Extra Crunch Tuesday: 13 Boston-focused venture capitalists talk green shoots and startup recovery

Extra Crunch Newsletter

Tuesday, June 30, 2020 • By Walter Thompson

Welcome to Extra Crunch Tuesday Image Credits: Nigel Sussman In the second half of our Boston-area investor survey, a baker’s dozen of investors shared their thoughts about the startup hub’s future. Although one investor told us that it’s “still too early” to see signs of recovery, other VCs said many companies are using AI to maximize savings, promote automation and optimize across the board, which has led several firms to outperform their pre-COVID forecasts. Here’s who we spoke to: Lily Lyman, Underscore VC Rudina Seseri, Glasswing Ventures Jamie Goldstein, Pillar VC The Victress Capital team (Lori Cashman, Suzanne Norris, Kate Castle, Madeline Keulen, Molly Sellers) Rob Go, NextView Ventures Bill Geary, Flare Capital Michael Greeley, Flare Capital Jeff Bussgang, Flybridge Ventures Neeraj Agrawal, Battery Ventures We’re off on Friday to celebrate Independence Day; have a great week!   Walter Thompson Senior Editor, TechCrunch @yourprotagonist Read more

Where to open a game studio Image Credits: LuisPortugal / Getty Images In recent months, the global economy shuddered to a halt, the world embraced remote work and the U.S. government temporarily stopped issuing work visas. Gaming entrepreneurs considering their next move have a lot to consider, so TechCrunch media columnist Eric Peckham surveyed several VCs who focus on the sector to find out which cities they recommend. “The most interesting takeaway was the lack of consensus,” he concluded. Read more

Extra Crunch 4th of July Sale Sponsored by TechCrunch Buy today and take 25% off the cost of an annual Extra Crunch membership! Read more

Running a queer dating startup amid a pandemic and a racial justice uprising Image Credits: Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch / Getty Images Reporter Megan Rose Dickey interviewed Robyn Exton, founder of queer dating app Her, to discuss the unique challenges of operating a social platform in the midst of COVID-19 and a global movement for racial justice. “It's been wild,” she says. "Honestly, I think it's kind of been a barometer for human psychology.” Read more

Who really benefits from reskilling? Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch The U.S. unemployment rate has reached 13.3%, and the Congressional Budget Office predicts that it won’t fall to 9.5% until the end of 2021. Natasha Mascarenhas interviewed entrepreneurs and investors who work in reskilling technology to see how live online classes, MOOCs (massive open online courses) and other edtech innovations are helping workers level up. “You have to make sure the return of investment is positive and well-aligned to employment otherwise it is not a good intervention,” said David Blake, co-founder of Degreed and Learn In. Read more

CIO Cynthia Stoddard explains Adobe's journey from boxes to the cloud Image Credits: Dennis Sylvester Hurd / Flickr under a Public Domain license. Not that long ago, anyone who wanted the latest version of Adobe Photoshop had to leave their home, visit a store and stand in line with their purchase. Today, “click to upgrade” is a universal expectation. Enterprise reporter Ron Miller interviewed Adobe CIO Cynthia Stoddard to learn more about how the company migrated to cloud service subscriptions. Not only did the move streamline operations, it brought Adobe much closer to its customer base. "You have to work with people. You can't just say, 'Okay we're going to move everything to the cloud.' You have to actually work with the engineering teams, empower them to try new things out, help them with the right level of tooling and how they work as an organization," Stoddard explained. Read more

Volcker Rule reforms expand options for raising VC funds Image Credits: Bloomberg / Getty Images Federal legislation restricts the types of investments banks are allowed to make in private equity and venture capital. Reforming it “has been a domestic regulatory priority for the Trump administration since Inauguration Day,” writes Managing Editor Danny Crichton. A group of regulatory agencies have signed off on changes that will allow banks to invest in venture capital firms. Does this mean banks will roll up their sleeves and get some dirt under their nails when it comes to capital formation, anchoring funds and asset allocation? “The more nuanced change is that the reform could help smaller funds in cities outside major hubs like San Francisco and New York raise capital,” Danny concludes. Read more

