US President <keyword id="99719" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="joe-biden" source="Orion">Joe Biden</keyword> has nominated Indian-origin global venture capitalist <keyword id="753877" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="Deven-Parekh" source="Orion">Deven Parekh</keyword> to the Board of Directors of the International Development Finance Corporation for a fresh term of three years. Parekh is a Managing Director at <keyword id="7496169" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="insight-partners" source="Orion">Insight Partners</keyword>, a growth equity investment fund based in New York City. By statute, the Development Finance Corporation Board of Directors includes four members recommended to the President from Senate and House leadership. Parekh is the nominee recommended by the Senate Majority Leader, the <keyword id="6356037" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="white-house" source="Orion">White House</keyword> said in a statement. Since joining Insight in 2000, Parekh has made more than 140 investments in enterprise software, data, and consumer internet businesses globally, including in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. In addition to his work at Insight and for the Development Finance Corporation, Parekh serves as a Board Member for the Council on Foreign Relations, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, NYU Langone, the Tisch New York MS Research Center, and the Economic Club of New York. He has previously served on the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Advisory Board of the US Export-Import Bank, and a Technical Advisory Council of the Federal Communications Commission. In 2021, Parekh received the Robert F Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award. He is also a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Prior to joining Insight, Parekh was a Principal at Berenson Minella &amp; Company, a New York-based merchant banking firm, where he served on the M&amp;A Committee. He also worked for Blackstone on M&amp;A and other investment activities. Parekh has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The US International Development Finance Corporation is America's development bank, and partners with the private sector to finance solutions to challenges facing the developing world.

Biden nominates Indian-American VC for key post

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Shared-workspace company <keyword id="2918346" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="WeWork">WeWork</keyword> has agreed to go <keyword id="22377" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="public">public</keyword> via a <keyword id="1817616" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="SPAC">SPAC</keyword> merger.</li><li>It agreed to merge with the BowX Acquisition Corp. SPAC in a deal valuing it at $9 billion.</li><li>The deal comes two years after its failed IPO attempt. It was valued at $47 billion in 2019.</li></ul>WeWork is merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, SPAC, in a deal that values it at $9 billion including debt, the company said Friday.The merger with the BowX Acquisition Corp. SPAC would take the Softbank-owned WeWork public, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-ipo-fiasco-adam-neumann-explained-events-timeline-2019-9">two years after the shared-workspace company's disastrous attempt to file an initial public offering (IPO) in 2019</a>. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wework-agrees-to-spac-deal-that-would-take-startup-public-11616752804?mod=latest_headlines">The Wall Street Journal</a> first reported the merger Friday morning, and <a href="https://www.wework.com/ideas/newsroom-landing-page/newsroom/posts/wework-to-become-publicly-traded-via-spac-merger-with-bowx-acquisition-corp">WeWork then confirmed the deal in a press release</a>.A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-spac">SPAC</a> is a company created solely to merge or acquire another business and take it public, making it a cheaper, faster alternative to an IPO, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-spac">Insider's Martin Daks reported</a>.The valuation is less than a quarter of the $47 billion valuation <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weworks-nightmare-ipo?r=ts-sub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WeWork</a> achieved in January 2019, which was in part thanks to a SoftBank investment in January 2019.But its valuation had plummeted more than 80% to below $5 billion by September 2019. The plunge reflected growing concerns about the company's business model, the controversial behavior of CEO Adam Neumann, and lax corporate governance.The BowX Acquisition Corp. SPAC's sponsor is Bow Capital Management, run by Vivek Ranadivé, who also owns the NBA team the Sacramento Kings. NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal is an advisor to Bow Capital Management. The SPAC raised $420 million last year.The transaction would be funded with BowX's $483 million of cash in trust, WeWork said, as well as $800 million private investment from groups including Insight Partners, funds managed by Starwood Capital Group, Fidelity Management &amp; Research Company LLC, Centaurus Capital, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, WeWork said in its press release.WeWork will get about $1.3 billion of cash from the deal, "which will enable the company to fund its growth plans into the future," it said.Ranadivé and Deven Parekh, managing director of Insight Partners, will join WeWork's board, the company said.<h2>SoftBank's WeWork bailout</h2>After WeWork's IPO plans fell through, SoftBank agreed to purchase $3 billion in stock from investors and employees in a bailout package in October 2019. Neumann agreed to step down from the board.But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-is-abandoning-its-3-billion-wework-tender-offer-2020-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoftBank walked away from the deal</a> in April 2020. SoftBank in February of this year reached a proposed settlement with WeWork and Neumann, where it<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-neumann-wework-founder-softbank-payout-settlement-lawsuit-2021-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> would buy around half of its original $3 billion stock purchase</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wework-co-founder-adam-neumann-nears-settlement-with-softbank-11614033832?mod=tech_lead_pos2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Wall Street Journal</a> reported at the time.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-co-founder-adam-neumann-is-stepping-down-as-ceo-2019-9">Neumann stepped down as CEO</a> in 2019 after the failed IPO, and sued SoftBank.Under WeWork and SoftBank's proposals, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-wework-stock-adam-neumann-board-payout-wework-ipo-settlement-2021-2">Neumann would leave the company's board</a>, too, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-neumann-wework-founder-softbank-payout-settlement-lawsuit-2021-2">be paid about $480 million for a quarter of his shares in the company</a>, the Journal reported.Softbank owns a majority stake in WeWork.

