Seit Garry Tan letztes Jahr CEO von Y Combinator wurde, gab es Veränderungen.

Im vergangenen März reduzierte Tan seine Spätphaseninvestitionen, entließ 17 Investoren und verkleinerte die Größe der YC-Chargen. Weniger bekannt ist, dass der Startup-Accelerator auch seinen Hauptsitz verlegt hat. Nachdem Y Combinator 17 Jahre lang von Mountain View aus operiert hatte, verlagerte es seine Geschäftstätigkeit nach Norden in das Dogpatch-Viertel in San Francisco und zum Pier 70, wie aus von Fortune überprüften und von Y Combinator bestätigten Stadtakten hervorgeht.

In einem Interview sagte Garry Tan, CEO von Y Combinator, es sei ihm wichtig, dass YC so nah wie möglich an der Spitze der Innovation im Bereich der künstlichen Intelligenz sei (OpenAI und Anthropic sowie „viele der Top-Talente“ im Bereich der künstlichen Intelligenz sind in San Francisco). versus Silicon Valley, sagt er). Ganz zu schweigen davon, dass die Mehrheit der Y Combinator-Partner, darunter auch er selbst, in San Francisco leben, fügt er hinzu.

Heutzutage „muss man irgendwie in San Francisco sein“, sagt Tan und weist auf die Bedeutung der versehentlichen Begegnungen hin, die passieren, wenn Menschen unterwegs sind. „Die Chancen stehen gut, dass die Menschen um Sie herum über Technologie nachdenken und darüber sprechen, insbesondere über KI. Das ist wirklich etwas Besonderes“, sagt Tan. Er wies auch darauf hin, dass YC-Daten zeigen, dass Startups, die in San Francisco gegründet wurden, eine größere Erfolgsaussicht hätten als ihre Konkurrenten.

Der Umzug von Mountain View, der im Frühjahr erfolgte, kurz bevor YC seine Sommer-Startups begrüßte, ist auch Teil der umfassenderen Bemühungen von Y Combinator, sein Programm nach der COVID-19-Krise wieder auf ein vollständig persönliches Programm umzustellen. Y Combinator begann damit im Sommer 2022, obwohl die Demo-Tage noch in weiter Ferne liegen. (YC sagt, dass der nächste Demo-Tag teilweise persönlich am Pier 70 stattfinden wird, die Präsentationen werden jedoch weiterhin online stattfinden.)

Tan möchte die Gründer nicht nur zurück in die Bay Area: Er möchte, dass sie ganz in ihrer Nähe sind. Der CEO von Y Combinator sagt, dass der Accelerator Gründer in hohem Maße dazu ermutigt, Plätze im Dogpatch oder Potrero Hill oder zumindest in der Nähe zu bekommen. „Ich denke, es wird wirklich gut sein, dass die Leute wissen, dass sie fußläufig voneinander entfernt sind, und ich denke, dass die Verbindungen zwischen den Gründern viel stärker sein werden“, sagte er und merkte an, dass er auf einen Anstieg von Y Combinator hofft Seine Scheckhöhe von 125.000 US-Dollar auf 500.000 US-Dollar im Jahr 2022 wird Gründern helfen, sich die hohe Miete leisten zu können.

Die Veränderungen kommen, da Tan sich immer stärker in die Politik von San Francisco einmischt: Er spendet für Kommunalwahlen, veranstaltet Versammlungen und natürlich postet er in den sozialen Medien immer wieder Beiträge über das, was er als „San Franciscos korrupte politische Maschine“ bezeichnet.

Tan ist nicht der Typ, der hart zuschlägt: „Ich bin bereit, dass er sein öffentliches Amt aufgibt“, sagt er über Dean Preston, einen Supervisor aus San Francisco, der sich zur Wiederwahl stellt. „Er hat sicherlich nicht den Bedürfnissen der Technik entsprochen. Andererseits glaube ich nicht einmal, dass das der Grund ist, ihn loszuwerden. Sein Hass auf Technologie vertuscht all die Dinge, die dazu führen, dass San Francisco seiner Verantwortung gegenüber den Bürgern aller Klassen so nachgibt.“ (In einer Erklärung sagte Vorgesetzter Preston, er sei stolz auf seine Erfolgsbilanz im „Kampf für Mieter, bezahlbaren Wohnraum, Gewerkschaften, Ernährungssicherheit und ein gerechtes San Francisco“ und sagte, dass einige seiner stärksten Unterstützer Menschen seien, die in der Technologiebranche arbeiteten.)

Während Tan der aktuellen politischen Führung in San Francisco in typischer Silicon-Valley-Manier sehr kritisch gegenüberstehen mag, sagt er, er sei optimistisch für die kommenden Jahre, insbesondere angesichts der bevorstehenden Wahlen im März und November. Und er sagt, dass er gerade jetzt persönlich miterlebt hat, wie die Tech-Community zusammenkommt: „Wir kommen zusammen.“ Wir organisieren. Wir schaffen tatsächlich unsere eigenen Medien“, sagte er. „Wenn man zum Abendessen geht, ist das eines der Dinge, über die wir heute reden, und wie vor zwei, drei Jahren in der Technik glaube ich nicht, dass wir das getan haben.“

Ich fragte, ob Tan jemals darüber nachdenken würde, selbst für ein Amt zu kandidieren.

