The Crimson Insider (V. #1)
Insights and happenings from the Harvard startup & venture ecosystem
👋 Hello! Welcome to the first edition of The Crimson Insider, a newsletter by Phoenix Fund, bringing you insights and the latest from Harvard’s startup and venture ecosystem, among other exciting news.
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Harvard Students & Alumni Start Legendary Companies 🥇
From Facebook to Stripe to Airbnb, among 100+ others, your peers have founded countless legendary companies.
🥇 HBS students and alumni have founded more Unicorns (70) than any other MBA program.
🥈 Harvard University’s students and graduates have established the second-highest count of Unicorns (164), coming in just behind Stanford.
Recent Harvard Financings / News 💸
🚀 = Phoenix Fund Investment
UNICORN IPO ALERT! Klaviyo announced plans to IPO at a $7.3B valuation. Founded by Andrew Bialecki (Harvard College, 2007). The company is scheduled to go public Tuesday (today!) under the ticker symbol “KVYO.” We will keep you updated in future volumes. More here.
Private Unicorn Alert! Gympass raises an $85M Series F valuing the company at $2.4B. Founded by Cesar Carvalho (HBS, 2012). More here.
Exit Alert! Amazon acquired Fig, a YC-backed startup founded by Brendan Falk (Harvard College, 2020). More here.
🚀 Topline Pro raises a $12M Series A: Nick Ornitz (HBS) and Shannon Kay (HBS) raise $12M in Series A funding to continue their mission of helping service pros manage and grow their business. More here.
🚀 PredictionStrike raises a $10M Series A: Deven Hurt (Harvard College, 2018 + Law, 2023) raised $10M in Series A funding to continue building an athlete investing marketplace. More here.
🚀 Science on Call raised a $7M Seed. Ken Tsang (Harvard College) raised $7M to continue providing tech support for restaurants. More here.
🚀 Minimum has expanded its US operations through a strategic partnership with Nasdaq. Together they will enable ~4,000 listed companies in the US to streamline their carbon reporting ahead of the anticipated SEC carbon disclosure requirements. Effective corporate carbon management requires a new breed of System of Record software, and this is exactly what Minimum provides.
Celebrating Your Peers 🎉
Walker Brumskine (Harvard College + HBS, 2015) closed an inaugural $300M growth equity fund focused on the global sports, media, and entertainment industry: Bluestone Equity Partners. More here.
Inigo Martinez Gil (HBS, 2017) announced the launch of Attom Capital, the first VC fund focused on direct secondary investments in LatAm. More here.
Haystack announced Haystack VII, a $75M fund founded by legendary investor, Semil Shah (Harvard College, Masters, 2008). More here.
Vessel Capital raised a $55M fund focused on Web3 infrastructure and apps. Founded by Mirza Uddin (Harvard College). More here.
Phillip Fleischman (Harvard College) joined Norwest Venture Partners as a VP.
Aashay Sanghvi (Harvard College) was elected partner at Haystack Ventures. More here.
Ben Tour (HBS, 2023) Joined General Atlantic as a VP focused on Growth Investments. More here.
Rashveena Rajaram (HBS, 2023) joined General Catalyst as Chief of Staff. (PS. Rashveena is also a Host of the Women in Venture Capital Podcast; Phoenix Fund Co-Founder, Chloe Breider, was a guest back in 2021 - listen here)
Kelsey Holland (HBS, 2023) announced the launch of her Search Firm, Balance Rock Partners. More here.
Sofia Guerra was promoted to Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners where she is focused on early- and growth-stage healthcare and biotech investments.
12 HBS Alumni named Forbes 50 over 50. More here.
Have a tip, congratulations to give, or want to be featured? Reply to this email.
Harvard VC Spotlight 📸
SV Angel II ($22.7M)
Founded by Ronald Conway (Harvard College, 2011)
12 🦄 & 4 Decacorns!
Invested in the seed rounds of:
Airbnb ($95B Market Cap), Twitter ($41B Latest Valuation), The Trade Desk ($39.9B Market Cap), Twilio ($11.9B Market Cap), Github ($7.5B Acquisition), Affirm ($6.56B Market Cap), GOAT ($3.7B Latest Valuation), Docker ($2.1B Latest Valuation), GoCardless ($2.1B Latest Valuation), Poshmark ($1.7B Acqusition), Warby Parker ($1.38B Market Cap), Yammer ($1.1B Acqusition) and Domo ($390M Market Cap).
Data source: Harry Stebbings, LinkedIn
Community Updates 🧑🤝🧑
2nd Annual Montauk Summer Retreat. This past weekend, Phoenix hosted dozens of founders, investors, and friends in Montauk, NY to network, build community and enjoy time in the sun. More from the event here.
Phoenix’s Generative AI event. In May, we co-hosted a Generative AI event at the AGI House in Hillsborough (recently mentioned in this New York Times article!). The event was packed, with hundreds of Harvard alums showing up to learn from the speaker Anant Bhardwaj and network with each other.
Phoenix fosters community among Harvard founders, investors, and alumni to offer a rewarding extension of the Harvard experience. Stay tuned for future events - we hope to see you soon.
What’s Happening at Harvard? 🤔
🔗 Link: Harvard has a Dispensary now? That’s right - Western Hopes becomes the first dispensary to open in Harvard Square.
🔗Link: Harvard awards six honorary degrees, including Actor Tom Hanks!
Phoenix Library 📚️ 🎙️
🎙️ Great Listens
🔗 Link: Josh Kushner (Harvard College, 2008 & HBS, 2011) - Building Thrive Capital, Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy.
🔗 Link: E141: State of Series A's, VC dry powder, IPO window opens + more with Bill Gurley & Brad Gerstner (HBS, 2000).
📚️ Great Reads
🔗 Link: AI Canon, by Andreessen Horowitz. Everything you need to become fluent in all things AI.
🔗 Link: The Startup Landscape has Shifted Dramatically Accelerators must adapt or fade away, by Techcrunch.
🔗 Link: How Founders Should Think About Cash Management, by Andreessen Horowitz. A great into to cash management.
Cheers,
Anthony, Chloe, & Devon
Phoenix Investment Fund