Latest news with #PitchBook
Business Insider
16 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Jack Altman says founding a company taught him a big lesson about picking the right board
Jack Altman has a lesson for early-stage founders: Pick the right board. On an episode of the "Sourcery" podcast published on Saturday, Altman, a founder-turned-venture capitalist, said that if he were to launch a startup again, he would focus on bringing on the right board members. "You're really picking somebody who's going to be with you as a throughline through the company," he said. "It's hard to see it when it happens because you're just in a frenzied round." Altman founded and led Lattice, a human-resources software startup last valued at $3 billion, for over eight years before stepping down as its CEO last year. He has since launched Alt Capital, an early-stage venture firm that has invested in AI and nuclear energy companies. In February 2024, the firm raised a $150 million fund to invest in seed and Series A startups. Alt Capital did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. On the podcast, Altman said that picking good board members is crucial because founders end up making "high-stakes" decisions together. "It turns out that what you're picking is somebody who's going to be there with you longer than most of your employees," he said. "You're going to talk to them about stuff that you're not going to talk to your employees about because you can't." Altman added that picking investors you like doesn't matter as much in the seed stage, but it becomes important once companies create boards of directors. According to PitchBook, he is on the boards of two startups: WorkRamp and Verifiable. Getting board composition right is a heavily discussed topic in Silicon Valley. Investors often find themselves being rated on " founder friendliness" — an approach that prioritizes the founder's vision and expertise. Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has said a lack of technical chops in board leadership was one of the first things he noticed when he went to Silicon Valley, and it was among the things he wanted to do differently at Meta. "The CEO wasn't technical, the board of directors had no one technical on it, they had like one dude on the management team who was the head of engineering who was technical," he said of his early observations, in an interview last year. "Alright, if that's your team, then you're not a technology company." He added that he was careful about having an engineering and management balance on the board because it affects company culture and how it weighs decisions. The Altman brothers are intimately familiar with what can happen when founders and board members disagree. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and Jack Altman's older brother, has been vocal about problems he had with the ChatGPT maker's board. Earlier this year, the OpenAI chief said that the company's board left him with a "complete mess on my hands" after he was reinstated as CEO after a brief ousting in 2023.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
PitchBook Named an Inspiring Workplace in North America for Second Consecutive Year
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 27, 2025-- PitchBook, the premier data provider for the private and public capital markets, today announced it has been named a 2025 North American Inspiring Workplace by Inspiring Workplaces Group (IW), in association with Employera. The award recognizes organizations that foster cultures of trust, inclusivity, and purpose through exceptional leadership, employee wellbeing initiatives, and a commitment to creating environments where individuals can thrive. Winners are evaluated across six key areas including culture and purpose, leadership, wellbeing, inclusion, employee voice, and employee experience. This marks the second year in a row that PitchBook has been honored, placing 38th on the 2025 list. 'PitchBook has built a dynamic and people-first culture that aligns deeply with its mission of bringing transparency to capital markets. Their well-defined values—Customers are King, Excellence as a State of Mind, Embrace and Drive Change, Focus on Focus, and Make it Fun—are evident in their approach to leadership, well-being, and employee engagement. Their commitment to fostering innovation, inclusion, and professional growth is truly commendable,' said IW's judges. PitchBook continues to evolve its workplace culture through a range of programs and initiatives that promote employee wellbeing, career development, and belonging. From expanded mental health benefits and inclusive leadership training to employee-led resource groups and global volunteer efforts, PitchBook remains focused on creating an environment where every global team member feels valued and supported. 'The people here are without a doubt what makes PitchBook so special. They are the key drivers behind our success,' said Rod Diefendorf, President and COO of PitchBook. 'It starts with hiring people who align with our core values, but then continuing to invest in their development, well-being, and success. We are incredibly proud of the environment we've cultivated and the passionate, talented people who make PitchBook an exceptional place to work. This award is a direct reflection of our incredible team.' With a growing global footprint and a mission-driven approach, PitchBook combines innovative technology with a people-first mindset. The company has nearly 4,000 team members globally across offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, London, and Singapore. The PitchBook Platform delivers unprecedented access to private and public equity markets, serving as an all-in-one research and analysis tool for investment and research professionals—including venture capital and private equity firms, corporate development teams, investment banks, LPs, lenders, law firms, and accounting firms. To learn more about careers at PitchBook, click here. About PitchBook