„Vielleicht in 20 Jahren“, sagte er mir und fügte später hinzu: „Andererseits sagte meine Frau, dass sie sich von mir scheiden lassen würde, wenn ich für das Amt des Bürgermeisters kandidiere, also denke ich nicht, dass dies so schnell der Fall ist.“

Weitere Einhorn-Neuigkeiten…Discord hat 17 % seiner Belegschaft entlassen – 170 Personen, laut einem Memo, das CEO Jason Citron an die Belegschaft geschickt hat und das The Verge eingesehen hat. Die Ankündigung erfolgte gestern. „Wir müssen uns einigen harten Wahrheiten stellen“, schrieb Citron laut The Verge in dem Memo. „Wir sind schnell gewachsen und haben unsere Belegschaft noch schneller erweitert, seit 2020 um das Fünffache. Infolgedessen haben wir mehr Projekte übernommen und unsere Arbeitsweise wurde weniger effizient.“

Ein wichtiger Programmierhinweis…Angesichts der ständig wechselnden Emotionen wollte ich den Lesern mitteilen, dass ich ab Ende dieses Monats kein Term Sheet mehr schreiben werde. Keine Sorge: Ich verlasse Fortune nicht – ich schwanke nur in eine neue Rolle, in der ich außerhalb dieses Newsletters weitere Risikokapital- und Startup-Features, Scoops und Untersuchungen für unseren Tech Desk schreiben werde (obwohl ich mir einige meiner… Die Arbeiten werden hier immer noch von Zeit zu Zeit vorgestellt!). Ich habe das Glück, Sie in den überaus kompetenten Händen von Allie Garfinkle abgeben zu dürfen, die Sie diese Woche bereits kennengelernt haben. Sie ist sachkundig, neugierig, unerbittlich und eine absolute Freude. Wir haben das Glück, sie hier zu haben, und Sie auch. Keine Sorge: Ich werde noch nicht ganz sentimental. Du bleibst noch zwei Wochen bei mir.

Bitte beachten Sie, dass Term Sheet aufgrund des Martin-Luther-King-Jr.-Tages am Montag frei hat. Wir werden am Dienstag wieder in Ihren Posteingängen sein.

Bis dann,

Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
Reichen Sie ein Angebot für den Term Sheet-Newsletter ein Hier.

Joe Abrams hat den Bereich „Angebote“ des heutigen Newsletters kuratiert.

VENTURE-ANGEBOTE

– Zweites Abendessenein in Irvine, Kalifornien, ansässiges Spieleentwicklungsstudio, hat 100 Millionen US-Dollar im Rahmen einer Serie-B-Finanzierung eingesammelt. Griffin Gaming-Partner führte die Runde an und wurde von anderen begleitet.

– 1Xein in Moss, Norwegen, ansässiger Entwickler von Androiden, die für die Zusammenarbeit mit Menschen in verschiedenen Bereichen konzipiert sind, hat 100 Millionen US-Dollar im Rahmen einer Serie-B-Finanzierung eingesammelt EQT-Investoren und andere.

– hyperexponentielleine in London (Großbritannien) ansässige Informationsplattform für Preisentscheidungen für Versicherer, hat eine Serie-B-Finanzierung in Höhe von 73 Millionen US-Dollar eingesammelt. Batterieunternehmen führte die Runde an und schloss sich an a16z und bestehender Investor Hochland Europa.

– Übermondeine in San Francisco ansässige Plattform für Ferienvermietung, hat eine Anschubfinanzierung in Höhe von 10 Millionen US-Dollar eingeworben NFX, Khosla Ventures, Camber Creek, 1 Sharpe, Sunsar-Hauptstadtund andere.

– Schwankeneine in Los Angeles, Kalifornien, ansässige kundenorientierte Liefer- und Retourenplattform für Einzelhändler, hat 19,5 Millionen US-Dollar im Rahmen einer Serie-A-Finanzierung eingesammelt. 7GC führte die Runde an und schloss sich an Blackhorn Ventures, Lightshed Ventures, Aufstieg der Restrevolutionund andere.

– erntenein in New York City ansässiger Anbieter von Technologie zur Schadensbearbeitung und Policenverwaltung für die Versicherungsbranche, hat eine Startfinanzierung in Höhe von 3,2 Millionen US-Dollar eingesammelt. Motiv Ventures führte die Runde an und schloss sich an Tokio Marine Future Fund.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Edison-Partner eine Mehrheitsbeteiligung erworben 120Wasserein Wassermanagement- und Testsystem mit Sitz in Zionsville, Indiana, für 43 Millionen US-Dollar.

– Gruppe für Erscheinungstechnologieein Portfoliounternehmen von MPE-Partnererworben P&S Detailprodukte, ein in Hayward, Kalifornien, ansässiger Designer und Hersteller von Marken-Verbrauchsflüssigkeitschemikalien für die Autopflege. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

– Erster Einblickunterstützt von Partner aktualisierenerworben SnapRetail, ein in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ansässiger Entwickler von E-Mail-Marketing- und Social-Media-Kampagnensoftware für Einzelhändler. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

– Purpurner Phönixunterstützt von Godspeed Capitalerworben Cyberspace-Lösungen, ein in Herndon, Virginia, ansässiger Anbieter von Analyse- und Cyberlösungen für US-Geheimdienste und Verteidigungspartner. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

– JMI Equity eine Minderheitsbeteiligung erworben Sichere Software, eine in Surrey, BC, ansässige Unternehmensintegrationsplattform. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

– Riskonnectunterstützt von TA Associateserworben Ventiv-Technologie, ein in Atlanta, Georgia, ansässiger Anbieter von Risiko-, Versicherungs- und Underwriting-Technologielösungen. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

– Rauchunterstützt von Pavillon-Hauptstadtstimmte dem Erwerb zu AfterSell, eine in Vancouver, Kanada, ansässige App, die E-Commerce-Händlern beim Upselling ihrer Produkte helfen soll. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

– Transtar Holdinggesellschaftunterstützt von Blue Point Capital Partnerserworben Arch Autoteile, ein in Hollis, NY ansässiger Autoteileanbieter. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

AUSGÄNGE

– Patrick Industries dem Erwerb zugestimmt Sportein in Elk River, Minnesota, ansässiger Hersteller von Kabinenkomponenten und -systemen für die Endmärkte Powersport, Golf und Rasen, Industrie und Landwirtschaft Monomoy Capital Partners.

ANDERE

– Hightower-Berater erworben Capital Management Group aus New York, ein in Pearl River, NY, ansässiges Vermögensverwaltungs- und Finanzplanungsunternehmen. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

– Maersk-Tanker erworben Penfield Marine, ein Tankerbetreiber mit Sitz in Southport, Connecticut. Finanzielle Einzelheiten wurden nicht bekannt gegeben.

