Month: April 2021
How UK-based Lendable is powering fintechs across emerging markets
What moves the needle for digital lenders is serving loans to their respective customers. But where does this money come from? The pool is usually equity or debt. While some lenders use the former, it can be seen as folly because, over time, the founders tend to lose ownership of…
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Basecamp sees mass employee exodus after CEO bans political discussions
Following a controversial ban on political discussions earlier this week, Basecamp employees are heading for the exits. The company employs around 60 people, and roughly a third of the company appears to have accepted buyouts to leave, many citing new company policies. On Monday, Basecamp CEO Jason Fried anounced in…
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How to attract large investors to your direct investing platform
David Teten Contributor More posts by this contributor Should you give an anchor investor a stake in your fund’s management company? How VC and private equity funds can launch portfolio-acceleration platforms Many fintech startups have tried to become a market-maker between investors and investment opportunities. However, the challenge with this…
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Basecamp implodes as employees flee company, including senior staff
After a controversial blog post in which CEO Jason Fried outlined Basecamp’s new philosophy that prohibited, among other things, “societal and political discussions” on internal forums, company co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson said the company would offer generous severance packages to anyone who disagreed with the new stance. On Friday, it…
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Facebook is buying the developer behind VR shooter ‘Onward’
After a steady stream of studio acquisitions in late 2019 and early 2020, Facebook has been a little quieter in recent months when its came to bulking up its VR content arm. Today, the social media giant breaks that stream, announcing their acquisition of Downpour Interactive, the developer of the…
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Roku and YouTube TV are now in an all-out public showdown
On Friday morning, Roku pulled YouTube TV from its channel store. Its removal came after Roku’s distribution agreement for the app expired and negotiations between it and Google fell apart without any new deal in sight. The popular streaming hardware maker warned customers of this outcome earlier in the week,…
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