WeWork has agreed to go public via a SPAC merger. The deal values it at $9 billion, less than a quarter of its 2019 valuation.

<keyword id="2918346" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WeWork">WeWork</keyword> has now entered into an agreement with Indian-American <keyword id="765" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vivek">Vivek</keyword> Ranadive-led blank-check firm BowX Acquisition Corp., providing for a <keyword id="11002780" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="business-combination">business combination</keyword> that will result in the co-sharing workspace company becoming a publicly listed company. The transaction values WeWork at an initial enterprise value of approximately $9 billion, WeWork said on Friday. The move comes after WeWork's failed attempt to go public in 2019 and dramatic fall in its valuation. Following the setback, Japan-based technology investor <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword> took 80 per cent ownership of the company and infused into it $5 billion in new financing. The new transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2021, subject to receipt of BowX stockholder approval, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. The transaction will provide WeWork with approximately $1.3 billion of cash which will enable the company to fund its <keyword id="414633" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="growth-plans">growth plans</keyword> into the future. "This company (WeWork) is primed to achieve profitability in the short-term, but the added long-term opportunity for growth and innovation is what made WeWork a perfect fit for BowX," <keyword id="479747" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vivek-Ranadive">Vivek Ranadive</keyword>, Chairman and Co-CEO of BowX Acquisition, said in a statement. Following the closing, Vivek Ranadive of BowX and Deven Parekh of Insight Partners will join the company's Board of Directors. "SoftBank has always seen the potential in WeWork's core business to disrupt the commercial real estate industry and reimagine the workplace. Today, we take another step towards making that vision a reality," said Marcelo Claure, the SoftBank CEO and Executive Chairman of WeWork. "The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we work, and WeWork is incredibly well positioned to springboard into a future propelled by digital technology and a new appreciation of the value of flexible workspace. We look forward to having BowX as our partner as we look to the next chapter." Since 2019, WeWork has made significant progress towards transforming its business through a strategic plan that included robust expense management efforts, exits of non-core businesses, and material portfolio optimisation, which contributed to a dramatically improved cost structure. Over the course of 2020, WeWork said it improved its free cash flow by $1.6 billion through cost cutting measures including reducing SG&amp;A expenses by $1.1 billion and trimming building operating expenses by $400 million. The company also exited all of its non-core ventures and streamlined headcount by 67 per cent from its peak in September 2019. The company's 2020 revenue, excluding China, was $3.2 billion, which is flat compared to 2019, even after exiting non-core businesses and despite significant headwinds from Covid-19. Going forward, WeWork intends to expand beyond its core business through its On Demand, All Access, and Platform offerings, enabling users to choose from their WeWork mobile app when, where, and how they work. "WeWork has spent the past year transforming the business and refocusing its core, while simultaneously managing and innovating through a historic downturn," Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of WeWork, said in a statement. "As a result, WeWork has emerged as the global leader in flexible space with a value proposition that is stronger than ever. Having Vivek and the BowX team will be invaluable to WeWork as we continue to define the future of work." Claure and Mathrani will continue to lead WeWork as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/elections/news/bjp-candidate-bharati-ghosh-who-is-contesting-from-west-bengals-debra-assembly-constituency-has-an-impressive-bank-balance/articleshow/81705273.cms">Bharati Ghosh, BJP's West Bengal contestant from Debra, has a robust bank balance along with a rather long rap sheet</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/elections/news/checkout-the-list-of-bjp-tmc-and-congress-candidate-names-in-first-phase-west-bengal-election/articleshow/81704142.cms">The entire list and exciting facts about the 30 assembly constituencies going to polls in West Bengal on March 27</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/government-mandates-companies-to-disclose-cryptocurrency-holdings-from-april-1/articleshow/81704174.cms">Indian companies will have to disclose cryptocurrency holdings from April 1 – industry insiders welcome decision</a>