IPOS

– Smith Douglas Häuserein privater Hausbauer mit Sitz in Woodstock, Georgia, sammelte 161,7 Millionen US-Dollar durch ein Angebot von 7,7 Millionen Aktien zum Preis von 21 US-Dollar. Gründerfonds Und GSB Holdings das Unternehmen unterstützen.

– Circle Internet Financial, ein in Boston, Massachusetts, ansässiger Kontrolleur des USDC-Stablecoins, hat vertraulich den Börsengang beantragt. Das Unternehmen hatte zuletzt im Jahr 2022 aufgrund eines gescheiterten SPAC-Deals einen Wert von 9 Milliarden US-Dollar angegeben.

FONDS + DACHFONDS

– Vintage Investment Partnerseine Risikokapitalgesellschaft mit Sitz in Herzliya, Israel, hat 200 Millionen US-Dollar für ihren vierten Fonds eingesammelt, der sich auf Technologie-Startups in der Wachstumsphase konzentriert.

MENSCHEN

– Unternehmungen kalibriereneine Risikokapitalgesellschaft mit Sitz in Pasadena, Kalifornien, wurde eingestellt Katie Vasquez als Investor. Früher war sie mit MTech Capital.

– Google Ventureseiner der unternehmensfinanzierten Venture-Arme von Google, wurde gefördert Karthik Ardhanareeswaran, Sherry ChaoUnd KJ Sidberry an Investitionspartner.

– HCI Equity Partnersein in Washington, D.C. ansässiges Private-Equity-Unternehmen, wurde gefördert Dave Gewinner an Auftraggeber, Portfoliooperationen und Andrew Carraway zum Schulleiter.

– Neue Unternehmenspartnereine in Menlo Park, Kalifornien, ansässige Risikokapitalinvestitionsfirma, wurde eingestellt Tiffany Glück als Partner. Früher war sie mit GGV-Kapital.

– Northleaf Capital Partnersein in Toronto, Kanada, ansässiges Private-Equity-Unternehmen, wurde gefördert Brad Blowes, Kamal Mahant, Megan McLeese, Tom PettyUnd Stella Vranes zum Geschäftsführer.

– Transformationskapitalein in Boston, Massachusetts, ansässiges Wachstumskapitalunternehmen, wurde gefördert Vinay Shah Partner sein.

– TSG Consumer Partnersein in San Francisco ansässiges Private-Equity-Unternehmen, wurde befördert Alec Fogarty an den Schulleiter (San Francisco), Alex Gilmore zum Senior Vice President (London), Kelly Pease zum Senior Vice President (New York), Alex DiFelice zum Vizepräsidenten (New York), Josh Ronson zum Vizepräsidenten (London), Gaurish Gwalani zum Senior Associate (San Francisco), Christian Pavlakos zum Senior Associate (New York), Jordan Phelan zum Senior Associate (San Francisco) und Phoebe Wallwork zum Senior Associate (London).

The post Garry Tan says founders ‘should be in San Francisco’ as Y Combinator ditches Mountain View headquarters for the large metropolis appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Ever since Garry Tan came on as Y Combinator CEO last year, there have been changes.

Last March, Tan cut its late-stage investing and laid off 17 investors, and he shrank the size of YC’s batches. Less known is that the startup accelerator also moved its headquarters. After spending 17 years operating out of Mountain View, Y Combinator moved its operations up north to the Dogpatch neighborhood in San Francisco and into Pier 70, according to city records reviewed by Fortune and confirmed by Y Combinator.

In an interview, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan said it was important to him that YC be as close to the cutting edge of artificial intelligence innovation as possible (OpenAI and Anthropic and “a lot of the top talent” in artificial intelligence are in San Francisco versus Silicon Valley, he says). Not to mention—the majority of Y Combinator partners, including himself, live in San Francisco, he adds.

These days, “you sort of have to be in San Francisco,” Tan says, noting the importance of the accidental run-ins that happen when people are out and about. “Chances are the people around you are thinking about and talking about technology, and especially A.I. That’s really special,” Tan says. He also pointed out that YC data shows that startups that were built in San Francisco were more likely to succeed than their peers.

The move from Mountain View, which happened in the spring, right before YC welcomed its summer batch of startups, is also part of Y Combinator’s broader effort to bring its program back to being fully in-person post-COVID. Y Combinator started doing so in Summer 2022, though its demo days have still been remote. (YC says its next Demo Day will be partially in-person at Pier 70, though presentations will still be online)

Tan doesn’t just want founders back in the Bay Area: He wants them very close by. The Y Combinator CEO says the accelerator is highly encouraging founders to get places in the Dogpatch or Potrero Hill, or at least nearby. “I think it’s actually going to be really good that people know to be in walking distance of each other, and I think the connections between the founders are just going to be that much stronger,” he said, noting that he hopes Y Combinator upping its check size to $500,000 in 2022, up from $125,000, will help founders be able to afford the high rent.

Story continues

The changes come as Tan continues to get more involved in San Francisco politics: Donating to local elections, hosting gatherings, and, of course his ongoing slew of social media posts about what he describes as “San Francisco’s corrupt political machine.”

Tan is not one to pull punches: “I’m ready for him to leave public office,” he says of Dean Preston, a San Francisco Supervisor, who is running for re-election. “He certainly hasn’t been serving the needs of tech. On the other hand, I don’t even think that’s the reason to get rid of him. His hatred of tech covers up all the things that cause San Francisco to be so derelict in its responsibility to the citizens of all classes.” (In a statement, Supervisor Preston said that he was proud of his record “fighting for tenants, affordable housing, unions, food security, and an equitable San Francisco” and said that some of his strongest supporters were people who work in tech.)

