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Giftcard Marketplace Zeek Raises $9.5M in Series B 
 
Tel-Aviv based online gift card marketplace, Zeek, has raised $9.5 million in Series B round of financing led by Scale-Up Venture Capital. The round also saw participation from Blumberg Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, FJ LABS (Fabrice Grinda), Waze founder Uri Levine, Emery Capital, Ton Ventures, Radiant Venture Capital, iAngels and Target Global. Zeek stated that the investment will further be used in growth and expansion overseas. 
 
Founded by Daniel Zelkind, Ziv Isaiah, Uri Levine, Itay Erel and Pierre Schurmann in 2013, the company works as a mobile app and website that allows users to buy gift cards and vouchers from their favourite brands at a discount and sell unwanted gift vouchers for cash, providing a solution to the estimated $100 billion of unused gift cards globally. 
 
Agritech Startup Dealing in Deep Learning Capabilities Secure $7M 
 Israeli startup <keyword id="3517788" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prospera">Prospera</keyword>, machine learning agritech company, has raised $7 million in series A round of funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from Hishtil and prominent angel investors. 
 
Founded by Daniel Koppel in 2014, the company creates advanced techniques in data science and deep learning to provide farmers accurate remote agronomy and management solutions. 
 
<keyword id="36015" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ian">IAN</keyword> Invests in Shared Accommodation Startup Square Plums 
 
Square Plums, shared accommodation startup, gas closed $446,000 in a round led by Indian Angel Network (IAN), and VGN Prakash, Amitabh Shrivastava, Krishna Jha and Ravindra Krishnappa. As a part of contract, VGN Prakash will be joining the board of the company. 
 
Founded by Rajesh Kumar Kotta, Hemant Attray and Krishna Jha in 2015, the startup provides fully furnished houses to bachelors, and also helps users to find a roommate. It also helps owners by letting out a fully furnished house with up to 50% higher rentals without even spending on furnishing the house. 
 
Mobile Learning Platform Secures $700k of Seed Funding 
 Mobile learning platform, <keyword id="3362619" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Byndr">Byndr</keyword>, has raised $700,000 in seed funding from a group of prominent angel investors, Education Design Studio and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. 
 
Founded by Joseph Freed, Praveen Vangeepuram and Marc Garabedian in 2015, the startup offers mobile-first communication and learning management platform for education in emerging markets, where millions of students only access the internet via their mobile device

FundUp: Agritech
Startup Prospera Raises $7M, IAN Invests in Square Plums & More

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US <keyword id="6354298" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Stocks">stocks</keyword> traded near record-highs on Thursday, while Asian <keyword id="31671" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets">markets</keyword> dipped on worries over the <keyword id="11357594" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="delta-variant">Delta variant</keyword>.</li><li>But according to JPMorgan, the variant's spread doesn't pose a risk to the stock market.</li><li>The S&amp;P 500 recorded one of its strongest first-half performances in 23 years this year. </li></ul>US stocks hovered near record-highs on the arrival of the second half of the year on Thursday, but investor sentiment that has been dampened by the spread of the Delta variant put Asian markets on a weaker footing.Futures on the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones">Dow Jones</a>, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_100">Nasdaq</a> rose between 0.2% and 0.4%, suggesting a higher start to trading later in the day. The <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500_500">S&amp;P 500</a> rose 0.3%. The index is up 14% year-to-date, the second-biggest gain for the first half of the year since 1998.Data suggests the highly infectious variant may be the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-covid-us-dominant-coronavirus-strain-america-2021-6">most common strain in the US</a>, leading many to question how well the economy will continue to fare. But the spread doesn't pose a direct risk to equities, and could instead drive a rebound in value stocks and bond yields, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-delta-variant-covid-poses-no-equity-risk-2021-6">JPMorgan said in a note on Wednesday</a>.US private payrolls data released by the ADP beat expectations on Thursday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adp-private-payrolls-june-employment-report-labor-market-hiring-shortage-2021-6">rising by 692,000 in June</a>. Economists polled by Bloomberg held a median estimate of a 600,000 payroll gain. But traders think the government's own jobs report on Friday could jostle markets from a slumber, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/global-markets-wrapup-2-2021-07-01/#:~:text=Equity%20futures%20pointed%20to%20a,were%20last%20up%20about%200.15%25.">Reuters</a>.The <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/us-dollar-index">dollar index</a> advanced ahead of US labor data, after having gained 2.6% in June - its biggest monthly rise since March 2020.In Europe, the UK recorded <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-records-26068-new-daily-covid-cases-highest-since-jan-29-2021-06-30/">more than 26,000</a> new <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> cases on Wednesday, the biggest daily rise since late January. However, one bright spot so far is hospitalizations and deaths are far more subdued than in the spike in infections at the start of the year, Deutsche Bank analysts said.Inflation in the UK may be the defining economic theme of the post COVID-19 recovery with important consequences for both monetary and fiscal policy, Sanjay Raja, senior economist at Deutsche Bank, said on Thursday.London's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/ftse_100">FTSE 100</a> rose 1.2%, the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/euro_stoxx_50">Euro Stoxx 50</a> rose 1.1%, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dax">Frankfurt's DAX</a> rose 1.1%.Asian equities all traded lower on Thursday, while markets in Hong Kong were closed for a holiday. President Xi Jinping <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57648236">marked the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's founding</a> in a speech Thursday, noting the country's quest to gain control of Taiwan was a "historic mission" and an <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/special/2021-07/01/c_1310037420.htm">unshakable party commitment</a>. His address did little to calm geopolitical nerves as the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/shanghai_composite">Shanghai Composite</a> fell 0.07% and Tokyo's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nikkei_225">Nikkei</a> fell 0.2%.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/didi-ipo-early-investor-shares-three-opportunities-chinese-stocks-caz-2021-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The founder and CIO of a $2.2 billion money manager that invested early in Didi is set to reap 'one of the largest profits' it's made as the Chinese ride-hailing giant goes public. Christopher Zook explains why he bought in - and shares 3 other opportunities on his radar.</a>

