Startup employees are finding it difficult to sell their stocks in the secondary market as the bid-ask spread has increased to 22%, per Forge Global. Employees are still expecting previous peak valuations while liquidating stakes, which buyers are unwilling to match, thereby increasing the bid-ask spread. According to Forge, the normal secondary market trading pace won't resume until the bid-ask spread drops to 11%. More: - Stock owners have two options: sell the shares at reduced valuations or wait for the market to rebound. The latter option seems riskier in the event that the company was to raise a down round.
- Laid-off employees looking to liquidate their stocks may have to settle in for lower prices, as they may not have any other options amidst the prospects of an impending recession.
- On their secondary share trading platforms in November of last year, Forge Capital and EquityZen observed trades taking place at 47% and 40% lower than their peak values, respectively.
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Bitwarden, an open-source platform for password management, acquired Passwordless.dev. The latter provides passwordless authentication technologies. More: - Bitwarden helps users create different hard-to-guess passwords and stores them in a secure vault.
- As an open-source organization, the company promises full transparency in its codebase and allows the community to develop new features.
- However, passwords have become a risky authentication method as most business security breaches are in the form of compromised passwords.
- With the purchase of Passwordless.dev, Bitwarden plans to facilitate that developers bake safer native biometric sign-in smarts into their software.
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 A message from VANTA Compliance doesn’t have to be complicated. In order to close major customers, startups must prove their products are secure. But preparing for and obtaining the most sought-after security compliance standards can be time-consuming and *very* expensive. Unless you use Vanta. Vanta is your fast, trusted solution for compliance. They simplify the complex, tedious process of proving compliance–including industry faves SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Getting compliant with Vanta is simple: - Connect Vanta to your business tools, like your cloud provider and task tracker.
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The metaverse fashion startup, House of Blueberry, announced it raised $6M Seed. Makers Fund led the round, and Everblue Management participated. The company plans to use the funds to expand its partnerships, grow its audience, and develop new products. More: - Since its launch in 2012, the company has sold over 20 million digital assets on metaverse and other interactive virtual platforms such as Roblox, The Sims, and Second Life.
- While currently focused on women's clothing, the startup plans on expanding its product line to include male or androgynous pieces, accessories, makeup, and other "environmental assets."
- The company has previously partnered with other fashion houses, such as Natori and Boy Meets Girl, to introduce unique digital assets.
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Nest co-founder Matt Rogers has launched a new startup, Mill, that turns household food waste into ingredients for chicken feed. Google Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Ventures, Lowercarbon, and Prelude have invested $100M into the new venture. More: - Mill provides a kitchen bin that grinds household food waste into small particles that are then picked up and delivered to farms where they are used as a component in chicken feed.
- The service is offered by the startup for $33 per month.
- Rogers is best known for designing the iPhone during his tenure at Apple before he founded the smart thermostat startup Nest.
- Rogers is joined by co-founder Harry Tannenbaum, formerly a director at Nest.
- Mill has hired executives from Uber and Lyft to deal with the logistical difficulties.
Zoom out: - Food and biodegradable waste is responsible for 20% of the world's methane emissions and produces carbon dioxide equivalent to running 42 coal-fired power plants, according to Climate & Clean Air Coalition and EPA.
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Axiom Cloud secured $7.4M in Series A funding for commercial refrigeration that uses AI. The startup already provides AI refrigeration to North American grocery chains and cold storage warehouse operators. More: - The leading investor was Blue Bear Capital.
- Axiom plans to use the new funding for scaling its software, operations, and sales team.
- Since its founding in 2020, the startup has raised a total of $11.6M.
- Axiom's AI lowers power use and refrigerant leaks, improves margins, and turns everyday cooling infrastructure into virtual batteries.
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Trezi, a metaverse for architects, engineers, designers, and manufacturers, has raised $2M Series A to further develop the virtual world. World V and YourNest Venture Capital led the funding round with participation from Auxano Capital and She Capital. More: - The metaverse was designed to reduce construction waste by connecting architects, designers, and engineers to product manufactures.
- Architects and related users upload architectural models so others can view, edit, and provide feedback on the project in real time.
- By foregrounding the importance of digital twins in the design process, Trezi hopes to show how designers can utilize the metaverse to reduce waste by choosing their products in a virtual space.
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Quick Hits: - Enjoy 50% off your first month when you join the Athletic Club. Get award-winning brews delivered monthly and perks like early access + free shipping!*
- Sequoia Capital will focus on seed-stage investing and has planned a new $195M fund to back its commitment. The firm will also run three cohorts of its Arc accelerator instead of the usual two, with individual check sizes averaging $1M and batch sizes ranging from 15 to 20 startups.
- National security intelligence technology maker Vannevar Labs raised $75M in Series B funding led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from DFJ Growth, Aloft VC, General Catalyst, Shield Capital, and others.
- Jennifer Abele and Raquel Filmanowicz established a new venture capital firm VC 414, to back early-stage companies led by women and diverse founders.
- Singapore Food Agency has given regulatory approval to Good Meat, a division of U.S.-based food startup Eat Just, allowing it to sell cultivated meat manufactured without using any animal serum.
- 11 aerospace startups have joined Aerospace Xelerated’s incubator program, each set to receive a £100,000 ($123,000) investment from Boeing.
- As your business grows, so does the number of employees and the information they have access to. In this short video, security experts at Vanta demystify access reviews.*
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Upcoming Events: - January 12 - AMA with Gun.io - Building and managing software development teams w/ Deividi Silva (Watch On Demand)
- January 13 - AMA with LinearB - Improving workflow for developers w/ Ori Keren (Watch On Demand)
- January 18 - Inside Interview with Lacework - 4 Common Attack Paths in Cloud Security (Register Here)
- January 25 - Amanda Natividad speaks on zero-click content, how to measure it, and other trends to keep tabs on in 2023. (Register Here) *
- January 26 - Growth Experimentation Workshop: From Strategy to Process by GrowthHackers.com (Register Here)
- February 23 - Startups Book Club, February 2023 (Join The Club)
- April 18 - Human Resources Summit'23 (Register Here)
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History.
Martin Ruiz-Cantu is a Business Researcher at Inside.com. He has a Master's in Global Business and Finance from Georgetown University. He previously worked at HSBC and the World Bank. He is passionate about finance, startups and tech.
| | | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
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