While Tan may be very critical of San Francisco’s current political leadership, in typical Silicon Valley fashion, he says he is optimistic about the years ahead, particularly with upcoming elections this March and November. And he says that he has personally witnessed the tech community rallying together right now: “We’re coming together. We’re organizing. We’re actually creating our own media,” he said. “When you go to dinners, that’s one of the things we talk about now, and like two, three years ago in tech, I don’t think that that was something we were doing.”

I asked whether Tan would ever consider running for some kind of office himself.

“Maybe in 20 years,” he told me, adding later: “On the other hand, my wife said that she’ll divorce me if I run for Mayor, so I don’t think anytime soon.”

More unicorn news…Discord has laid off 17% of its staff—170 people, according to a memo CEO Jason Citron sent to staff that was seen by The Verge. The announcement was made yesterday. “We have to face some hard truths,” Citron wrote in the memo, according to The Verge. “We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020. As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.”

An important programming note…With an ever-changing array of emotions, I wanted to let readers know that I will no longer be writing Term Sheet as of the end of this month. Don’t worry: I’m not leaving Fortune—just pivoting into a new role where I’ll be writing more venture capital and startup features, scoops, and investigations for our tech desk, outside this newsletter (though I imagine some of my work will still be featured in here every so often!). I’m fortunate to be able to leave you in the more-than-capable hands of Allie Garfinkle, who you’ve already gotten to know over this week. She is knowledgeable, curious, relentless, and an absolute joy. We’re lucky to have her here, and so are you. Don’t worry: I won’t get all sentimental just yet. You’re still stuck with me for another two weeks.

Please note that Term Sheet is taking Monday off in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday.

Until then,

Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

The post Garry Tan says founders ‘need to be in San Francisco’ as Y Combinator ditches Mountain View headquarters for the massive metropolis appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Ever since Garry Tan came on as Y Combinator CEO last year, there have been changes. 

Last March, Tan cut its late-stage investing and laid off 17 investors, and he shrank the size of YC’s batches. Less known is that the startup accelerator also moved its headquarters. After spending 17 years operating out of Mountain View, Y Combinator moved its operations up north to the Dogpatch neighborhood in San Francisco and into Pier 70, according to city records reviewed by Fortune and confirmed by Y Combinator. 

In an interview, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan said it was important to him that YC be as close to the cutting edge of artificial intelligence innovation as possible (OpenAI and Anthropic and “a lot of the top talent” in artificial intelligence are in San Francisco versus Silicon Valley, he says). Not to mention—the majority of Y Combinator partners, including himself, live in San Francisco, he adds.

These days, “you sort of have to be in San Francisco,” Tan says, noting the importance of the accidental run-ins that happen when people are out and about. “Chances are the people around you are thinking about and talking about technology, and especially A.I. That’s really special,” Tan says. He also pointed out that YC data shows that startups that were built in San Francisco were more likely to succeed than their peers.

The move from Mountain View, which happened in the spring, right before YC welcomed its summer batch of startups, is also part of Y Combinator’s broader effort to bring its program back to being fully in-person post-COVID. Y Combinator started doing so in Summer 2022, though its demo days have still been remote. (YC says its next Demo Day will be partially in-person at Pier 70, though presentations will still be online) 

Tan doesn’t just want founders back in the Bay Area: He wants them very close by. The Y Combinator CEO says the accelerator is highly encouraging founders to get places in the Dogpatch or Potrero Hill, or at least nearby. “I think it’s actually going to be really good that people know to be in walking distance of each other, and I think the connections between the founders are just going to be that much stronger,” he said, noting that he hopes Y Combinator upping its check size to $500,000 in 2022, up from $125,000, will help founders be able to afford the high rent.

The changes come as Tan continues to get more involved in San Francisco politics: Donating to local elections, hosting gatherings, and, of course his ongoing slew of social media posts about what he describes as “San Francisco’s corrupt political machine.” 

Tan is not one to pull punches: “I’m ready for him to leave public office,” he says of Dean Preston, a San Francisco Supervisor, who is running for re-election. “He certainly hasn’t been serving the needs of tech. On the other hand, I don’t even think that’s the reason to get rid of him. His hatred of tech covers up all the things that cause San Francisco to be so derelict in its responsibility to the citizens of all classes.” (In a statement, Supervisor Preston said that he was proud of his record “fighting for tenants, affordable housing, unions, food security, and an equitable San Francisco” and said that some of his strongest supporters were people who work in tech.)

While Tan may be very critical of San Francisco’s current political leadership, in typical Silicon Valley fashion, he says he is optimistic about the years ahead, particularly with upcoming elections this March and November. And he says that he has personally witnessed the tech community rallying together right now: “We’re coming together. We’re organizing. We’re actually creating our own media,” he said. “When you go to dinners, that’s one of the things we talk about now, and like two, three years ago in tech, I don’t think that that was something we were doing.” 

I asked whether Tan would ever consider running for some kind of office himself.

“Maybe in 20 years,” he told me, adding later: “On the other hand, my wife said that she’ll divorce me if I run for Mayor, so I don’t think anytime soon.”

More unicorn news…Discord has laid off 17% of its staff—170 people, according to a memo CEO Jason Citron sent to staff that was seen by The Verge. The announcement was made yesterday. “We have to face some hard truths,” Citron wrote in the memo, according to The Verge. “We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020. As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.”

An important programming note…With an ever-changing array of emotions, I wanted to let readers know that I will no longer be writing Term Sheet as of the end of this month. Don’t worry: I’m not leaving Fortune—just pivoting into a new role where I’ll be writing more venture capital and startup features, scoops, and investigations for our tech desk, outside this newsletter (though I imagine some of my work will still be featured in here every so often!). I’m fortunate to be able to leave you in the more-than-capable hands of Allie Garfinkle, who you’ve already gotten to know over this week. She is knowledgeable, curious, relentless, and an absolute joy. We’re lucky to have her here, and so are you. Don’t worry: I won’t get all sentimental just yet. You’re still stuck with me for another two weeks.

Please note that Term Sheet is taking Monday off in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday.

Until then,

Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

– Second Dinner, an Irvine, Calif.-based game development studio, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Griffin Gaming Partners led the round and was joined by others. 