US stocks hover near record highs at the start of the 2nd half of 2021, but the Delta variant knocks Asian equities and boosts the dollar

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/talent-insider"></a><ul class="summary-list"><li>Welcome to "Founder <keyword id="11976454" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="finances" source="Orion">Finances</keyword>," a new Insider series that explains entrepreneurs' monthly budgets.</li><li>Insider shares the exact budgets founders use to scale, market themselves, and build community.</li><li>Owners of bakeries, dog daycares, and loungewear lines share exactly how much they spend each month.</li></ul>Nearly half of new businesses fail within the first five years of operation, and financial struggles are among <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1010/top-6-reasons-new-businesses-fail.aspx#:~:text=Data%20from%20the%20BLS%20shows,to%2015%20years%20or%20more.">the top reasons for closures</a>. Despite the uncertainty of launching a new venture, entrepreneurship remains on the rise: According to data from <a href="https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs/pdf/bfs_current.pdf">the US Census Bureau</a>, more than 5 million new businesses registered last year. Insider spoke with entrepreneurs in a variety of fields about the monthly budgets that have led to success, with the goal of sharing insights on business finances. This series, "Founder Finances," shares tips on how to allocate money, stabilize your team, and prepare for growth, according to founders who've done it. <h2>Financing for business launch</h2><div type="image" title="Shawn Brown, founder and CEO of CheeseCaked" height="1312" width="1750" msid="92700201" hostid="261"></div>Shawn Brown operated CheeseCaked, a Georgia-based bakery, between 2011 and 2019. But, after taking two years off to recover from breast cancer, Brown needed a comeback strategy in 2021: Visibility, which included investing in social-media marketing and storefront locations, was her go-to tactic, she said. "It really helps with brand recognition," she said. "We've become a celebratory space, it's an experience."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-entrepreneur-pays-for-brick-and-mortar-locations-recession-2022-6?r=founderfinances-lp">Founder Finances: A baker shares the $15K budget she's using to relaunch her business after stepping away to fight cancer</a>.<h2>Building your personal brand</h2><div type="image" title="Alexa Curtis, founder of Be Fearless Summit and Life Unfiltered" height="3006" width="4000" msid="93666312" hostid="261" sizebytes="755140"></div>It's becoming increasingly common to see entrepreneurs who are front and center of their marketing efforts, especially as social media remains an essential component of customer acquisition. For Alexis Curtis, founder of multimedia and mentorship company Life Unfiltered, investing in a branding coach and professional photos gives her business clout. "A lot of how I make money is my personal brand," she said, adding that it's important to create content that is both authentic and aspirational in order to grow organically. She allocates specific funds toward ensuring her content looks crisp and professional. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/budget-template-how-much-entrepreneurs-small-businesses-spend-marketing-advertising-2022-7">Founder Finances: A 24-year-old entrepreneur and blogger shares how much she invests in building a personal brand</a><h2>Determining your needs as a new company</h2><div type="image" title="Noite Rose designs" height="1066" width="1422" msid="92700203" hostid="261"></div>Diandra Harvin, the founder of the luxury-loungewear company Noite Rose, said she primarily focuses her monthly <keyword id="11931253" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="budget" source="Orion">budget</keyword> on marketing. She said she spends nearly half of her monthly budget on public-relations services, which help increase brand awareness. She prioritizes this expense because she didn't have the necessary PR connections that would provide meaningful exposure for her brand. "You can receive so many benefits from being with a PR firm, which is so different from marketing," she said, adding that having her products featured by celebrities and in publications has helped her get social recognition.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-marketing-budget-promotion-clothing-line-side-hustle-2022-5?r=founderfinances-lp">Founder Finances: How a 30-year-old entrepreneur uses a $2,000 monthly social-media marketing budget to build a thriving side hustle selling loungewear</a>.