WeWork to go public in $9 billion merger with Vivek Ranadive-led BowX

<ul><li>The development comes after CEO <keyword id="4534514" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="suhail-sameer" source="Orion">Suhail Sameer</keyword> responded to a comment by <keyword id="2988161" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ashneer-grover" source="Orion">Ashneer Grover</keyword>’s sister on LinkedIn.</li><li>Sameer noted that the company did not have any money to pay salaries since her brother, Ashneer, stole it all.</li><li>Ashneer Grover was stripped of all <keyword id="7349800" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharatpe" source="Orion">BharatPe</keyword> titles last month for alleged “misappropriation of company funds”.</li></ul>Ashneer Grover — the former founder, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of BharatPe — has written to the board of the merchant payments platform, calling out the existing CEO Suhail Sameer on his “unprofessional” behaviour on social media. He also sought chairperson <keyword id="254056" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rajnish-kumar" source="Orion">Rajnish Kumar</keyword>’s resignation. The development comes only after a former employee of BharatPe had taken to LinkedIn to raise issues over BharatPe’s failure to pay timely salaries and clear dues. While Sameer did not respond to the employee, he did<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/bharatpe-ceo-takes-a-jibe-at-ashneer-grover-says-no-money-left-to-pay-salaries-since-grover-stole-it-all/articleshow/90706030.cms"> comment on the post responding to Ashneer grover’s sister</a>’s comment. Suhail said, “Aashima Behen - tere bhai ne saara Paisa Chura liya [your brother stole all the money]. Very little left to pay salaries.” <div type="image" title="Ashneer Grover writes to BharatPe calling out CEO’s behavior on LinkedIn, demands Rajnish Kumar’s resignation" msid="90719986" hostid="261"></div> Ashneer Grover was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/bharatpe-accuses-ashneer-grovers-of-misappropriation-of-funds-strips-him-off-founder-title/articleshow/89943581.cms">stripped of all BharatPe titles</a> last month for alleged “misappropriation of company funds”. His wife Madhuri Jain was also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/bharatpe-fires-ashneer-grovers-wife-madhuri-jain-and-she-takes-to-twitter-to-make-a-new-set-of-allegations-against-the-company/articleshow/89767491.cms">let go over the same allegations</a>. “Suhail's reply is not only blatantly defamatory, it is inappropriate language towards any female on social media and tone deaf to the trials of a poor admin level employee seeking his dues. It is also blatantly public lie [sic] and admission of the Company being bankrupt by no less than its own CEO and member of the Board – the same Suhail Sameer had less than couple of months ago claimed more than $ 500 million in the bank account of the Company,” Grover said in the email to board members of BharatPe. The email was seen by Business Insider. The letter was marked to investors including Micky Malka of Ribbit Capital, Teruhide Sato of BEENEXT, Hashjit Sethi of Sequoia Capital, John Weinstein and Deven Parekh of Insight Partners and Rahul Kishore of Coatue Management. He was also marked to chairperson Kumar, CEO Sameer and cofounder Shashvat Nakrani. Once again Ashneer Grover pointed fingers at Rajnish Kumar, the former chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI) and the current chairperson of BharatPe. “As a Board which under the Chairmanship of Rajnish Kumar has claimed to be the epitome of corporate governance, I would want to ask what action the Board is going to take against Suhail Sameer?,” Grover said. Grover demanded that BharatPe should immediately issue a show cause notice against Sameer and put him on leave of absence to manage to “damage on the Brand [sic] of the company.” BharatPe had sent Grover on a leave of absence after an audio recording was leakes where Grover was allegedly heard hurling abuses at a Kotak Mahindra employee. Kotak Mahindra had confirmed that the conversation did happen. He further added that if Sameer did not provide a written apology to him or his sister, they may seek damages and pursue a criminal defamation case against the board of BharatPe and CEO Sameer. Business Insider has reached out to BharatPe seeking their response to the letter. Here is the full unedited transcript of letter: Dear BharatPe Board Members I wanted to inform you about the behaviour of Suhail Sameer - CEO BharatPe in social media today, which has led him to be trolled on LinkedIn, Twitter and across all the newspapers. His behaviour is unbecoming of any professional and brings disrepute to the office he occupies with tacit support from all of you. I am attaching screenshots of what he said in a reply to my sister on LinkedIn. The Indian Board members should help translate the literal meaning of the statement along with the demeaning tone to the foreign Board members. He said: “Aashima Behen - tere bhai ne saara Paisa Chura liya. Very little left to pay salaries”. This was in response to a post put by an employee in admin team who was terminated without reason and whose salary / reimbursements was not paid for months - making him desperate to seek his dues on social media. Suhail's reply is not only blatantly defamatory, it is inappropriate language towards any female on social media and tone deaf to the trials of a poor admin level employee seeking his dues. It is also blatantly public lie and admission of the Company being bankrupt by no less than its own CEO and member of the Board - the same Suhail Sameer had less than couple of months ago claimed more than US$ 500 Mn in the bank account of the Company. As a Board which under the Chairmanship of Rajnish Kumar has claimed to be the epitome of corporate governance, I would want to ask what action is the Board going to take against Suhail Sameer ? Going by precedents and self proclaimed high standards of this Board, the CEO should be immediately served a show cause notice for his despicable public behaviour and immediately put on leave of absence to manage the damage on the Brand of the company. Suhail has to conclusively prove to the Board that he was not under the influence of alcohol and drugs when he put the said reply on LinkedIn. The said reply was put in the wee hours of 7th March after a night of drunken debauchery by Suhail at BharatPe’s offsite in Goa, videos of which are attached for your perusal and all over social media. Moreover Suhail Sameer’s all dealings should be audited by an independent auditor and he should only be reinstated as CEO once the audit report has been tabled with the Board and exonerates him of any wrong doing. Anything lesser in terms of action here would undeniably prove what is a fact - that what was done to me was a well planned discriminatory conspiracy by the Board at behest of investors, not a governance review. Moreover the Chairman Rajnish Kumar should immediately resign. The current incident clearly brings out the fact that Rajnish Kumar condoning the life threat to me by Bhavik Koladiya from his own house and all the planned media leaks leading to my resignation in self respect, has further emboldened the current management to act as hooligans. They feel they have a carte blanche from the Board and its Chairman to target me and my family without fear of any repercussions, even at the cost of the Board’s decency. It also proves that in the Governance Review which was supposed to be all encompassing, the Chairman refused to look into the allegations made against Suhail altogether, further leading him to believe he is above everything. More importantly it proves Shashvat’s refusal to withdraw Suhail’s nomination as a Board member was bad judgement in light of his proven alcoholism and attitude towards women. I hereby seek a written apology from Suhail to me, my sister and the Board. In absence of a written apology I and my sister reserve our rights to seek damages and pursuing criminal defamation against Suhail Sameer and the BharatPe Board. My sister, whose reputation has been irreparably damaged by this comment, will also be in her right to take up this with the Women’s commission and appropriate authorities. Regards Ashneer Grover SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/profit-margins-of-tcs-infosys-wipro-and-other-tech-companies-under-pressure-for-jan-mar-due-to-record-hiring-and-salary-hikes/articleshow/90719782.cms">Profit margins of IT companies must be under pressure for January-March quarter due to record hiring and salary hikes</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/banks-infosys-mm-among-top-stocks-to-watch-on-april-8/slidelist/90718346.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Banks, Infosys, M&amp;M among top stocks to watch on April 8</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/covid-19-exposed-a-need-for-efficient-healthcare-delivery-system-technology-and-research-solutions-niti-aayog-ceo/articleshow/90719125.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">COVID-19 exposed a need for efficient healthcare delivery system, technology and research solutions: NITI Aayog CEO</a>

