The Crimson Insider (V. #7)
Huge Harvard Financings & Exits, Harvard's Forbes 30u30 & Business Insider's Rising Star Awardees, HBS' New Travel Agency, and more
👋 Hello, Insiders! Thanks to your amazing support, we’ve grown exponentially these past few weeks. If you’re new here, welcome! The Crimson Insider is our bi-weekly newsletter covering the latest from Harvard/HBS’ startup and venture ecosystem.
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🚀 Recent Harvard Startup Financings / News
→ Yieldstreet to acquire Cadre, a real estate investment platform founded by Ryan Williams (College, 2010). Cadre raised more than $133M from the likes of a16z, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, and Thrive Capital, among others. More here.
→ Blackstone to acquire Rover.com (NASDAQ: ROVR), the world’s largest online marketplace for pet care founded by Aaron Easterly (College, 1999), in a cash transaction valued at $2.3B. More here.
→ BlueVoyant raised $140M in Series E funding. Founded by Jim Rosenthal (HLS), BlueVoyant provides advanced threat intelligence, managed security services, and cybersecurity consulting to businesses and organizations. More here.
→ Syrup Tech, a Phoenix Fund PortCo, raised a $17.5M Series A led by Accel. Founded by James Theuerkauf (HBS) and Ferdinand Stockmann (HBS, 2021), Syrup built machine learning models that predict demand and optimize inventory. More here.
→ Cambium raised $19M in Series A funding. Founded by Simon Waddington (HBS, 1996), Cambium is a next-generation defense company accelerating deployment of products like advanced UAVs protection, laser-protective eyewear, and hypersonic components developed using new material innovations. More here.
🚀 Business Insider’s Rising Star VCs
Join us in celebrating Harvard’s 8 rising star VCs: Medha Agarwal (College + HBS), Rob Biederman (HBS, 2014), Amanda Herson (HBS, 2009), Brandon Hoffman (HKS, 2016), Nurzhas Makishev (HKS, 2016), KJ Sidberry (College), Parul Singh (HBS, 2023), and Janelle Teng (HBS, 2020). Read more here.
🚀 Celebrations & Alumni News
→ Jenny Fleiss (HBS, 2009), co-founder of Harvard unicorn, Rent the Runway, joined venture capital firm Initialized Capital as Partner. More here.
→ Laura Maydon (HBS, 2000), Founder & Partner of Ascendo Ventures, is targeting a $50M debut venture capital fund. The firm invests nationwide in early-stage companies led by diverse, visionary founders who are overlooked and underfunded.
→ William Quartner (HBS, 2016) promoted to Partner at Prelude Growth Partners.
→ Colin Woolway (College) announced the launch of West Fifth Partners to acquire and grow a single software company for the long term. Colin was previously a software investor at Vista Equity Partners. More here.
→ David Calder (HBS) and his team at Tower Arch Capital announced the closing of Fund III with $750M in commitments. More here.
→ Federico de la Balze (HBS, 2019) announced the launch of Oasis Growth, a provider of patient growth capital, talent and expertise for high potential software & tech-enabled services businesses. More here.
We love hearing from you - If you have a lead for a future edition, feel free to reply to this email or shoot me a note: devon@phoenixclub.vc
🚀 Harvard’s 2024 Forbes 30u30 Honorees
Congratulations to all of Harvard’s 30u30 Honorees, several of whom are loyal readers of the The Crimson Insider! We’re proud of you. Special shoutout to Nick Ornitz, Shannon Kay, and Katie Kirsch who are founders in Phoenix Fund’s portfolio featured as Forbes 30u30!
Please note that there were many more 30u30 awardees from Harvard, but we limited the scope to startup / venture for the purposes of this newsletter.
🚀 Do You Know of Any Harvard-Founded VC Firms?
What do all of the below firms share in common? If you guessed that they are all founded by Harvard alumni, you are correct! At Phoenix Fund Research, we’re looking in Harvard-founded firms—both established AND emerging—for a series of research reports, and we would LOVE your help: Do you of a Harvard-founded venture capital firm—emerging or established? Please place them on our radar here!
We look forward to sharing these reports with you! Thanks in advance.
🚀 The Latest From Phoenix Fund Research
In case you missed our last research report, Harvard Produces How Many Unicorns a Year?!, here is a recap: The median number of unicorns founded by Harvard students or alumni within any given year is 6.5. The average is 6.6 unicorns per year.
Previous from Phoenix Fund Research:
Upcoming from Phoenix Fund Research:
How long for a Harvard-founded company to IPO? (This Thursday)
🚀 Harvard Campus News
🔗 Link: MBA Students Going Global. HBS invests in a new full-service travel agency to help MBA students plan trips. It’s called HBS Travel, a new consultation and brokerage service designed to help MBA students plan their dream vacations.
🔗 Link: Yale Defeats Harvard 23-18 to Win The Game. Next year, the outcome will be different as the Phoenix community will bring an army of supporters to The Game. You plan to join us, of course?!
🚀Content We’re Enjoying
🎙️ Great Listens
🔗 Link: What Founders Get Wrong about Sales and Marketing (HBR)
🔗 Link: A Conversation with Charlie Munger & John Collison
🔗 Link: Lessons From Founding First Round, Idea Lab, and B Capital with Howard Morgan
📚️ Great Reads
🔗 Link: According to HBS alumni, here are the best reads of the year
🔗 Link: The Big Reset in Seed to Series A Graduation Rates is Real and Permanent
🔗 Link: Report: The State of New York Tech
Enjoying The Crimson Insider? Like, comment, and/or share with your Harvard peers. As always, we love hearing from you: devon@phoenixclub.vc
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Cheers,
Phoenix Fund