<h2>Planning ahead for busy seasons</h2><div type="image" title="Nicole Lewis, founder of Art 2 the Extreme" height="960" width="1280" msid="93666314" hostid="261" sizebytes="100756"></div>Advanced planning ahead can be an important step to saving time and money. For seasonal businesses that net the bulk of their sales in Q4, preparing in the summer months can be vital, said Nicole Lewis, the founder of customizable crayon company Art 2 the Extreme.She starts her holiday preparations in June, including PR outreach, campaign photoshoots, stocking up on inventory, and packaging supplies. "Many of these costs during the slower months add up and keep summer profits down," she said. "But if I can't find those boxes come September, October, or November, that's going to pose a huge problem and disrupt my entire season."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/esty-sellers-how-to-budget-for-supply-chain-issues-2022-7">Founder Finances: Etsy seller shares the $3,700 monthly budget preparing her business for its busiest quarter</a><h2>Creating company culture in the office</h2><div type="image" title="Branden Sewell, founder of Seal Pro Painting" height="2400" width="3199" msid="92700206" hostid="261"></div>After companies and storefronts closed doors during the pandemic, many workers saw in-office communities almost instantly stripped away. Though <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/02/16/covid-19-pandemic-continues-to-reshape-work-in-america/">59% of employees continue working from home all or most of the time</a>, the potential for run-ins with coworkers or in-person meetings brings some allure to office life. Branden Sewell, the founder of a painting company that booked nearly $500,000 in sales last year, said leasing office space has been worth the cost because it builds team comradery. "It's really hard to build a thriving, healthy culture from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-zoom-guide">Zoom</a> or conference calls," he said. "I'm able to build culture and really have influence on my team, sit in front of them, connect with them."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-budget-rent-small-businesses-financial-advice-entrepreneurs-2022-5?r=founderfinances-lp">Founder Finances: An entrepreneur booking over $500,000 in annual sales explains why he budgets for office space. 'I can sit in front of my team and connect with them.'</a><h2>Investing in employees to retain talent</h2><div type="image" title="Peter Dufall (right), owner of Dogtopia San Jose" height="721" width="960" msid="92700208" hostid="261"></div>A record number of employees quit their jobs last year, making <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-great-resignation-created-more-solo-entrepreneurs-and-freelancers-2021-10">the Great Resignation</a> a serious concern for businesses trying to retain talent. As employees search for companies offering incentives like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-must-have-employee-benefits-business-owners-should-offer-2021-10">equitable pay, flexible schedules, and</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-must-have-employee-benefits-business-owners-should-offer-2021-10"> benefits</a>, entrepreneurs are finding that investing money toward community building is necessary.Supporting team members' interests and goals outside of work is one way to retain staff. That's how Peter Dufall, the owner of a dog-care franchise called Dogtopia, invests in his workers — he encourages his employees to take continuing education courses on grooming, veterinary tech, and CPR skills, which he budgets for in his monthly expenses. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dog-daycare-business-budget-franchise-owner-royalty-fees-2022-6?r=founderfinances-lp">Founder Finances: A dog daycare owner shares his exact $58k monthly budget and explains why paying 9% of earnings to the franchisor is worth it</a>.<h2>Preparing for business expansion</h2><div type="image" title="Jesse Zook shooting MaidPro content" height="1422" width="1896" msid="92700210" hostid="261"></div>Like many <keyword id="11932022" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="small-business" source="Orion">small business</keyword> owners, it was Madeleine Park and Jesse Zook's goal to grow. The duo own seven franchise businesses in the home-service industry together and generated more than $2 million in sales last year. With an expansion in mind, they allocate significant portions of their annual budget to the mission."Buying more territory is always going to cost you," Park, who added that the pair is planning to spend around $30,000 on their next franchise expansion, said. "That tends to be more of a mandatory spend that comes along with growth."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-invest-in-franchise-2022-6?r=founderfinances-lp">Founder Finances: The married co-owners of 7 franchises who booked $2 million in sales share what they spent to grow their businesses</a>.If you're interested in contributing to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurs-finance-insider-small-business-founder-monthly-budget-series-request-2022-1">Insider's Founder Finances series</a>, please contact Alex York at <a href="mailto:ayork@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ayork@insider.com</a>.

