Dylan Terry’s Post

New Post: Bird attracted $500m in venture capital to make electric scooters the urban vehicle of choice - Electric scooter company Bird Global announced Wednesday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection in an attempt to stabilize its wobbly finances. The move marks a sobering comedown for a formerly high-flying startup that was trying to make it easier to get around big cities in an environmentally friendly way with its fleet of electric scooters. The concept attracted about $500 million in investments from prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners before becoming a publicly traded company in 2021. Now, the Miami-based company finds itself struggling to survive after losing more than $430 million since the end of 2021. Bird has lined up $25 million in financing from MidCap Financial, a division of Apollo Global Management, as it tries to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Florida. Michael Washinushi, Bird’s interim CEO, predicted the company will be able to bounce back and continue its “mission to make cities more livable” by providing vehicles that don’t clog the roads nor burn fuel. But investors seemed doubtful as Bird’s stock lost nearly 80% of its remaining value Wednesday to close at 8 cents per share, a far cry from its price of about $154 at the end of 2021.Subscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to keep up with the trends, issues, and executives shaping corporate finance. Sign up for free. #Bird #attracted #500m #venture #capital #electric #scooters #urban #vehicle #choicehttps://lnkd.in/d5mxWsUd

I can’t believe it’s been 3 1/2 years since I first met Cliff Fetner and bought into his #vision for building a business that makes closer connections between those in the #constructionindustry who have and need #dirt and #aggregates. When he first shared his vision with me he said “Soil Connect will be a 1-Stop-Shop for all of your #dirt-related needs!” And he’s never wavered from that big and exciting vision. When I first met Cliff he had never been in #software, had never run a tech #startup, had never raised venture capital, but he did decades of #construction expertise and a big passion for solving problems that #construction professionals face on their job sites. With his industry expertise and passion for bringing value to the construction industry, he successfully built an amazing team of employees, built a web and mobile platform that has saved the industry tens of millions of dollars and reduced thousands of tons of CO2 emissions, and brought together a group of investor partners who have enabled us to get to where we are today. In this next chapter for Soil Connect, I am committed to turning Cliff Fetner’s vision into a reality. I’m grateful and humbled by the belief that he (and our board and investors) has in me to take our business to the next level, and I admire the courage he has shown both by starting this company and by trusting it’s fate in the hands of the team he has built. Here’s to #levelingup and the future for Cliff Fetner and Soil Connect!

Along with a whole bunch of amazing tech in UAS and related fields there are some pretty smart folks when it comes to financing your UAS idea, startup, or business growth. US Senators, the Legislature, the Governor, Counties, and City Mayors have a visionary mindset for growing the spectrum of incredible UAS opportunities! Kevin O'Leary from SharkTank, his group called O'Leary Ventures recognizes the tremendous potential, quite literally, taking off here. (No Pilot on board necessary around here!) Read on to learn more regarding the partnership between State and Private Sector! Make an application here! It's really that simple. https://lnkd.in/gAPQviRw

FOR #STARTUP #FOUNDERS - Part 1 'Sticks & Stones may break my Bones, but Words can never Hurt me' - probably one of the sayings we heard, understood, and repeated from a very early age... right? I've recently had some time to digest the latest (final) chapter in Motorleaf's story - the company I Co-Founded in 2016. Last summer the management team put in place after the Founders left the company, were unable to raise additional capital, and Motorleaf went bust. This was 7 years after lighting up the Pre-Seed Startup ecosystem in Montreal, combining AI, AgTech & SaaS, and employing 18 full-time staff after 18 months. Motorleaf was a tech company focused on helping #growers #greenhouses and #IndoorFarms utilize data to predict their future Yields, and was, what I believed to be the best move I had ever made. I've looked back at the words that helped dictate the path(s) I would walk down. Not all the words I received were harmless. I would say that some were downright dangerous. If my experience can help any existing or future early-stage Founders, I'll be happy. If you've read this far, thanks - this is no clickbait post, it's just me at my laptop with something to share... 'All investors are Sharks with teeth, just not all choose to use them' said one of our great investors (most were excellent) - after it became clear one of the investors did indeed want to use their teeth (post-close), and by no means was this a nibble that I or my other investors could brush off. By that time - wrenching ourselves out of the Sharks mouth was going to do as much damage as letting it chomp away.. Here are a few choice sentences that I remember, if you hear something similar - stop what you're doing and take note.. 'Hate to say it, but I think (shark) has a plan, and it's not good. Can you replace him/pause fundraising?' - a Lawyer, just days before closing. Founders had put their homes up as collateral for a bridge loan, we needed to close. 'He must have Google Street viewed my top floor Condo, and has directly told me it would be a great shame if I lost it, (due to legal action threat)' - Board Member relaying a recent exchange with 'the Shark' "My team and I had looked through all the Shareholder Agreements and Company ByLaws, we just didn't see that clause until now - it was very well hidden..." - Said a well respected, international Law firm, that had not flagged (or in fact, even noticed) v important clauses related to removing key personnel. '________________' - the sound of silence, after reaching out to other portfolio companies that had received investment from 'the Shark', when asking for feedback from the founders. 'You need to convince the other (Angel) investors to waive their rights on this round, we want to limit investment to institutional investors only' - instructions I acted upon, depriving those who first believed in us, reinvesting via legal agreements already in place. As CEO, the buck stopped with me. Hindsight is 20/20 :)