– 1X, a Moss, Norway-based developer of androids designed to work alongside humans in various sectors, raised $100 million in Series B funding from EQT Investors and others.

– hyperexponential, a London, U.K.-based pricing decision intelligence platform for insurers, raised $73 million in Series B funding. Battery Ventures led the round and was joined by a16z and existing investor Highland Europe.

– Overmoon, a San Francisco-based vacation rental platform, raised $10 million in seed funding from NFX, Khosla Ventures, Camber Creek, 1Sharpe, Sunsar Capital, and others.

– Sway, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based customer-focused delivery and returns platform for retailers, raised $19.5 million in Series A funding. 7GC led the round and was joined by Blackhorn Ventures, Lightshed Ventures, Rise of the Rest Revolution, and others. 

– Korr, a New York City-based provider of claims processing and policy administration technology for the insurance industry, raised $3.2 million in seed funding. Motive Ventures led the round and was joined by Tokio Marine Future Fund. 

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Edison Partners acquired a majority stake in 120Water, a Zionsville, Ind.-based water management and testing system, for $43 million. 

– Appearance Technology Group, a portfolio company of MPE Partners, acquired P&S Detail Products, a Hayward, Calif.-based designer and manufacturer of branded, consumable car care liquid chemicals. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– First Insight, backed by Updata Partners, acquired SnapRetail, a Pittsburgh, Penn.-based developer of email marketing and social media campaign software for retailers. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– Crimson Phoenix, backed by Godspeed Capital, acquired Cyberspace Solutions, a Herndon, Va.-based provider of analytic and cyber solutions to US intelligence agencies and defense partners. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– JMI Equity acquired a minority stake in Safe Software, a Surrey, B.C.-based enterprise integration platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– Riskonnect, backed by TA Associates, acquired Ventiv Technology, an Atlanta, Ga.-based provider of risk, insurance and underwriting technology solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– Rokt, backed by Pavilion Capital, agreed to acquire AfterSell, a Vancouver, Canada-based app designed to help e-commerce merchants upsell their products. Financial terms were not disclosed.  

– Transtar Holding Company, backed by Blue Point Capital Partners, acquired Arch Auto Parts, a Hollis, N.Y.-based auto parts provider. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

EXITS

– Patrick Industries agreed to acquire Sportech, an Elk River, Minn.-based manufacturer of cab components and systems for the powersports, golf and turf, industrial and agricultural end markets, from Monomoy Capital Partners.

OTHER

– Hightower Advisors acquired Capital Management Group of New York, a Pearl River, N.Y.-based wealth management and financial planning firm. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– Maersk Tankers acquired Penfield Marine, a Southport, Conn.-based tanker operator. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

IPOS

– Smith Douglas Homes, a Woodstock, Ga.-based private homebuilder, raised $161.7 million in an offering of 7.7 million shares priced at $21. Founder Fund and GSB Holdings back the company. 

– Circle Internet Financial, a Boston, Mass.-based controller of the USDC stablecoin, confidentially filed to go public. The company last claimed it was worth $9 billion in 2022 amid a failed SPAC deal. 

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

– Vintage Investment Partners, a Herzliya, Israel-based venture capital firm, raised $200 million for its fourth fund focused on growth-stage technology startups.

PEOPLE

– Calibrate Ventures, a Pasadena, Calif.-based venture capital firm, hired Katie Vasquez as an investor. Formerly, she was with MTech Capital. 

– Google Ventures, one of Google’s corporate-funded venture arms, promoted Karthik Ardhanareeswaran, Sherry Chao, and KJ Sidberry to investing partners.

– HCI Equity Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, promoted Dave Venker to principal, portfolio operations and Andrew Carraway to principal.

– New Enterprise Associates, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital investment firm, hired Tiffany Luck as a partner. Formerly, she was with GGV Capital.

– Northleaf Capital Partners, a Toronto, Canada-based private equity firm, promoted Brad Blowes, Kamal Mahant, Megan McLeese, Tom Petty, and Stella Vranes to managing director. 

– Transformation Capital, a Boston, Mass.-based growth equity firm, promoted Vinay Shah to partner. 

– TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, promoted Alec Fogarty to principal (San Francisco), Alex Gilmore to senior vice president (London), Kelly Pease to senior vice president (New York), Alex DiFelice to vice president (New York), Josh Ronson to vice president (London), Gaurish Gwalani to senior associate (San Francisco), Christian Pavlakos to senior associate (New York), Jordan Phelan to senior associate (San Francisco), and Phoebe Wallwork to senior associate (London).

The post Garry Tan says founders ‘must be in San Francisco’ as Y Combinator ditches Mountain View headquarters for the massive metropolis appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The kids apparently went to bed, because Garry Tan is back to war. It’s nearly midnight, and he’s been firing off tweets with the precision of a sawed-off shotgun. Hot takes and ragetweets may be the coin of the realm in Elon Musk’s new world order, but even by social media standards, Tan’s metabolism for vitriol and the breadth of his disdain for what ails San Francisco is staggering.

Over the course of two hours, the CEO of startup incubator Y Combinator personally attacks or retweets criticism of “extremist judges,” whom he accuses of emboldening criminals with the help of local media; any supervisor who dares to oppose bonuses to hire more cops; Nancy Pelosi and lawmakers concerned about the safety of autonomous vehicles; education activists who want to change math curriculum in public schools; venture capitalists who are “evil” to startup founders; “decels” who want to pump the brakes on technological progress; Apple’s monopoly on apps; YouTube censors; and last, but certainly not least, NIMBYs.

This behavior would be less remarkable if Tan, 42, weren’t a centimillionaire and one of the most influential people in tech. He boasts 362,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter) and a quarter-million subscribers to his YouTube channel. He has also poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into local elections since 2021. 

Tan’s critics have attempted to brand him as a toxic tech bro who lacks empathy and political chops, but he’s more than a malcontent with a big microphone. In just a few years, Tan, a registered Democrat, has fashioned himself into San Francisco’s preeminent political pitbull, an attack dog with a taste for progressives.