Ashneer Grover writes to BharatPe calling out CEO’s behaviour on LinkedIn, demands Rajnish Kumar’s resignation

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b6db8e7b354cdbe318b4f08-1821/alastair mitchell 1.jpg" border="0" alt="Alastair Mitchell" data-mce-source="EQT Ventures" />EQT Ventures</div></div></div><ul><li>EQT Ventures has developed Motherbrain, an AI-powered software program to help it find new startups in which to invest. </li><li>Motherbrain is treated as a partner at the firm, and even has her own e-mail address. </li><li>EQT Ventures partner Alastair Mitchell believes that the venture capital industry is 20 years behind other kinds of investors because it doesn't embrace algorithms or data in making deals. </li><li>Some other VCs believe that no machine can replace the human touch in dealmaking.</li></ul><hr />Stockholm-based investment firm EQT Ventures has 30 employees. Among them, the firm has one partner who stands out from the rest. Like EQT Venture's other partners, she has a company email address, a short bio on the company's website, and a record of insightful market predictions. But there's one small catch: She isn't actually human.Her name is "Motherbrain" and she's a powerful, data-driven machine overseen by a team of data scientists and software developers. Her job description: Use all of that data to predict which startups will become billion dollar companies, faster than anyone else in venture capital."It's a 'she,' actually. We refer to her as a 'she,'" Alastair Mitchell, a founding partner at the firm said in a phone conversation, after I referred to Motherbrain multiple times as "it.""She's a core part of our thesis," he continued. "When we founded EQT we wanted to disrupt European ventures. We had multiple approaches to disrupting venture capital, and one of our main interests was the way in which software and AI will disrupt venture capital itself." Already, Mitchell said that Motherbrain has found two formerly undiscovered companies for the firm, one of which is currently unannounced. The other company is a remote desktop service called AnyDesk, which EQT Ventures led a €6.5 million investment in earlier this year."When we invested in them, they were a team of 15 people based out of a small town in Germany," said Mitchell. "They weren't on anyone's network. They weren't on Pitchbook or Crunchbase, they hadn't raised any angel money or talked to investors. But they had built an amazing bit of software."With Motherbrain, Mitchell and his firm have taken a bold stance in an important debate at the center of the venture capital world: In an industry that drives technological innovation, how much should technology itself influence the way firms invest?<h2>'The VC fund of the future will not be based purely on the old boy's club of internal partners'</h2>For EQT Ventures and its team, data is the key to not only informing whether or not a startup will be a good investment in the future, it's a route to discovering great companies as well. "Clearly the more startups you see, the more likely you are to find the better deal," said Mitchell. "It's a data-based problem. The more data you have, the more companies you see, and then you can make better decisions faster."Typically, investors rely on their professional and social networks to hear about interesting companies and notable new technological innovations. But even the most well-connected investor will fall short of a software program that's tasked with the exclusive job of combing the internet in search of undiscovered startups. "It seems totally ludicrous that this process of discovering companies could not be dramatically improved through the use of modern data and AI," said Mitchell. "It's a pretty obvious conclusion that the VC fund of the future will not be based purely on the old boy's club of internal partners, but on the data and software they use to source and pick those companies."While Mitchell declined to disclose the exact specifics of how Motherbrain's proprietary technology works, he said that its AI-powered software discovered AnyDesk's software by tracking down the large number of web downloads it regularly received. "We wouldn't have been able to discover this company without Motherbrain, because there's no way we would have known to look for it," said Mitchell.Mitchell also said that Motherbrain's data revealed that AnyDesk was poised to outpace a $2 billion competitor in its field, meaning that EQT was going to get in on the deal early.In addition to AnyDesk, Mitchell credits Motherbrain with one of EQT's best investments in a fast-growing Finnish gaming company called Small Giant Games. "It's an unbelievable unicorn company. It's gone from taking in $50,000 in a month to $15 million a month in just over a year," he said.Mitchell said that the decision to invest was almost entirely based on Motherbrain's insight."We entirely made the decision to invest in them based on data," "We looked at the trends within the data, and the potential monetization. From that information, we were able to make an investment."<h2>Can a machine invest as well as a human?