Happy Friday Jr. Welcome to The Chaos Coordinator! We are Brain Candy's snarky little sister, delivering carefully curated news happening across the industry (that you should probably care about) right to your inbox, with an almost too healthy dose of irreverence.
In this issue, we dive into:
The Venture Capital Weather Forecast
Modernizing Traditional Banking
The Anti ESG Movement
Thieves and NFTs
B2B Influencers (You May Know One)
What's happening in.....
PE/VC
Following the Funding Drought, Can VC Finally Make It Rain?
Investors say dig out your Ricciardi Group umbrellas.
Several months after pretty much every venture firm told their portfolio companies to prepare for a funding drought, some investors are saying rain might be on the way after all and that the overall health of the startup ecosystem may be sprouting soon. Investors are expressing cautious optimism thanks to strength in some tech earnings, (particularly cloud companies), which has helped stabilize public markets. Other positive factors include a general sense that inflation may have peaked, kicking back fears of a deep recession and VC's record levels of dry powder.
However, the storm clouds have not fully rolled over VC land just yet—there is still a devastating war in Ukraine, inflation to be tamed, and a recession to be avoided. But despite this uncertainty, we are unlikely to see a big wave of down rounds this fall. *pops champagne*
Read more on what the the VC weather forecast looks like here.
ENTERPRISE SaaS/FINTECH
Legacy Banking Systems: The Road to Yassification
Can traditional banks be modernized to meet the needs of today's consumers?
Organizations of all types, sizes, and industries are under intense pressure to rapidly understand and adopt new technologies in order to survive and thrive in today’s “lightning round“ business environment - - traditional banks are no exception.
Modernizing the banking core is now a business imperative that, unlike my credit card statement after a night out in the West Village, can no longer be ignored. Because consumers are exposed to so much convenience and accessibility in their day-to-day lives in every interaction - think Prime, Zoom, Instacart - banks must recognize that their customers are looking for more personalization and create customized experiences forthem. The focus must extend beyond interest-based income, to value-based products and services, providing individualized benefits to customers. Banks hold on to tons of data and information - so much so, they don't even realize it. It is up these legacy systems to leverage the information they have at hand and innovate. Nanda Kumar, founder and CEO of SunTec, offers the example of moving to an intelligent digital layer which can manage the interaction from various channels closer to the customer, and can then orchestrate a more hyper-personal customer experience, prices, and services.
Read more on future trends and further steps legacy banking systems should be actively pursuing here.
CAPITAL MARKETS
Florida Man Bans ESG Investments
You may know him as Governor Ron DeSantis.
Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, has banned the state’s pension funds from considering so-called environmental, social and governance standards when making investments for retirees. This movement directs fund managers to instead invest state resources in a way that “prioritizes the highest return on investment” without considering what DeSantis described as the “ideological agenda” of ESG guidelines. The new ban marked the latest example of the governor's confrontational relationship with corporations that attempt to dip a toe into political waters. DeSantis is taking aim at ESG investing as part of his ongoing war on things he considers “woke.”
Since the Texas “energy discrimination elimination” law passed last year, similar efforts to fight ESG criteria in investing have popped up in at least 15 other state legislatures, and passed in four, in what is now known as the "Anti-ESG Movement", claiming 'woke' capitalists are discriminating against fossil fuels. This discrediting of ESG investing could prove to be as detrimental [as climate change] to the startup investing landscape, especially for diverse founders and fund managers.
NFTs are being increasingly sought out by criminals looking to steal or launder proceeds from illicit activities. You may find yourself asking "But they're so ugly, why?" We are too.
More than $100 million worth of nonfungible tokens were stolen over the past year, according to blockchain analytics firm, Elliptic, with over 4,600 NFTs stolen in July alone, the most in any month since Elliptic began tracking the data in 2017. However, actual numbers are likely to be higher, as thefts are not always publicly reported. A portion of all stolen tokens—23%—can be tied to security failures on social media platforms, especially the messaging platform Discord. Since 2017, over $8 million in proceeds from illicit activities has been laundered through platforms that facilitate the buying and selling of NFTs. Tornado Cash, for example, is a mixer platform that was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this month, and was the source of a whopping $137 million of cryptocurrencies processed by NFT marketplaces. Before it was blacklisted, Tornado Cash was also “the laundering tool of choice” for 52% of NFT scam proceeds. If the past few months have taught us anything at all, it is that platforms that use NFTs face a growing threat of attack from both sanctioned entities and state-sponsored groups. Regulators continue to look into the multiple risks surrounding cryptocurrencies, including NFTs, and how to possibly regulate the market. In February, U.S. Treasury officials noted that the rapid growth of NFTs could present new venues for laundering money. Yikes.
B2B Influencers: Live and in the wild. Or the boardroom. Same thing.
These days when people think of influencers, their thoughts immediately jump to TikTok or Instagram aristocrats. But the fact is, business-to-business influencers have been in marketing for a bit longer than their business-to-consumer counterparts. Historically, influencers in a B2B capacity were typically networkers who sat on boards across a number of firms, and streamlined introductions between different organizations. While that is still true to this day, it has expanded to include thought leaders leveraging their social-media following to influence corporate audiences in purchasing new products or discovering new services. In addition, B2B influencers streamline a brand’s ability to reach new audiences, thus increasing brand awareness and propelling a business’ positioning as an industry leader - who doesn't love that? Primarily, B2B influencers bless our timelines on four main platforms: Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, and each platform has a different style of content that supports different marketing functions.
Learn more on how some B2B brands have used these influencer platforms successfully here.
Other Things You Should Care About
These days, whistleblowing just isn't what it used to be. In the context of the recent whistleblowing activities tied to Twitter, The Atlantic breaks down the history of whistleblowing and gives their opinion on why and how it is morphing into a business. Read their take here.
For other people also mildly addicted to the serotonin rush you get when you order a burrito for $25, this week DoorDash gave us another reason to justify our expensive choices. DoorDash's new ad campaign is centered around showcasing the positive economic impacts orders can have on local business communities. It will also be supported by an economic impact report. Read about the thinking behind this campaign and watch the ads here.