Trump pushed SF to the hard left and with it came the grift: ideological purity enforced by the most extreme viewpoints that must be adhered to with perfection

— Garry Tan 陈嘉兴 — e/acc (@garrytan) September 20, 2023

“One thing that I’m starting to realize about myself is I always look for chaos,” Tan said in an interview this month at Y Combinator’s cavernous headquarters, a former power station in the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood. “Most people want certainty. They want to feel comfortable. And then the true founders, they want to find chaos, and they want to turn chaos into order.”

Tan, who lives with his wife and two young sons in Noe Valley, also wants San Franciscans to join him in picking up their pitchforks come election time in November 2024. The city is on pace to smash its own record for drug overdose deaths, more than 4,000 people are sleeping on the streets every night, and property crime and quality-of-life issues have made San Francisco a national punchline. With businesses fleeing and vacant Downtown towers collecting dust, the city could be creeping toward a fiscal crisis.

Regardless of whether people like or loathe Tan, both his supporters and detractors acknowledge that few people—perhaps only Mayor London Breed—have greater influence at this moment over the city’s political discourse.

Mayor London Breed speaks at a press conference at City Hall in June concerning San Francisco’s many unapproved housing projects. | Jeremy Chen/The Standard

“Where does this guy have his pull? It isn’t in banking votes in San Francisco politics. It’s in that broader, end-around messaging: the negative light that has been cast on the city,” said David Latterman, a longtime political analyst in San Francisco. “Locally, people might just roll their eyes. But you can’t deny that the national spotlight through these means—and it’s a negative spotlight—has been enough to get Breed to react. And so, in effect, it does work.”

In turn, online attacks against Tan are becoming increasingly aggressive, which may be why his list of accounts he’s blocked on X numbers in the tens of thousands. 

I’ll have you know I block people by hand.

— Garry Tan 陈嘉兴 — e/acc (@garrytan) April 20, 2022

A website called Techbro SF has been trolling Tan and his political allies, circulating an image that shows Tan’s visage on a squid, suggesting his tentacles control political groups and the media—including, incorrectly, this publication. The graphic harkens back to a racist “Mongolian Octopus” illustration circulated in the late 1800s to bolster arguments against Asian immigration. Tan’s attacks on progressive supervisors who are Jewish, such as Dean Preston and Hillary Ronen, have led to accusations of antisemitism. One progressive commenter called Tan a “lil Nazi snake.” Tan responded by calling the posts smears and saying he is “a big fan of Jewish people.”

The smears are truly absurd at this point

This is a lie about me and my videos. There is literally no basis for a tweet like this.

I am in fact a big fan of Jewish people pic.twitter.com/3rI77eF3YT

— Garry Tan 陈嘉兴 — e/acc (@garrytan) August 28, 2023

The political maneuverings of wealthy power brokers in San Francisco have always been met with deep suspicion and pushback. Tan saw firsthand how progressives blamed people like his mentor Ron Conway, a billionaire venture capitalist, and the tech industry at large for driving up the cost of rent and gentrifying neighborhoods. Conway receded from the spotlight after dramatically shaping city politics during Mayor Ed Lee’s administration, but it appears there will be no such backing down with Tan.

“Every way they come after me,” he said, “I’m going to go after them 10x.”

‘Prototypical, Testosterone, Poison Tech Bro’

Tan’s massive social media following—and real-world clout as leader of what some consider the top startup incubator in the world—gives every acerbic tweet about housing, the drug crisis and public safety a special weight among the city’s tech and political classes. Over the summer, he and Musk started replying to each other’s posts, giving Tan an even larger reach thanks to the budding digital bromance.

Elon Musk and Garry Tan tweeted support for a boycott of global law firm Latham & Watkins for providing legal support to a San Francisco nonprofit that’s suing the city over homelessness issues. | Chesnot/Getty Images | Source: Getty Images

In direct broadsides on X, Tan has drop-kicked state Assemblymember Matt Haney for “virtue signaling” on the drug crisis, tagged Supervisors Connie Chan and Aaron Peskin as part of the “corrupt political machine,” suggested Ronen has the IQ of a borderline intellectually disabled person and declared all-out war on Preston, a Democratic Socialist. Tan has also called for abolishing citizen oversight groups like the Police Commission, a proposal political insiders have scoffed at as an example of naivete.

Peskin said he has never met Tan but sees him as a “prototypical, testosterone, poison tech bro.” The supervisor questioned Tan’s goals beyond “throwing bombs.”

“He definitely donates money to campaigns,” Peskin said. “But he doesn’t seem to be a [political] player that is actually looking for solutions or sitting down and trying to have mature conversations about how to make the city a better place.”

Tan has contributed more than $278,000 to political campaigns since early 2021, putting him in the top tier of individual spenders in San Francisco. While Tan has made it abundantly clear whom he doesn’t support, he’s more evasive about whom he plans to back in next year’s elections.

Tech entrepreneur and CEO of Y Combinator Garry Tan smiles during an interview at his Y Combinator offices in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco on Sept. 14. | Source: Noah Berger for The Standard

This summer, Tan held a fundraiser for Breed at a condo he owns near Dolores Park in the Mission. Breed’s approval ratings have plummeted since the start of the pandemic, and the private event offered the beleaguered mayor a chance to rekindle support from her frustrated base.

Tan, who supported Breed’s appointments of District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Supervisor Matt Dorsey, considers the mayor to be a “friend” and said the two text each other. But even after giving money to her campaign last year and throwing her a fundraiser, he won’t commit to officially backing Breed in the November 2024 election.

“No,” Tan said. “I’m a big fan, and honestly, we don’t even know who the field [of candidates] is yet. So, it’d be way premature to say either way. I can say I’m a fan and supporter. Like, she’s definitely going to be on my ranked-choice vote.”

A day prior to his interview with The Standard, Tan met Daniel Lurie, an anti-poverty nonprofit founder and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who is running for mayor. Tan said he walked away from their conversation impressed.