</h2>While data typically plays a large role in traditional venture capital, firms differ in their approach. In multiple conversations with Business Insider, many venture capitalists have said that their investing decisions are based on a number of contributing factors. Tangible data like metrics and analytics are big part of the process, they say, but there's also a fundamental human element that goes into calling a good deal, as well. Some call it intuition. Others describe it as emotional intelligence. Still others describe it as instinct; a gut feeling that guides the final decision. Or, as Deven Parekh, managing director at Insight Venture Partners puts it: "At the end of the day, for now at least, venture capital is still a human decision business. Determining a good deal still requires human judgement." But does it?According to Mitchell, venture capital's current reliance on human insight has placed the industry abysmally behind the data-driven approach traditionally used by institutional investors."Venture capital is probably 20 years behind given the fact that the stock market has been trading algorithmically for many years," said Mitchell. "Right now, the classic phrase that investors would use is that the industry is about 98% human pattern recognition. 2% is based on data."This paradigm, said Mitchell, is deeply flawed. While Mitchell said that EQT Ventures currently relies on a 50/50 split of human insight and AI-powered data, he suggests that an ideal investing model would rely more heavily on algorithms and machine-driven analytics. "I think we're going to end up around 80% data and 20% human insight and personal experience," he said. "In venture capital, we're investing in technology, but the industry itself is so far behind. The irony is never lost on me."<h2>Not every VC loves having that much data</h2>While most venture firms typically use at least some data to inform their deals, there's been debate over just how much of that information should be a part of the decision-making process. <a href="https://medium.com/social-capital/capital-as-a-service-a-new-operating-system-for-early-stage-investing-6d001416c0df">After Silicon Valley venture firm Social Capital announced plans to move to a more data-informed investment approach last year,</a> several partners left the firm. In conversations with Business Insider, multiple people familiar with the firm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-capital-founding-partner-ted-maidenberg-is-joining-arjun-sethis-new-vc-firm-2018-7">suggested that the departures had resulted in part due to its move to data-driven investing.</a>See more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-capital-founding-partner-ted-maidenberg-is-joining-arjun-sethis-new-vc-firm-2018-7">VCs are fleeing ex-Facebook exec Chamath Palihapitiya's firm to launch an offshoot fund: 'It's like Social Capital without Chamath'</a>"As soon as you move to algorithms and you're just purely data-driven, you're going to lose the sensibility of a company," one person familiar with the departures who asked not to be identified told Business Insider at the time. "I don't care if you're the founder of a tech startup or a VC. Being disconnected from the touch is damaging."Social Capital is far from being the only venture firm to express a growing interest in data. GV (formerly Google Ventures) has long distinguished itself as leader in data driven investing.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/technology/venture-capital-blends-more-data-crunching-into-choice-of-targets.html"> In a 2013 interview with the New York Times,</a> a managing partner at the firm said that data was a critical component of its decision-making process. "We have access to the world's largest data sets you can imagine, our cloud computer infrastructure is the biggest ever," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/technology/venture-capital-blends-more-data-crunching-into-choice-of-targets.html">he said.</a> "It would be foolish to just go out and make gut investments."<h2>This could be the future of VC</h2>Mitchell predicts that data-driven investing is still only in its very nascent stages. In the upcoming years, venture firms will run with a deeper reliance on AI-sourced insights, he said. "In the future, you're going to see the rise of small startup investment shops that will be run exclusively by engineers," he said. "They'll say, 'Oh, we can run this better than everyone else and raise money off the back of the software we make.'"Not every investor seems sure about the algorithmic future of investing."Oftentimes, the best deals aren't clear," said Insight Venture Partner's managing director Deven Parekh. "When you put an algorithm against an investment, I worry that the algorithm will focus on the lowest common denominators in the investment process."While Parekh said that data informs a large part of how his firm invests, he's speculative of the idea that AI-driven investing could be the future of venture capital."But who knows?" Parekh continued. "Will this evolve over the next thirty years? I don't know. But there's probably a lot of livelihoods that are at risk before we get to venture capital."For Mitchell, running a venture firm that actively cultivates its own proprietary tech is essential not only to investing but to attracting startup founders as well. "Our founders love it," he said. "They're on the cutting edge of data. They love that we have a team of 10 data scientists, and that we're iterating and testing our own software. We're not sitting in an ivy tower saying that we have the best insight based on our own gut feeling." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-issues-problems-hardware-software-ios-2018-7">Everything wrong with the iPhone</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/2WOFVgzv-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

