Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of September 4, 2023. Apollo Raised $100M Series D

Happy Labor Day and hello from Singapore! I am excited to be back in Singapore and speak at DealStreetAsia VC/PE Summit tomorrow.  Catch me there! 

Here are a few great reads, watch, etc for this week:

• 🧟‍♂️ 🧟‍♀️  Top 8 Mistakes Emerging Fund Managers Make - I gave a talk at Stanford 500 VCUnlocked program this past week. Hope none of us would become a Zombie VC.  So, please please avoid the following mistakes:
  • Build a fund based on short term trends
  • Mismatch between fund strategy
  • Misalignment of incentives and responsibilities
  • Excessive optimism in fundraising
  • Partner with the wrong LPs
  • Failure to execute stated strategy
  • Inadequate communication with LPs
  • Delayed exits when warranted
  • Click here to see my deck
• 🌧️ 🌧️  Burning Man Turned into Raining Man -  Burning Man got rained out…..Over 70,000 people at Burning Man are trapped and sheltering-in-place. Watch this video
• 💰 💰  OpenAI on track to generate more than $1 Billion revenue - OpenAI is generating more than $80 million in revenue per month, compared to just $28 million in the entire last year. ChatGPT maker projects $200 million in revenue this year. Read on Reuters
• ❤️ ❤️ The Business of Modern Love - Great interview with founder and CEO at Bumble. Watch on Bloomberg
• 👋👋  Reid Hoffman to Scale Back Investment Role at Greylock - Hoffman won’t be a general partner for the $1 billion fund that Greylock is currently raising, the firm told prospective investors. This means that he won’t be required to make new investments for the fund or vote on the firm’s other deals. 

This week a total of 7 startups raised $172M in funding, 1 M&As:

• $160M goes to 4 Enterprise startups
• $6.2M goes to 1 HR startup
• $3.4M goes to 1 Sustainability startup
• $2.4M goes to 1 Construction startup