Founder Finances: A comprehensive guide to creating a budget for your business

Leveraging a founder’s mentality can help organizations avoid internal issues and predictable crises that hinder lasting, profitable growth 
Most successful companies eventually face a crisis with their growth, yet this rarely happens because of external factors beyond the company’s control. When Bain &amp; Company’s Chris Zook and James Allen, co-authors of “Profit From the Core,” researched why growth is so difficult to achieve and sustain, they found 85 percent of executives point to internal rather than external barriers. As businesses become larger and more complex, they frequently lose touch with their customers. They are hampered by bureaucracy, and, as a result, are unable to act decisively and adapt quickly. 
 In their new book, “The Founder’s Mentality,” Zook and Allen show readers how to manage — and avoid — the predictable set of internal crises companies face as they grow. The key to sustainable growth and surviving internal obstacles lies in a company’s obsessive commitment to the front line and its customers, a pervasive owner’s mindset from the top down and a company’s “insurgent” mission “to wage war against its industry, or its standards, on behalf of customers whom it perceived as underserved, or not served at all.” Zook talks with <keyword id="852310" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="YPO">YPO</keyword> about how leaders at all levels can harness the power of the founder’s mentality to reignite growth and revitalize the customer and employee experience. 
 
HOW DO YOU DEFINE THE FOUNDER’S MENTALITY? 
 
The founder’s mentality came out of a five-year study in 40 countries. It’s a phrase we use to describe the behaviors, attitudes and practices that were common across the companies that had the most sustainable, high levels of performance over a long period. The companies where the founder was still the chief executive or deeply involved performed three times better than all other companies on shareholder returns did. The big difference was how these best performers were built on the inside. We called that the “founder’s mentality” because it was most powerfully embodied in the practices of the really great founders and also young, small companies that are growing. The three elements that make up the founder’s mentality are a deep sense of insurgency and understanding of what makes a company special, an obsession with what goes on at the ground level of the business, and an owner’s mindset and sense of personal responsibility. A company was five to seven times more likely to be a top performer if these elements were present. 
 
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST BENEFITS TO MAINTAINING A FOUNDER’S MENTALITY? 
 
Every company wants to grow. Profitable growth creates returns for shareholders, opportunities for young workers to be promoted, increased market share and competitive relevance. But as companies become larger, they frequently collect complexity — complexity of layers and bureaucracy, complexity of products, complexity of decision-making. We found that overall complexity was the silent killer of profitable growth. When a company skews into bureaucracy, it tends to become slower, less innovative and less appealing. Companies start as insurgents at war against their industry or the norms of their industry, and as they get larger, they start to lose that vigorous component that made them successful in the first place. 
 
HOW SHOULD A LEADER ALTER HIS OR HER STYLE TO SUCCEED? 
 
There are many practices and activities leaders can undertake to reinforce the founder’s mentality: 
 
• Emphasize what is special about the company. Only 13 percent of people feel they have any emotional connection to their business or know what makes it special, yet everybody wants to feel that connection. 
• Get out to the front line. Leaders who stay behind their desks as their companies get bigger lose touch with the front line. 
• Trust people at the front line and try to push decisions out with clear principles for how to make those decisions. 
• Avoid or eliminate “energy vampires” who drain energy from the organization and hang from the rafters. 
As a company grows, very often its corporate center takes on a life of its own. Make sure the doers receive accolades and power. In addition, to keep the founder’s mentality alive, break problems down into smaller pieces that can be solved in micro-battles and create founder opportunities within the company. Organizations accumulate barnacles. The work gets gummed up and the distortions of bureaucracy take over, but the founder’s mentality can help the engine burn faster, cleaner and hotter. 
 
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THE FOUNDER’S MENTALITY ON DECISION-MAKING? 
 When we looked at companies such as DaVita Healthcare Partners, The <keyword id="294691" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="LEGO-Group">Lego Group</keyword> or <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword> that had lost the founder’s mentality and then renewed it, we found that the renewal affected how decisions were made in a number of ways. The company’s principles became much clearer. DaVita held large meetings and created the principles by which they wanted to run the business in the future. At Lego, the CEO brought back many of the original principles of the company and shrank the business to its core to grow. At Apple, there was a return to simplicity. 
 
Companies that have renewed the founder’s mentality very often have a deeper sense of the principles by which people make decisions, more alignment on what makes the business special and more energy because energy vampires are pushed to the side. People who have an emotional connection to their business are more willing to invest their own time in innovative ideas and solving customer problems by a factor of five; so you end up with a company that actually makes decisions at a lower level more quickly and with more consistency. Renewal of the founder’s mentality actually makes everybody a mini-founder. 
 
(This article has been contributed by YPO. This article first published in the November 2016 issues of YPO’s “Ignite” magazine)

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FundUp: Agritech Startup Prospera Raises $7M, IAN Invests in Square Plums & More

Gaurav Sangwani

US stocks hover near record highs at the start of the 2nd half of 2021, but the Delta variant knocks Asian equities and boosts the dollar

Shalini Nagarajan

Founder Finances: A comprehensive guide to creating a budget for your business

Alexandra York

Managing the problems of growth

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