Food delivery startup Munchery folds, leaving small businesses on the hook

Feb 19, 2019
In 2018, U.S. venture capital investment surpassed the 2000 dot-com peak for the first time. According to the financial data company PitchBook, investors put some $130 billion into thousands of U.S. companies. Many of these businesses will not make it, and as some flame out, they’ll leave behind a trail of debt. This is exactly […]
Three Babes Bakeshop employees at a bake sale protest outside of Sherpa Capital, one of the VC firms that invested in Munchery. 
Sam Harnett for Marketplace

There's tons of money in venture capital, as long as you're a big company

Jan 23, 2019
Do early-stage startups still have a chance at funding?
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
People are reflected in the window of the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Investing while foreign-born: The advantages of being an immigrant venture capitalist

Dec 6, 2018
Immigrants comprise 13.2 percent of the U.S. population, yet 20.6 percent of the country’s entrepreneurs are immigrants, according to a 2016 report from the New American Economy.
Co-founders of One Way Venture in Boston, Semyon Dukach and Eveline Buchatskiy.
Courtesy of One Way Ventures

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on today's entrepreneurs

Dec 4, 2018
There's "more of a wokeness to these founders," he says.
"I think that now is a better time than it's ever been if you have a hobby, if you have a passion, and you're building a following on Instagram ... to potentially turn into something that could be a real business," Alexis Ohanian says.
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

Meet the company training up more diverse startup founders

Nov 15, 2018
Founder Gym offers tools for anyone who wants to start a venture-backed company.
A man looks at his computer at a Starbucks coffee shop in Washington, DC on October 18, 2018.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images

Melinda Gates: "Nobody actually collects good data about women's lives"

“What gets measured is what gets done,” the longtime philanthropist says about investing in women.
French Gates, co-chair of the Gates foundation, says that world needs to do more to progress toward lofty sustainable development goals.
John Moore/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Diverse startups could get traction from chip giant Intel

May 30, 2018
Intel Capital has been funding diverse startups for a few years. Now it's broadened its definition of diversity.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Venture capitalist John Doerr on the virtues and perils of setting goals

The legendary venture capitalist talks about his new book on measuring the right goals.
John Doerr of the venture firm Kleiner Perkins, author of the new book "Measure What Matters."
Courtesy of Andrew Stelzer

When it comes to traditional business loans, non-white and women entrepreneurs are being left behind

May 25, 2018
Despite Texas’ reputation as a business-friendly state, a survey last year from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found access to capital is the number one concern for women and non-white small business owners in the state.   There’s a good reason for that. According to the U.S. Minority Business Development Agency, people of color are three […]