Back when Illumina first announced they were going to acquire GRAIL, the general feeling in the M&A field was that this wouldn’t trigger any antitrust issues. I was asked if I could think of any difficulties. I didn’t claim back then that I was an antitrust expert (and still don’t), but I did wonder if...
San Diego startups had a good quarter raising money, pulling in a near record amount of $1.26B (as reported in the San Diego Union Tribune). San Diego County startups pulled in $1.26 billion in the second quarter, the region’s largest single quarter of venture funding since at least 2014, according to the National Venture...
The Launch Factory announced their first startup venture. Unlike a typical accelerator, the Launch Factory is sort of a “reverse” accelerator in that they come up with the startup idea and then search for entrepreneurs to execute the vision. It’s not a great model for most entrepreneurs, but it could be attractive for some. I...
Procopio has a nice article warning startup founders and investors about changes that are coming to SAFEs, the popular convertible investment device developed by Y-Combinator. While the standard terms of convertible notes have remained fairly constant over the years, Y-Combinator has recently made significant changes to their standard form of SAFE, recasting it as a...
If you’re currently starting up your own company here in San Diego, or even just thinking about it, San Diego Startup Week, organized by Startup San Diego, should be high on your list. The annual non-profit startup meeting/workshop/networking event promises to be bigger and better than ever this year: San Diego...
San Diego startups have a new potential source for raising VC capital, as Anzu Partners is looking to raise $150M for local investments. Their focus isn’t strictly on the life sciences, but many of their investments are in this area. Anzu’s managing partner David Michael said their areas of interest include life sciences tools, microfluidics,...