Popup Bagels raised $8 million in venture capital this week. But why would a bagel store chain want such expensive capital?
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Raising multiple rounds of venture capital might be wrong for your startup
What if startups raised less VC money and became self-sustaining? SecurityPal founder Pukar Hamal has done that and wants founders to know their options.
Aug 21, 2025
4 problems venture capital can’t solve
Sometimes, it's good to ask yourself if you're raising capital in anticipation of pain that may never materialize.
Apr 20, 2023
Euro VCs welcome Balderton’s fresh $1.3B but grumble about Europe’s AI misses
Balderton Capital — one of the older, larger European VCs noted for investing in Revolut and Wayve — has raised a fresh $1.3 billion in total, spread across two funds. Its Early Stage Fund IX will get $615 million, and its Growth Fund II will get $685 million. The news was greeted with cautious optimism by the VCs TechCrunch spoke with. It’s also a further indication that European VC is picking up after a lackluster couple of years following the ZIRP and post-COVID-driven bull-run of 2021 and
Aug 12, 2024
The fallout after Bolt’s aggressive fundraising attempt has been wild
This past week was a wild one in the world of fintech as Bolt surprised the industry with a leaked term sheet that revealed it is trying to raise $200 million in equity and an unusual, additional $250 million in “marketing credits.” As part of this deal, Bolt wanted a $14 billion valuation bolstered by an aggressive pay-to-play type cramdown that would try and force its existing investors to cough up more cash, too, or essentially lose their stakes to a 1 cent per share buyout. The industry re
Aug 24, 2024