A partner at a $630 million fund reveals his firm's secret to scouting billion dollar companies - and says that the rest of venture capital is 20 years behind

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55af9eb0371d22dc0b8b7b62-4608-3456/ap_742609899989.jpg" alt="Hillary Clinton" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the Democratic Party of Arkansas Jefferson Jackson dinner in North Little Rock, Ark." />APDemocratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the Democratic Party of Arkansas Jefferson Jackson dinner in North Little Rock, Ark.</div></div></div>WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's economic agenda targets companies that focus on short-term profits and high-speed trading instead of investing in workers. The Democratic presidential candidate's finance operation is going after their executives for another purpose - donations.A day after proposing higher capital gains taxes on short-term investors, Clinton raised at least $450,000 Tuesday night at the Chicago home of Raj Fernando, a longtime donor. His firm, Chopper Trading, specializes in high-frequency transactions and was recently purchased by Chicago-based competitor DRW.Clinton's summertime fundraising circuit highlights a central tension of her campaign: how to encourage financial executives to open their wallets for her presidential effort even as she comes out with plans aimed at reining multimillion-dollar paychecks. Since her first presidential campaign in 2008, income inequality has become a bigger force in Democratic <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword>, with liberal voters clamoring for candidates who will take a sharply populist turn and enforce tough new regulations on Wall Street.The early outlines of Clinton's economic plans have included steps to raise taxes on hedge fund and private equity bonuses, penalize short-term investors with higher tax rates and strengthen penalties for rogue executives who are involved in fraudulent deals on Wall Street. She wants further strengthening of financial regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.In announcing her economic platform in New York, Clinton called some of the financial institutions led by her top contributors "too complex and too risky." She said "serious risks are emerging from institutions in the so-called shadow banking system, including hedge funds, high-frequency traders, non-bank finance companies."In New Hampshire in April, she singled out hedge fund managers who pay lower tax rates. "If it's just, you know, playing back in forth in the global marketplace to get one-10th of 1 percent advantage, maybe we should not let that go on because that is unfortunately kind of at the root of some of the economic problems that we all remember painfully from '08."Clinton has avoided the kind of rhetoric that Obama used to describe the industry - "fat cat bankers on Wall Street," the president said in 2009 - after he raised millions from the industry in his first presidential campaign. Obama had pushed for the 2010 regulations.Alan Patricof, a private equity pioneer and longtime Clinton donor, said Obama was polarizing on the issue but Clinton "is being very realistic" and he's not aware of donors from the industry holding back from her.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55ad56e25afbd39c7e8b456b-800-551/hillary-clinton-pledges-bigger-rewards-for-corporate-whistleblowers-2015-7.jpg" alt="U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame dinner in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, July 17, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame dinner in Cedar Rapids" />Thomson ReutersU.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame dinner in Cedar Rapids</div></div></div>Nor is she shy about turning to them for campaign money, sometimes in events at executives' homes. As she's put it about her aggressive fundraising operation, Republicans and their allies will spend billions of dollars to defeat Democrats and "we're going to have to be in a position where we can defend ourselves."In her first campaign finance report, people who listed occupations in banking, finance, investment, money management, private equity or venture capital contributed more than $1.6 million to Clinton's campaign, according to a review by The Associated Press. The vast majority of those checks were for the maximum legal amount of $2,700.Following the event in Chicago with Fernando, Clinton was attending a Wednesday fundraiser hosted by George Reddin, a North Carolina-based managing director of FMI Capital Advisors who has specialized in mergers and acquisitions in the construction materials industry.About a dozen of Clinton's top campaign bundlers - donors who have raised at least $100,000 for her presidential bid - work in finance and investing, such as private equity investors Imaad Zuberi and Deven Parekh and hedge fund managers Marc Lasry and Orin Kramer.Clinton also has appeared at fundraisers held by Doug Teitelbaum, founder of investment firm Homewood Capital, and Lisa Perry, whose husband, Richard, is a top hedge fund executive.Morgan Stanley vice chairman Tom Nides, who worked for Clinton at the State Department, said the new policies haven't caused any waves on Wall Street and predicted they're unlikely to hamper Clinton's fundraising.As a senator representing New York, Clinton established strong relationships with Wall Street donors and Nides said she has maintained those ties, in part by carefully measuring the rhetoric she uses when she talks about the industry."She's been tough, but I don't think she's been irrational," he said. "People in our industry know they'll have someone who has a good reputation or at least someone who will listen to them."___Associated Press writer Julie Bykowicz contributed to this report.___Follow Ken Thomas and Lisa Lerer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kthomasdc and https://twitter.com/llerer Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Hillary Clinton is raising big money from the finance sector as she knocks the industry