Daniel Lurie shakes hands at a press conference at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House after filing paperwork officially announcing his candidacy for mayor of San Francisco with the Department of Elections. | Source: Benjamin Fanjoy for The Standard

Tan’s support is likely to carry enormous sway in the city’s growing collection of moderate-leaning political groups, some of which Tan is advising. Tan sits on the board of GrowSF, a moderate group launched by two former tech workers, and is part of the “donor table” for Abundant SF, a coalition of upper-crust tech entrepreneurs who plan to pool millions of dollars to spend on city elections each year starting in 2024.

Tan’s chaotic foray into politics appears to mark a new era from the high-society, ball gown and bowtie power brokers of the past.

“The old guard of people in politics, kind of like the Downtown developers and the Shorensteins and the Fishers, that’s a different class,” said Todd David, political director of Abundant SF. “When I think of the new generation of business leaders, especially the young ones, it’s hard for me to think of anyone who is more important than Garry.”

‘People Just Read It and Engage’

Tan’s origin story is far from glamorous, and the trauma he endured as a child, along with the training he received, seems to have made him uniquely suited for the stress of startup culture and San Francisco politics. He was born in 1981 in Winnipeg, Canada. His ethnically Chinese parents—his father was from Singapore and his mother was from Burma—met at an A&W Root Beer restaurant and struggled to make ends meet. 

The family moved around—once to California, then back to Canada—before settling in Fremont in 1991. His dad, a mechanical engineer, drank too much and changed jobs often. His mother’s limited English skills prevented her from trading in her two jobs, including work at a convalescent home, to pursue her dream of becoming a registered nurse. 

Garry Tan displays his TI-99 Texas Instruments calculator and handbook while sitting next to his computers at his home in Fremont in 1999. | Source: Courtesy Garry Tan

Tan’s father would come home and pass off machinist paperwork to Garry, the eldest of two sons, so he could relax and drink beer. Food was often in short supply—in interviews, Tan has recalled meals of sliced bread dipped in milk—and his father’s discipline could be severe. The tension of home life was paired with mundane family outings in which his father would take him to technical bookstores, preparing Tan for a life of building and breaking things.

“It’s hyper common for founders to basically have limbic systems that are tuned up in a way where if it’s, like, too calm or too safe, they start looking for things to find stimulation,” Tan said.

At age 14, Tan started cold-calling companies in the Yellow Pages to land a $7-an-hour job building city websites, a grind that eventually paid off with Tan helping his parents make a down payment on a house. In middle school, Tan and a friend created a website that became an “underground newspaper” tackling thorny issues like California’s three-strikes law. 

An American High School yearbook photo shows sophomore Garry Tan, center, during class in 1997.

“I just got addicted to this idea that media was a way that you could actually have an influence on the world around us,” Tan said. “And on the internet, it sort of didn’t matter who you were. People just read it and engage with it.”

Obviously, the difference now is what Tan says matters.

After graduating from American High School in Fremont and receiving a computer engineering degree from Stanford in 2003, Tan worked at Microsoft and became an early employee at Peter Thiel’s Palantir. He joined the Y Combinator program as a partner in 2011, and a year later, he sold his first startup, a blogging and sharing platform called Posterous, for $20 million. He created another company similar to his first before launching Initialized Capital, a venture capital firm that hit big with Instacart and Coinbase.

Tan has voted in all but one San Francisco election since 2014 after moving to the city about two years earlier. Tan contributed $5,139 to various campaigns in 2015 and 2016 and supported Sonja Trauss and other YIMBY housing activists. But it wasn’t until the 2022 district attorney and school board recalls that Tan—infuriated by the city’s public school system and a spike in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI)—began more aggressively speaking out and pouring money into campaigns.

“You see this in Garry and, just in general, in how the AAPI community is voting right now,” said Lee Edwards, a friend of Tan’s and a fellow venture capitalist.  “When you look at safety and you look at public schools, these are things that the community cares a lot about, particularly if they’re first-, second- or third-generation immigrants.”

A volunteer campaigning to recall the SF School Board reminds passersby of the election that was held on Feb. 14, 2022. | Camille Cohen/The Standard

Kim-Mai Cutler, a close friend of Tan’s who worked as a tech journalist before joining his former investment firm, Initialized Capital, suggested the departure of Donald Trump from the White House has made San Franciscans like Tan less concerned with assaults on democracy, LGBTQ+ rights and immigrants; instead, they are taking a harder look at the conditions here at home.

“That [wave of electing progressives] was very much fueled by the Trump presidency and people wanting to make a clear statement that they were as far away from that as possible,” Cutler said. “In some ways, maybe Garry’s trajectory mirrors that shift in the tone of city politics.”

‘The More I Find Out About Him, the More Angry I Get’

It isn’t difficult to see how Tan and Supervisor Dean Preston see the world in different colors. 

In contrast to Tan’s hardscrabble beginnings, the 53-year-old Preston grew up in Greenwich Village with the safety net of generational wealth before coming to San Francisco to work as a tenants rights attorney. Eight years after Tan and his family arrived in Fremont, Preston and his wife were buying a 2,400-square-foot home overlooking the Painted Ladies and Alamo Square. 

Supervisor Dean Preston speaks at a rally to protest illegal evictions in San Francisco on Aug. 5, 2022. | Juliana Yamada/The Standard

“We’re, like, exactly the polar opposite,” Tan said. “I don’t think I’ve found a single thing I agree with him on. … What’s funny is I don’t think it’s personal. It was the policies that made me angry first. And the more I find out about him, the more angry I get.”

GrowSF launched a campaign committee this summer colloquially called the “Dump Dean PAC,” with Tan contributing $50,000 to the effort. The group’s website ticks off 31 reasons why voters should not reelect Preston, whose supervisorial district includes the Haight and the Tenderloin. The arguments against Preston range from his opposition to numerous housing projects and calls to defund police to his stances against last year’s recall elections. Tan has recited many of these points in dozens of social media posts, accusing Preston of “ruining” San Francisco.

