Daniel Dines on tap for great talks
Take a look at the full agenda.I will be there to interview a bunch of venture capitalists, who will give tips on how to raise your first
Buy tickets to the event here.VC dealsEquityThis week, Alex was remote and I was in studio to chat about a new angel fund, the WeWork saga
Listen to the latest episode here.Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on iTunes, Overcast and all the
casts.Startup SpotlightBespoke Financial wants to provide cannabis businesses with the same kind of financial services that other
businesses get, but that dispensaries and growers can’t yet access.The regulations around cannabis operations are so stringent at the
local level — and so nebulous at the federal level — that national banks won’t give businesses in the cannabis industry the same basic
services (like short-term loans).That’s why one former Goldman Sachs banker has partnered with two entrepreneurs from the traditional
agriculture industry to create Bespoke Financial
And it’s why the company has raised $7 million in financing led by Casa Verde Capital — the investment firm launched by legendary
cannabis aficionado, Calvin Broadus (AKA Snoop Dogg)
Read more by TechCrunch’s Jon Shieber here.