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5644d41b2491f92b008b49d0-3056-2292/rtr2d4sx.jpg" alt="Blankfein Cohn" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Natalie Behring" />REUTERS/Natalie Behring</div></div></div>Goldman Sachs has promoted 425 people to managing director."Our new Managing Directors represent the best of our firm's dedication to excellence, leadership and client service, and we wish them continued success in their careers," Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement.It's a big deal to be named a managing director. The title is just one step below "partner," which is one of the most highly-coveted titles in investment banking. The next class of MDs won't be selected until 2017. In 2013, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-managing-director-selection-2013-3">Goldman changed its managing director selection process</a> from every year to every two years. That year, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-managing-director-class-2013-11">280 people</a> made the cut.The following individuals have been promoted:Catherine Addona-Peña Alokik Advani Sam Agnew Daniel Ahern Murtaza Ahmed Fusae Akamatsu Phil Almond Ana Alonso Roy Appelman Juliano Arruda Alex Ashwal Daniel Avery Misty Bailey Tom Barkes Jose Barreto Sushil Bathija Gregoire Baudot Olivier Belaich Sharon Bell Allison Beller Christine Benson Schwartzstein Sam Berberian Todd Berger Sandy Bernhardt Greg Berube Shashi Bhushan (Bengaluru) Lyla Bibi Julie Billings Alexander Blanchard Tristan Blood Katherine Bloom Alexander Blostein John Blythe Andrea Bonini Vijay Borkar Jean-Pierre Boudrias Dyson Bowditch Rhett Brewer Sean Brewer Cameron Brien Tyler Brooke Marios Broustas Melissa Brown Jacob Buitelaar Jason Burgess Manuel Camacho Tim Campbell Eliot Camplisson Susana Cao Miranda Nicholas Chan Sorubh Chandani Amy Chang Dennis Chang Scott Chastain Scott Chen (IBD) Yu Chikami Vikram Chima Sung Cho Caroline Chu Simon Clarke Ray Clifford Jorge Combe William Connolly Ron Cortina Daniela Costa Yasmine Coupal Patricia Creedon Brian Culang Michelle Daly Ranga Dattatreya Christopher Daur Brian DeCenzo Alexis Deladerriere Robert Devens Devanshu Dhyani Scott Dias Johanna Diaz Simon Dickinson Andrew DiMaria Darren Dixon Terence Donnelly Christopher Droege Lindsay Drucker Mann Frank Drury Caroline Dunne Steven Edwards (Internal Audit) Jeffrey Egee Naoko Ehara Inna Elyashkevich Jason English Andrew Erekson Joris Esch Ana Estrada Cristina Estrada Owain Evans Julia Feldman Jing Feng Albert Ferng Val Feygin Dan Fishman Dennis Fleck Terence Flynn Ian Foster (IBD) Kelly Galanis Ilya Gaysinskiy Libardo Gerardino Said Ghusayni Michael Gillott Arvind Giridhar Mark Glotfelty Chloe Goddard Lakshya Goel Peter Goertzen Andres Gonzalez Clara Gonzalez-Martin Claire Goodeve Anton Gorshkov Simon Gosling Jessica Binder Graham Michael Graham (Securities) Glenn Greilsamer Fabrizio Grena Alain Griveau Pierre-Yves Guerber Renaud Guidée Renu Gupta Christoph Haenschel Simon Hale Jay Handfield Deirdre Harding Nada Hassan Frances Hawkins Tobias Heilmaier Christoph Heuer Kenneth Ho Luke Hodges Jennie Holloway Matthew Hostasa Henry Howell Soomin Hu Victor Hu Andrew Huang Lee Hughes Michael Hui Shinichiro Ichiki George Ingram Francesca Innocenti Karen Ip Yuichiro Isayama Shubha Iyer Kristy Jago Matt Jahansouz Lear Janiv Jessica Janowitz Franklin Jarman Jabe Jerram Lei Jin Moritz Jobke Charles Johnston Ganesh Jois Katherine Jollon Colsher John Jonke Shrut Kalra Emiko Kamoda Markus Kant Yugandhar Karna Lotfi Karoui Vanya Kasanof Ting Ke Kyle Kendall Richard Kendrick Corey Kenyon Anthony Kim Seong Eun Kim Sean Kingston Teresa Kingswood David Kirschner Michael Klym Jared Klyman Andrew Knight Timur Kocaoglu Kevin Kochar Christina Kopec David Korpi Caroline Kraus Jennifer Krevitt Ajay Kumar Raj Kumar Kosuke Kurosawa Marc Kurz Takashi Kuwano Loredana La Pace Phil Labbe Marco Laicini Vidya Lakshmi Lia Larson Kinger Lau Max Layton Jerome Lebuchoux Andrew Lee (GIR) David Lee (IMD) Jay Hyun Lee (MBD) Jerry Lee Shane Lee Valerie Leeder Panayiotis Lemonidis Joe Lenehan Daniel Levy Yael Levy Olga Lewis Christina Sun Li Chuan Li James Li Edmund Lim Stephen Little David Liu Daniel Lochner Michael