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Archive for April, 2018

Tech investor Tim Draper predicts bitcoin will reach $250,000 by 2022

  • Venture capitalist Tim Draper confirmed Friday afternoon that he predicts bitcoin will reach $250,000 by 2022.
  • Bitcoin traded near $8,100 on Friday afternoon, up more than 18 percent for the week, according to Coinbase.
  • Fundstrat Global Research’s Tom Lee, the only major Wall Street strategist to issue bitcoin price targets, expects the cryptocurrency will reach $20,000 by the middle of the year and $25,000 by the end of 2018.

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Venture capitalist Tim Draper predicts bitcoin will multiply by 30 times within four years.

He made the forecast Thursday evening at his “Draper Block(chain) party” in California.

Draper tweeted early Friday morning New York time that he was predicting “bitcoin at $25k by 2022,” causing confusion among investors.

But he clarified in an afternoon tweet that $250,000 was the correct figure.

“It sounds crazy,” Brian Kelly, founder and CEO of BKCM, an investment firm focused in digital currencies, told CNBC on “Fast Money” Friday. “But think about it this way: that’s four years from now. That’s a 3,000 percent return from here. But over the last two years bitcoin has had a 4,000 percent return. It would be a continuation of that trend.”

Is bitcoin going to the mood? Fast Money's BK tells all

Is bitcoin going to the moon? Fast Money’s BK tells all  

Bitcoin traded near $8,100 on Friday afternoon, up more than 18 percent for the week, according to Coinbase. The cryptocurrency suddenly shot 17 percent higher Thursday morning. Many traders attributed the spike to investors covering their shorts, or buying back into the market after betting against bitcoin.

Fundstrat Global Research’s Tom Lee, the only major Wall Street strategist to issue bitcoin price targets, expects the cryptocurrency will reach $20,000 by the middle of the year and $25,000 by the end of 2018.

Draper is founding partner of Draper Associates and DFJ, an early investor in Skype and Chinese search giant Baidu. He bought nearly 30,000 bitcoins in a 2014 U.S. Marshals Service auction, all of which he told CNBC in December he was still holding. If that is still the case, Draper’s bitcoin investment is worth roughly $243 million at Friday’s prices.

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Venture Capital, Chinese Neil Shen Tops The Midas List 2018

2017 was a contrasting year for venture capital.

On one hand, some detestable cases of sexual harrassments came to light and triggered an earthquake in the industry whose effects will resonate for years.

On the other hand, the industry continued to show strong growth. As an example, in the U.S., $84 billion were invested in 8,035 companies across 8,076 deals, the highest annual amount of capital deployed to the entrepreneurial ecosystem since the early 2000’s, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.

But that’s just an example. The Midas List 2018, presented by Forbes in partnership with TrueBridge Capital Partners, shows that China is rising and represents an increasing slice of the global venture capital industry.
#1 Neil Shen, Founding Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital China, marks the first time a Chinese national has reached the top of the list. In addition, sixteen members of the list are either Chinese nationals or based in the country. Shen reached the top position after Ppdai Group went public in November 2017.
#2 is Bill Gurley, General Partner of Benchmark, which sold about $900m of its Uber stock.
#3 is Jim Goetz, Partner, Sequoia Capital, who topped the list for four consecutive years.

Considering other aspects, the list is still dominated by men with only nine women present. They are Mary Meeker (#6), Rebecca Lynn (#31), Ann Miura-Ko (#55), Beth Seidenberg (#62), Jenny Lee (#74), Kirsten Green (#77), Theresia Gouw (#89), and new comers Sonali De Rycker (#95) and Aileen Lee (#97).

Have a look at the entire list below.

