Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of October 12 2020.

Hello from San Francisco!

I’m hosting a series of VC interviews from around the world for the non-profit, FoundersHK.

Hussein Kanji of Hoxton Ventures will be my first guest on Oct 13 3 pm HKT.  Hussein has invested in companies like Deliveroo, Babylon Health, bd4travel (acquired by Dnata), Campania (acquired by 24/7 Media), just to name a few.

If you are a founder raising funds, you often get bombarded by investors with questions. And so, it is equally as important for you, as a founder, to ask critical questions of investors looking for synergy with your startup.

Here is my list of 28 questions:

• What did you name your fund, Race Capital?
• Where are you located? 
• What regions of the world do you concentrate on for investment?
• What stages do you invest in?
• What sectors or industries do you invest in?
• What sectors or industries do you NOT invest in?
• What big is your fund? 
• What is the average size of each investment?
• How many deals do you do per year?
• Do you prefer to lead or follow?
• Do you have minimal equity ownership requirement? 
• Do you require a board seat?
• If I have already raised some angel funding, is it too late to talk to you?
• We are raising Series B (or C), should I reach out to you?
• What’s your most important advice for my pitch?
• What do you look for in a founder?
• How would you describe your investment process?
• Tell me about your experience getting to this point.
• Pick your favorite portfolio company? And why?
• Which company did you wish you had invested? Why?
• Name your favorite founder/CEO.
• Who is your favorite investor?
• What is your favorite startup event?
• What is your favorite tech media?
• Why your firm? What differentiates you from the pack?
• Your portfolio founders love working with you, why?
• Would you help with future funding?
• What is the best way to get in touch with you?

What have I missed? Give me your feedback.

My partners and I answered these questions and created a new "How we invest" page on our site.  Check it out. =) 

This week a total of 21 startups raised $713.7M in funding, 2 M&As:

• $212.6M goes to 11 Enterprise startups
• $230M goes to 4 Healthcare startups
• $50M goes to 1 BioTech startup
• $151.5M goes to 2 FinTech startups
• $67M goes to 2 E-Commerce startups
• $2.6M goes to 1 Other startup