Newzoo forecasts 2020 global games industry will reach $159 billion Image Credits: Henrik Sorensen / Getty Images In its 2020 industry report, games and esports analytics firm Newzoo predicted that gaming revenue would reach $159.3 billion in 2020, a year-over-year increase of 9.3%. By comparison, the film industry generated $101 billion in 2019. Eric Peckham breaks down Newzoo’s report by gaming sector and geography. Approximately 2.69 billion people will play video games this year, but “further lockdowns are likely to only increase industry revenue.” Read more

This Week in Apps: WWDC20 highlights, App Store antitrust issues, tech giants clone TikTok Image Credits: Bryce Durbin In her latest recap of the mobile software industry, Sarah Perez recapped major takeaways from Apple’s WWDC20, covered the launch of TikTok for Business and noted Amazon’s release of Amazon Honeycode, its new no-code mobile and web app builder. Plus, funding and M&A news, COVID-19 contact tracing apps and many more headlines. Read more

Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch on programming in a digital world Image Credits: Michael Kovac / Getty Images For his third story last week, Eric Peckham interviewed Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch about the challenges — and opportunties — associated with running a major subscription video on-demand service during a global pandemic and economic downturn. “The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?” said Hirsch. “Now, digital and SVOD allows you to do a lot of great, different things as a consumer, but at the end of the day, a show on Starz linear is the same as the show on Starz over-the-top. It's just a little more easily accessible and more mobile than it was before. And cheaper.” Read more

Startups are poised to disrupt the $14B title insurance industry Image Credits: manusapon kasosod / Getty Images (Image has been modified) Title insurance has changed little in the last century, which means a handful of startups are well-positioned to grab a piece of the $14 billion industry. Favorable state and federal legislation has enabled the biggest companies to control more than 85% of the U.S. market, but “recent changes in legislation and technology have made the industry ripe for disruption.” Read more

From napkin notes to term sheets: A chat with Inspired Capital's Alexa von Tobel Image Credits: Alexa von Tobel On a recent episode of Extra Crunch Live that spanned a number of topics, Alexa von Tobel of Inspired Capital shared tips for breaking into venture capital and looked into the future of hospitality industries like hotels and restaurants. When it comes to starting a career in VC, “you just have to have a learning mindset,” said von Tobel. “Find a few mentors. You'll find people like me. I want to pay it forward. I want to help as many people as I can. There's only 24 hours in a day, but I'm always willing to say, ‘Hey, do this, read this, know about this, check this out. Here's a person you should be friends with.'” Read more

The virtual state of corporate venture capital today Image Credits: Maskot / Getty Images Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (MGHIF) has completed three follow-on investments, two spinouts and two new deals. “It hasn't been easy,” says GHI Fund President Bill Taranto. “It's hard to do venture when you can't venture out into the world, meet founders and do diligence the way we did in the past. But it is possible, if you do some innovating of your own and set up a smoothly functioning system to do CVC virtually.” Read more

Four views: How will the work visa ban affect tech and which changes will last? Image Credits: Catherine Falls Commercial / Getty Images Last week, the Trump administration extended a prohibition on issuing work visas through the end of 2020. The ban will have a massive impact on U.S.-based startups, since no new H-1B, H-2B or J and L visas will be issued until 2021. Four TechCrunch staffers analyzed the president's move in an attempt to see what it portends for the tech industry, the U.S. economy and our national image: Danny Crichton: Trump's ban is a “self-inflicted” blow to our precarious economy Natasha Mascarenhas: Innovative immigrants will follow their dreams elsewhere Zack Whittaker: Banning work visas “puts America at a disadvantage on the world stage” Alex Wilhelm: “Immigration is an all-around good” Read more

How $20 billion healthcare behemoth Blue Shield of California thinks about startups Image Credits: the_burtons / Getty Images With more than four million members and $20 billion in revenue, Blue Shield of California is also a prominent investor — in the last 18 months, the nonprofit health insurer has funded about 10 startups. According to Chief Innovation Officer Jeff Semenchuk, a third of those investments went to companies creating tech that optimizes health care industry operations. “The other two-thirds are about providing service and care to our members and providers,” he told TechCrunch. Read more

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2020 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103