    1. Neil Shen – Founding Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital China
    2. Bill Gurley – General Partner, Benchmark
    3. Jim Goetz – Partner, Sequoia Capital
    4. Carl Gordon – General Partner, OrbiMed
    5. Robert Nelsen – Cofounder and Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners
    6. Mary Meeker – General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &Byers
    7. Peter Fenton – General Partner, Benchmark
    8. J.P. Gan – Managing Partner, Qiming Venture Partners
    9. Douglas Leone – Partner, Sequoia Capital
    10. Brian Singerman – Partner, Founders
    11. Eric Paley – Partner, Founder Collective
    12. Mike Maples, Jr. – Co-Founding Partner, Floodgate
    13. Kui Zhou – Partner, Sequoia Capital China
    14. Roelof Botha – Partner, Sequoia Capital
    15. Byron Deeter – Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
    16. Scott Sandell – Managing General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
    17. Rob Hayes – Partner, First Round Capital
    18. Dennis Phelps – General Partner, IVP
    19. Josh Kopelman – General Partner, First Round Capital
    20. Hans Tung – Managing Partner, GGV Capital
    21. Neeraj Agrawal – General Partner, Battery Ventures
    22. Joe Lonsdale – Founding Partner, 8VC
    23. Xiaojun Li – Partner, IDG Capital
    24. Xiao Ping Xu – Managing Partner, ZhenFund
    25. Jeff Jordan – General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
    26. Tony Florence – General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
    27. Steve Anderson – Founder and Partner, Baseline Ventures
    28. Bryan Roberts – Partner, Venrock
    29. John Doerr – General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
    30. Sameer Gandhi – Partner, Accel
    31. Rebecca Lynn – Cofounder and General Partner, Canvas Ventures
    32. Alfred Lin – Partner, Sequoia Capital
    33. Anton Levy – Managing Director, General Atlantic
    34. Scott Shleifer – Partner, Tiger Global Management
    35. Vinod Khosla – Partner, Khosla Ventures
    36. Deven Parekh – Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners
    37. Shailendra Singh – Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India
    38. Marc Andreessen – Cofounder and Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
    39. Jeremy Liew – Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners
    40. Mitch Lasky – General Partner, Benchmark
    41. Jeremy Levine – Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
    42. Allen Zhu – Managing Director, GSR Ventures
    43. Lee Fixel – Partner, Tiger Global Management
    44. Jim Tananbaum – CEO and Managing Director, Foresite Capital
    45. Ryan Sweeney – Partner, Accel
    46. Ravi Mhatre – Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
    47. Hemant Taneja – Managing Director, General Catalyst
    48. Jonathan Silverstein – General Partner, OrbiMed
    49. David Cowan – Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
    50. Matt Cohler – General Partner, Benchmark
    51. Andrew Braccia – Accel
    52. Yuri Milner – Partner, Digital Sky Technologies
    53. Aydin Senkut – Founder & Managing Director, Felicis Ventures
    54. Jeff Horing – Cofounder and Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners
    55. Ann Miura-Ko – Partner, Floodgate
    56. Gaurav Garg – Founding Partner, Wing Venture Capital
    57. Jim Breyer – Founder, CEO, Breyer Capital
    58. David Weiden – General Partner, Khosla Ventures
    59. James Mi – Founding Partner, Lightspeed China Partners
    60. Frank Rotman – Founding Partner, QED Investors
    61. Erhai Liu – Founder of Joy Capital
    62. Beth Seidenberg – General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
    63. Fred Wilson – General Partner, Union Square Ventures
    64. Hurst Lin – Cofounder and General Partner, DCM Ventures
    65. Jeff Lieberman – Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners
    66. Klaus Hommels – Founder, Lakestar
    67. Peter Thiel – Partner, Founders Fund
    68. Ben Horowitz – Cofounder and Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
    69. Joel Cutler – Cofounder and Managing Director, General Catalyst
    70. Bryan Schreier – Partner, Sequoia Capital
    71. Todd Chaffee – General Partner, IVP
    72. Kevin Comolli – Partner, Accel
    73. Yi Cao – Managing Partner, Source Code Capital
    74. Jenny Lee – Managing Partner, GGV Capital
    75. Michael Eisenberg – Partner, Aleph
    76. David Yuan – Partner, Redpoint Ventures
    77. Kirsten Green – Founder, Forerunner Ventures
    78. Quan Zhou – Partner, IDG Capital
    79. Roger Ehrenberg – Managing Partner, IA Ventures
    80. Navin Chaddha – Managing Director, Mayfield Fund
    81. Ron Conway – Founder, SV Angel
    82. Peter Levine – General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
    83. Neil Rimer – Partner, Index Ventures
    84. David Chao – Cofounder and General Partner, DCM Ventures
    85. Randy Glein – Partner, DFJ Growth
    86. Ted Schlein – General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
    87. Jules Maltz – General Partner, Institutional Venture Partners
    88. Mamoon Hamid – General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
    89. Theresia Gouw – Founding Partner, Aspect Ventures
    90. Steven Ji – Partner, Sequoia Capital China
    91. Rich Wong – Partner, Accel
    92. Asheem Chandna – Partner, Greylock Partners
    93. Jeff Crowe – Managing Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
    94. Salil Deshpande – Managing Director, Bain Capital Ventures
    95. Sonali De Rycker – Partner, Accel
    96. Young Guo – Partner, IDG Capital
    97. Aileen Lee – Founder and Partner, Cowboy Ventures
    98. Ping Li – Partner, Accel
    99. John Vrionis – Partner, Unusual Ventures
    100. Jan Hammer – Partner, Index Ventures

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Netflix eyeing billboard company for $300 million

By  – Staff Writer, L.A. Biz

Netflix Inc.’s marketing strategy for its digital programming includes one of the industry’s most traditional media: billboards.

Now the streaming giant is considering cutting out the middleman and buying the outdoor marketing platform for itself.

Los Gatos-based Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) has offered more than $300 million for Regency Outdoor Advertising, Reuters reports.

The move would mark Netflix’s second — and likely largest — acquisition in its history. The company’s only other purchase was of Mark Millar’s comic-book publisher Millarworld for an undisclosed amount.

Netflix is just one of the bidders for the West Hollywood firm, owned by Drake and Brian Kennedy, sources told Reuters, and the brothers could accept another offer.

Regency’s billboards fill Southern California, with locations at LAX, on the area’s major freeways, along the Sunset Strip, in Westwood Village near UCLA and “in sight of” Edison Field in Orange County, where the Anaheim Angels play, according to the company’s website.

The report on its possible acquisition falls in line with Netflix’s plan to increase spending on marketing this year. In a letter to shareholders in January, the company said it would boost its marketing budget by more than half from $1.3 billion to $2 billion.

“Big hits like ‘13 Reasons Why’ and ‘Stranger Things’ result from a combination of great content and great marketing,” the note said. “We’re taking marketing spend up a little faster than revenue for this year … because our testing results indicate this is wise.”

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