PitchBook is a financial data and software company that provides transparency into the capital markets to help professionals discover and execute opportunities with confidence and efficiency. PitchBook collects and analyzes detailed data across both private and public markets—including VC, PE, leveraged loans, private credit, real estate, real assets, infrastructure, funds of funds, secondaries, co-investments, CLOs, and more. The company's data and analysis are available through the PitchBook Platform, industry news, and in-depth reports. Founded in 2007, PitchBook operates globally with more than 3,000 team members. Its platform, data, and research serve over 100,000 professionals around the world. In 2016, Morningstar acquired PitchBook, which now operates as an independent subsidiary. About The Inspiring Workplaces Group – Change The World Inspiring Workplaces is headquartered in the UK and operates in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia and Australasia. Inspiring Workplaces™ believes in recognizing and helping to shape the forward-thinking organizations of the future that put their people first. By shedding light on these innovative workplaces, Inspiring Workplaces helps to encourage positive change by providing a source of inspiration and education for others who seek it. View source version on [email protected] KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA WASHINGTON INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DATA MANAGEMENT DATA ANALYTICS TECHNOLOGY HUMAN RESOURCES SOFTWARE FINANCE SOURCE: PitchBook Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 06/27/2025 02:58 PM/DISC: 06/27/2025 02:58 PM
Business Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
PitchBook Named an Inspiring Workplace in North America for Second Consecutive Year
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PitchBook, the premier data provider for the private and public capital markets, today announced it has been named a 2025 North American Inspiring Workplace by Inspiring Workplaces Group (IW), in association with Employera. The award recognizes organizations that foster cultures of trust, inclusivity, and purpose through exceptional leadership, employee wellbeing initiatives, and a commitment to creating environments where individuals can thrive. Winners are evaluated across six key areas including culture and purpose, leadership, wellbeing, inclusion, employee voice, and employee experience. This marks the second year in a row that PitchBook has been honored, placing 38th on the 2025 list. 'PitchBook has built a dynamic and people-first culture that aligns deeply with its mission of bringing transparency to capital markets. Their well-defined values—Customers are King, Excellence as a State of Mind, Embrace and Drive Change, Focus on Focus, and Make it Fun—are evident in their approach to leadership, well-being, and employee engagement. Their commitment to fostering innovation, inclusion, and professional growth is truly commendable,' said IW's judges. PitchBook continues to evolve its workplace culture through a range of programs and initiatives that promote employee wellbeing, career development, and belonging. From expanded mental health benefits and inclusive leadership training to employee-led resource groups and global volunteer efforts, PitchBook remains focused on creating an environment where every global team member feels valued and supported. 'The people here are without a doubt what makes PitchBook so special. They are the key drivers behind our success,' said Rod Diefendorf, President and COO of PitchBook. 'It starts with hiring people who align with our core values, but then continuing to invest in their development, well-being, and success. We are incredibly proud of the environment we've cultivated and the passionate, talented people who make PitchBook an exceptional place to work. This award is a direct reflection of our incredible team.' With a growing global footprint and a mission-driven approach, PitchBook combines innovative technology with a people-first mindset. The company has nearly 4,000 team members globally across offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, London, and Singapore. The PitchBook Platform delivers unprecedented access to private and public equity markets, serving as an all-in-one research and analysis tool for investment and research professionals—including venture capital and private equity firms, corporate development teams, investment banks, LPs, lenders, law firms, and accounting firms. To learn more about careers at PitchBook, click here. About PitchBook PitchBook is a financial data and software company that provides transparency into the capital markets to help professionals discover and execute opportunities with confidence and efficiency. PitchBook collects and analyzes detailed data across both private and public markets—including VC, PE, leveraged loans, private credit, real estate, real assets, infrastructure, funds of funds, secondaries, co-investments, CLOs, and more. The company's data and analysis are available through the PitchBook Platform, industry news, and in-depth reports. Founded in 2007, PitchBook operates globally with more than 3,000 team members. Its platform, data, and research serve over 100,000 professionals around the world. In 2016, Morningstar acquired PitchBook, which now operates as an independent subsidiary. About The Inspiring Workplaces Group – Change The World Inspiring Workplaces is headquartered in the UK and operates in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia and Australasia. Inspiring Workplaces™ believes in recognizing and helping to shape the forward-thinking organizations of the future that put their people first. By shedding light on these innovative workplaces, Inspiring Workplaces helps to encourage positive change by providing a source of inspiration and education for others who seek it.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
The AI frenzy is escalating. Again.