Loetzsch Donald Lu Rochelle Lucas Matthias Ludemann Christopher Lvoff Andrew Lyons Kristen Macleod Manju Madhavan Lynn Magnus Thomas Malafronte Sajith Maliakel Rakesh Manani Elizabeth Mann Jim Mannoia John Manzi Jia Mao Guillaume Marinacce Jeremie Marrache Matthew Mason Gaurav Mathur Yuji Matsumoto Tom McAndrew Scott McHugh Andrew McIlroy Jenny Meng Shahmil Merchant Joann Mercurio Maryline Mertz Marco Messeri Hideo Michiba Jared Miller Stacey Miller Elizabeth Milonopoulos Pascal Mischler Pooja Mishra Prahlad Doretta Mistras Matthew Mizrahi Hillel Moerman Soren Moller-Rasmussen Fausto Monacelli Q Montazeri Leonie Morel Owen Morris Daniel Motta Ricardo Mourao Christian Mueller-Glissmann Niladri Mukhopadhyay Mathieu Munuera Francis Murphy Thomas Murray Charles Myers Harsh Nanda Asad Naqvi Ryan Nash David Naulty Toh Ne Win Shapour Neshatfar Billy Newport Anya Newton Katrina Niehaus Christos Nifadopoulos Ryan Nolan Brian Nordahl Steven Nowak Matthew O'Callaghan John Olivo Oscar Ostlund Marco Paesotto Kanak Palanisamy Sundaram Pandiarajan Mrudang Pandya Francesco Paolicelli Dhaval Parekh Keyur Parekh Akash Patel Himin Patel Jatin Patel Cristina Patron Nicholas Peach Agostina Pechi Xi Pei Shlomit Perry Joseph Persky Carlos Prieto Ricardo Puggina Tim Quandt Stephanie Rader Emilie Railhac Amit Raje Sudarshan Ramakrishnan Akila Raman Vishaal Rana Robert Rancitelli Zeeshan Razzaqui Paolo Re David Reis Kevin Relihan Ben Reuter Matt Rhodes Clare Richards Brian Richardson Richard Rivero Duane Robinson Fabiano Romeiro Agustin Romo Calvo Karen Rossi Matias Rotella Anne Russ C. Kyle Russ Jamie Russell Isidoor Rutten Timothy Ryan Craig Sabal Carolyn Sabat Michael Sachs Hassan Salamony Nicholas Saunders Carly Scales Marc Schaffer Tom Schouwenaars Jameson Schriber Leonard Seevers Masataka Sera Arpan Shah (Internal Audit) Dhruv Shah Nitin Shah Ashoke Sharma Nik Sharma Salil Sheth Jonathan Shugar Aaron Siegel Eric Siegel Julie Silverman Jim Sinclair Balaji Sivasubramanian Neil Slee Martin Smith (IMD) Scott Smith Lin Smyth Douglas Spell David Sprake Jack Springate Sujatha Srinivasan Ricardo Stabile John Startin John Stecher Alexander Stiles Peter Stone Miruna Stratan Matthew Straughen Hiroyuki Sugiura Joseph Sumberg Philip Sun Lawrence Tankel Richard Tarling Ian Taylor Mike Taylor (Services) Sophie Taylor Latifa Tefridj-Gaillard Kurt Tenenbaum Prasanna Thati Radha Tilton Vincent Tiseo Jandirk tom Dieck Margo Topman Shinsaku Toriyama Dom Totino Joseph Traina Matthew Traina Alexis Tsang Tetsuya Ukai Silvia Valente Laura van Alkemade Carol Van der Vorst Alexis Vassilakas Kerone Vatel Thomas Vaughan Meriel Vessey Alexandra Vincenzi David Wade Dennis Walsh Alex Wang Jun Wang Moon Wang Katherine Ward Amy Watson Peter Watson Whitney Watson Gregory Watts Jie Wei Michael Weiss Miriam Wheeler Pete Williams Wes Williams Jiahong Wu Tony Xu Michael Yaeger Satoshi Yamagata Huan Yang Jonathan Yarrow Sylvia Yeh Vincent Yeung Derek Yi Jon Yoder Jaewon Yu Brendan Zeigon Daniel Zimmerman Martin Zoll <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/seaworld-end-killer-whale-show-san-diego-blackfish-2015-11">SeaWorld is ending its killer whale show after being criticized for how it treats them</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VjdnBxeDr7ABHNOUF_pwCshHV8m9AMwX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'VjdnBxeDr7ABHNOUF_pwCshHV8m9AMwX',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

You Searched For "Deven Parekh" and got 7 results

Biden nominates Indian-American VC for key post

IANS

WeWork has agreed to go public via a SPAC merger. The deal values it at $9 billion, less than a quarter of its 2019 valuation.

Grace Dean

WeWork to go public in $9 billion merger with Vivek Ranadive-led BowX

IANS

Ashneer Grover writes to BharatPe calling out CEO’s behaviour on LinkedIn, demands Rajnish Kumar’s resignation

Kritti Bhalla

A partner at a $630 million fund reveals his firm's secret to scouting billion dollar companies - and says that the rest of venture capital is 20 years behind

Zoë Bernard

Hillary Clinton is raising big money from the finance sector as she knocks the industry

Ken Thomas and Lisa Lerer

The Goldman Sachs new managing director list is out!

Julia La Roche