As if on cue, my car got bipped this morning https://t.co/NTnHco58zf pic.twitter.com/LR6SPg7wdq

— Garry Tan 陈嘉兴 — e/acc (@garrytan) September 21, 2023

The contempt appears to be mutual.

In an appearance this month at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco, Preston—who joined the Board of Supervisors in 2019—blamed the city’s ills on wealthy elites and a “billionaire backlash” that he said has rolled back progressive reforms.

“Even worse than the billionaires like Musk are the wannabe billionaires. Like, they only have hundreds of millions,” Preston said. “Guys like Garry Tan and others, they’re very angry that they’re not yet billionaires, so they’re even more toxic.”

Tan laughed when he heard about Preston’s speech being posted to YouTube, which also features a channel Tan has fine-tuned with advice from social media star Mr. Beast to share life lessons and business strategies.

“Like, they’re anti-capitalists,” Tan said. “I’m a capitalist! Basically, I feel like I have to [fight back]. It feels like a little bit of a duty.”

Garry Tan, then the co-founder and managing partner of Initialized Capital, talks with Tim Draper during the opening day of Web Summit 2018 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. | Source: Seb Daly/Web Summit/Getty Images

The war between Preston and Tan is clearly personal. But a recent exchange shows how Tan’s social media tactics can act as a double-edged sword. The same day Musk pledged to double Tan’s $50,000 donation to GrowSF, Preston sent out a call for donations saying that he is running against the “billionaire class.”

Bilal Mahmood, a tech entrepreneur who is expected to challenge Preston in next year’s election, attempted to distance himself from Musk in a post on X. While he has little in common with Preston, Mahmood’s reaction could have just as easily come from one of the supervisor’s supporters—a seeming acknowledgment that, in Preston’s progressive district, any association with the divisive billionaire would be a political non-starter. 

“San Francisco is a city of progressive values,” Mahmood tweeted. “Elon should keep his fucking money out of our politics.”

Elon Musk is many things.

He is Anti-Trans.
He is Anti-Semitic.
He is Anti-Choice.
He is Anti-Worker.

San Francisco is a city of progressive values. Elon should keep his fucking money out of our politics.

— Bilal Mahmood 馬百樂 (@bilalmahmood) September 23, 2023

‘What Happens in San Francisco …’

Last summer, Tan was lured back to Y Combinator as CEO to carry the baton previously held by tech whisperer and Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham as well as Sam Altman, who is now the CEO of OpenAI.

Tan has been bullish in defending the work of Y Combinator founders and calling out “greedy” investors. But unlike his predecessors, he’s also more politically outspoken and believes an alignment between San Francisco tech founders and policymakers could spark a global movement for the betterment of humanity.

Also, it’s a big deal imo that YC will have a president so active in local politics! I think YC can make a real difference here…

— Sam Altman (@sama) August 29, 2022

“I never want to run for office. Like, it’s not for me to figure out,” Tan said. “I really think that we can find people who have our values, who believe in the acceleration of human abundance. And those are the people I want in power. If we align ideologically, this is the city to do it. And what happens in San Francisco will not just be for the people who grow up in San Francisco. It’ll be for the Bay Area. It’ll be for California. It’ll be for America. It’ll be for the world.” 

The handle of Tan’s X bio includes the acronym “e/acc,” which stands for effective accelerationism. The ideology du jour in Silicon Valley—endorsed by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and convicted pharma bro Martin Shkreli—suggests rapidly scaled innovation and capitalism can create social change bordering on a utopia. There will be collateral damage, the theory goes, but this should not be seen as a reason to “kill the golden goose,” as Tan put it in a defiant YouTube video defending robotaxis in San Francisco.

The ideology has fringes that border on cultish—such as those who believe in a “thermodynamic god”—but Tan sees e/acc as a motivating force in bringing more tech people into San Francisco’s political fold.

“We’re trying to get tech people to realize: ‘You may not be interested in government, but government is absolutely interested in you,’” he said. “And you know what? I’m not asking for more than a vote. I just want our vote. That’s it.”

Tan’s influence in this regard appears to be bearing fruit. In just the last two weeks, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has come out hard on public safety after largely sitting on the sidelines since 2018 when he backed Proposition C. The controversial ballot measure taxed companies making over $50 million in annual gross receipts to help fund homelessness services, but conditions on San Francisco’s streets are no better, and critics say the tax played a role in driving businesses out of the city.

“I think he’s coming over,” Tan said of Benioff. “I think that he understands the unintended consequence [of Prop. C]. And he’s pro-police, he’s pro-public safety and I’m excited about that.”

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff answers questions from the press at the Dreamforce conference on Sept. 13. | Source: Justin Katigbak/The Standard

There is a question as to how long Tan can keep up the pace of raising a family, serving as CEO of Y Combinator and acting as San Francisco’s chief political antagonist. Blocking tens of thousands of people on X can silence some of the noise—and conversely, create a dangerous echo chamber of thought—but one meltdown or poorly worded tweet can lead to becoming persona non grata in this city.

“Folks burn out or wear out their welcome pretty quickly,” Latterman said. “[Tan] takes one issue that’s really unpopular—you know, some kid gets killed by an automated vehicle—and then suddenly he’s out defending it? Then his cred is done.”

Some of Tan’s supporters and friends have expressed concern about the toll of his social media brawls: “I can’t see that level of Twitter fighting is great for anyone’s psyche long-term,” Cutler said. But Tan said he rarely suffers a moment of doubt in his mission.

“Not really,” he said. “I mean, yes, but I care about this, and it’s worth it. Like, what other game of FarmVille am I supposed to be playing?”

A composite image shows tech entrepreneur and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan reacting during an interview with The Standard on Sept. 14. | Source: Noah Berger for The Standard

Tan used to play video games on his family computer as a kid, trading floppy disks with his friends. When asked what he does for fun now outside of picking political fights, he smiled, almost confused by the question.

“Oh, my God,” Tan said. “This is fun.”

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