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Silicon Valley's artificial intelligence frenzy has found a new and a half years after OpenAI set off the artificial intelligence race with the release of the chatbot ChatGPT, tech companies are accelerating their AI spending, pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into their frantic effort to create systems that can mimic or even exceed the abilities of the human tech industry's giants are building data centres that can cost more than $100 billion and will consume more electricity than 1 million American homes. Salaries for AI experts are jumping as Meta offers signing bonuses to AI researchers that top $100 venture capitalists are dialling up their spending. US investment in AI companies rose to $65 billion in the first quarter, up 33% from the previous quarter and up 550% from the quarter before ChatGPT came out in 2022, according to data from PitchBook, which tracks the industry."Everyone is deeply afraid of being left behind," said Chris V. Nicholson, an investor with the venture capital firm Page One Ventures who focuses on AI astonishing spending, critics argue, comes with a huge risk. AI is arguably more expensive than anything the tech industry has tried to build, and there is no guarantee it will live up to its potential. But the bigger risk, many executives believe, is not spending enough to keep pace with rivals."The thinking from the big CEOs is that they can't afford to be wrong by doing too little, but they can afford to be wrong by doing too much," said Jordan Jacobs, a partner with the venture capital firm Radical biggest spending is for the data centres. Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Google have told investors that they expect to spend a combined $320 billion on infrastructure costs this year. Much of that will go toward building new data centres—more than twice what they spent two years OpenAI and its partners build a roughly $60 billion data centre complex for AI in Texas and another in the Middle East, Meta is erecting a facility in Louisiana that will be twice as large. Amazon is going even bigger with a new campus in Indiana. Amazon's partner, the AI startup Anthropic, says it could eventually use all 30 of the data centres on this 1,200-acre campus to train a single AI experts question whether companies like Anthropic will continue to improve their AI systems at the rapid rate they have maintained over the last few years. But Amazon says that even if the progress stops, it will use those 30 data centres to deliver AI systems to companies are spending so much on data centres, they see no problem with dropping several billions more to buy a startup or millions on a world-class AI researcher. In 2013, Google shocked Silicon Valley when it paid $44 million for just three researchers. Today, that seems like table just invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, a startup that helps collect and organise the enormous amounts of digital data needed to train AI systems. In return, Meta landed Scale AI's young chief executive, Alexandr Wang, who is considered an up-and-coming deal maker in the AI was not the first big technology company to make such an unusual deal. Google, Microsoft and Amazon have also been investing hundreds of millions—or even billions—in startups just for the right to hire their employees and use their technology. In essence, they bought everything but the startups."Companies are acquiring other companies not necessarily for their products or their services or their revenues but just for their talent," said Dimitri Zabelin, an emerging-technology analyst at Scale AI investment was part of an effort by Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, to start an AI research lab dedicated to the creation of superintelligence, a hypothetical technology that would be more powerful than the has been offering compensation packages worth as much as $100 million a person. He and his company made more than 45 offers to researchers at OpenAI alone, according to a person familiar with these approaches.(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems. The two companies have denied the suit's claims.)One Silicon Valley giant, Apple, has been more cautious about chatbots. But as the AI race escalates, Apple is also scrambling for talent. The company has had internal discussions about buying the AI startup Perplexity, according to a person familiar with those conversations. Perplexity is valued at $14 billion."Apple seems to be sitting on its hands. But I am sure they will surprise us before too long," said Matt Murphy, a partner at the venture firm Menlo Apple spokesperson did not respond to a request for as venture firms double down on their deal making, there is less appetite for investing in general AI systems designed to do everything, because that work is dominated by established companies like OpenAI and Google. Instead, they are starting to focus on AI that does specific tasks, like Ribbon, a company that does AI for job interviews, and Eleos Health, which creates AI to record and summarise doctor companies acknowledge that they may be overestimating AI's potential. But even if the technology falls short, many executives and investors believe the investments they're making now will be worth it."Christopher Columbus thought he was headed to the Orient, and he ended up in the Caribbean," said Nicholson of Page One Ventures. "He did not get to where he thought he was going, but he still got to a place that was highly valuable."
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Climatiq uses AI to automate carbon emission data. See the pitch deck it used to raise $11.6 million.
Climatiq, a startup that's built an AI-enabled platform for companies to collect and automate their carbon emission data, has secured a $11.6 million Series A led by Alstin Capital. The Berlin startup's tool analyzes everything from supply chain data to purchase orders to calculate a company's scope 3 emissions, which measure its indirect carbon footprint. "If you're building any other kind of software, there are existing APIs — but not for carbon emissions. So we've built an infrastructure for carbon tooling," Climatiq's cofounder and CEO, Hessam Lavi, told Business Insider in an interview. Scope 3 emissions, which typically represent around 90% of a company's carbon footprint, are often hard to reliably measure because they are collated from a fragmented set of data points. Climatiq's AI platform automates the collection of this data from various sources, such as NGOs, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and universities. These carbon metrics can then be integrated into companies' emissions reports. "There's going to be a need for a trusted source on carbon data. If everyone is reporting data, how do you have confidence in their methodology? That got us interested in building an infrastructure platform for carbon accounting," Lavi said. Some companies in the US and Europe are required to calculate their emissions data to ensure they're complying with ESG regulations. Climatiq charges clients, which include the likes of Celonis and Siemens, based on their usage. Lavi gave the example of feeding the transport records of a freight company into its platform. "We process it, and provide a carbon estimate to our partners — and charge for that API request," Lavi added. President Donald Trump's second term has triggered a wave of backlash against ESG incentives, which has had a knock-on effect on climate startups. In Q1, VC funding into climate tech dried up 50% year-on-year, per PitchBook data, and high-profile climate startups such as Climeworks have announced layoffs in 2025. Amid this environment, Lavi found the fundraising process considerably more difficult than Climatiq's $5.8 million seed in 2022. "It was much tougher than I expected. Compared to our pre-seed and seed, it's definitely a different chaos," he told BI, adding that the startup spoke to around 70 VCs for this funding round. The Series A was led by Munich-based venture capital firm Alstin Capital, with backing from Singular and Cherry Ventures. With the cash injection, Climatiq plans to grow its engineering head count and develop its AI product. We got a look at the 11-slide deck used to secure the fresh funds.