#Cedar, a #Texas-based leading platform for #commercial development, secures $3 million in seed #funding. Leading the round was Caffeinated Capital, with investment from Tishman Speyer Ventures, Alumni Ventures, David Rubenstein via Shorewind Capital, and Maria Davidson, CEO of the well-known construction firm Kojo, among others. Antler, a #multinational venture capital firm, also appears as an early investor (pre-seed round) in Cedar's cap table. The company intends to use the funds to grow its operations and #clientele. Kyle Vansice, Nate Peters, and Rahul Attraya founded Cedar in 2022. Cedar offers a platform that combines a combination of #proprietary and public data with generative algorithms to #swiftly generate a wide range of building designs and precisely anticipate the development yield on any property in a city. Transforming intricate #landdevelopment laws into practical development plans that optimise a property's earnings potential. With aspirations to expand to many major American cities over the following 12 to 18 months, the company now covers Austin. Caffeinated Capital Alumni Ventures Shorewind Capital Maria (Rioumine) Davidson Antler Kyle Vansice Nate Peters Rahul Attraya #cedar #funding #startup

💣 Property inspection solutions provider Inspectify raises $5.7M in new funding round led by Fundrise. As part of the investment, Inspectify will be able to market its inspection services to Fundrise’s portfolio of more than 20,000 residential units and customers. "Inspectify’s services have experienced a 80% year-over-year decrease in demand from institutional real estate investors, But the startup is still growing its market share expanding into other verticals such as property management, insurance, lending and data services. Not only has this helped hedge our business, but also has exponentially grown our total addressable market as a business.” - Josh Jensen, Co-founder at Inspectify Inspectify’s existing backers include Nine Four Ventures, Foundation Capital, the HSB Fund of Munich Re Ventures, Socially Financed, and other angel investors. Learn more about this investment in the article below. 👇 #realestate #PropTech #fundraising #inspectionservices #expansion ---- 💡 Follow PropTech Connect for daily Real Estate news and insights

Gil Tanenbaum puts it perfectly: "TechShield provides investors with “certainty and confidence” to continue investing in performant Israeli companies, gaining VC-level returns while materially driving the economy.” If you are: - Jewish - Investor - Believe tech is the future This initiative might be for you. Jewish Business Network , Gil Tanenbaum , #TechShield , #NoMatterWhat more info techshield.sarona.vc

Quality standards aren’t your enemy; they're your street cred in this concrete jungle. It's not just about checking off some boxes to please the regulatory gods. Nope, it’s about crafting a legacy that echoes through every tank, pipe, box, column, beam, and panel you pop out. It’s about showing up with a promise of excellence that’s carved into the very essence of your company. Quality? It’s your handshake with the world that says, “We’re here to not just build, but to build with integrity and reliability.” Every standard you meet, every benchmark you set, it’s a narrative, it's storytelling, it’s your brand saying, “We take this seriously, and we’re here for the long game.” So, as you hustle through the challenges, remember, embracing quality isn’t about playing it safe. It's about setting a tone that resonates with every stakeholder in the biz. It’s your ticket to making a statement that your plant isn’t just about pouring concrete; it’s about laying down the foundation of trust and excellence. #PrecastConcrete #QualityStandards #ConcreteHustle #Startups #IndustryInnovators #PCI #NPCA #APA #precastdays

So this is pretty fascinating and quite serendipitous. On Monday, I published my latest article, 'Modular construction's conflicting truths', presenting some recent failures, including Modulus. I also questioned when a company vision, which is not yet obtainable, stops being a Big Hairy Audacious Goal and becomes a flat-out lie. I attribute these issues to the influence venture capital has on organisations and their founders.   Well, this Bricks and Bytes podcast with former Modulus employee Chris Spiceley dropped just yesterday. Modulus managed to burn through £10m in 15 months, all pre-revenue. Chris doesn't hold back and is highly critical of how the company was run. Key insights (and I paraphrase):   - Volumetric is often a non-starter due to site access constraints (but less so in the USA) - Trying to have a single solution that can scale globally (to appease investors) is not viable due to location-specific requirements (seismic, termites, etc.).  - Scaling to 60 employees and expanding into other countries when you are pre-revenue and have yet to build a single project is not sustainable. - The founders were dogmatically stubborn in staying true to the original vision, even though the market proved many of their assumptions to be incorrect. - Bad decisions were made to give investors the illusion of progress, even though they were highly detrimental to the project. - Given the discrepancy between what was said versus reality, one wonders how honest the founders were with investors. Worth a listen. And in case you missed it, here is my latest article that I refer to: https://lnkd.in/gtE_5Quj   https://lnkd.in/gszdDdTZ