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New York Post
18-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Astronomer raised nearly $100M from big investors — just months before CEO Andy Byron's Coldplay ‘kiss cam' scandal
New York-based software firm Astronomer raised nearly $100 million from major investors in May – just a few months before its CEO Andy Byron was caught on the 'kiss cam' at a Coldplay concert snuggling the firm's head of human resources. Astronomer – a privately-held software firm that helps clients streamline and organize their data – announced in May that it had 'secured $93 million in Series D funding' from backers that included Bain Capital, Salesforce, Venrock and Meritech. 'While this is just one step in Astronomer's journey to build a durable, lasting software company, we're thrilled to have one of our earliest investors, Bain, leading the round,' Byron said in a statement at the time. Advertisement 4 Astronomer CEO Andy Byron joined the firm in 2023. LinkedIn/Andy Byron 'All of our investors are committed to Astronomer's long-term vision because of our recent momentum, the massive market demand for the platform we're building, and the macro tailwinds that support our vision.' So far, none of those investors have commented on the uproar over the viral video showing Byron and Astronomer's HR chief Kristin Cabot scrambling to get off camera – which prompted Coldplay frontman Chris Martin to joke, 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy.' Other firms listed as investors on Astronomer's website include JP Morgan Chase, Insight Partners, Sierra Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and KS Global. Advertisement To date, the company has raised more than $350 million from outside investors since it was founded in 2015, according to data from Crunchbase and other funding trackers. Astronomer's board of directors includes Byron as well as Venrock's Ethan Batraski, investor John McMahon, Sutter Hill Ventures' Scott Yara, Sierra Ventures' Tim Guleri and Bain Capital Venture's Enrique Salem. The Post has reached out to the board members for comment on the video but has yet to hear back. Astronomer has also not returned requests for comment. Advertisement 4 Astronomer moved into an office in Chelsea last year. Astronomer 4 Astronomer boasted that its new office had a view of the Empire State Building. Astronomer Some tech insiders joked that the incident, which has spawned countless memes and jokes on social media, provided Astronomer with a visibility boost. 'Board should give him a raise,' quipped Flexport CEO Ryan Peterson. 'Without this viral moment, I'd never know that Astronomer is used by enterprise clients to manage apache airflow and achieve 70% higher uptime than self-managed airflow.' Advertisement Astronomer is a mid-sized firm with 369 employees, according to its profile on Pitchbook. The company relocated to an office on West 23rd Street in Chelsea in February 2024 after previously being headquartered in Cincinnati, according to blog post. 4 Andy Byron was caught on camera embracing Astronomer's head of HR Kristin Cabot. Grace Springer via Storyful Astronomer bragged that the new office space's 'spacious layout helps facilitate collaboration and features a great view of the Empire State Building,' as well as a roof deck for hosting events. 'Cincinnati was an incredible place for us to start our company and we will continue to have a presence in Cincinnati,' Byron said in a statement at the time. 'Now, we're excited to build a bigger presence in the NYC area.' As The Post reported, one former colleague of Byron's alleged that he was a 'toxic' boss. 'The text groups and chains of former employees are like … everybody's laughing their ass off and enjoying the hell out of what happened and him getting exposed,' said the source, who reported directly to Byron. Advertisement Byron joined Astronomer as its CEO in July 2023, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he had stints as president of California-based firm Lacework, chief revenue officer at Cybereason and president and COO of Fuze.
Fast Company
08-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Five truths about being a female founder in 2025
Rarely has Silicon Valley experienced a more profound period of transformation than it has in the past handful of years. The big VC boom of 2020–2021. The great VC hangover starting in 2022. The global pandemic and its massive impact on tech adoption. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. And more recently the advent of AI, which, even in the middle of massive VC pullback in every other category, is driving ever-growing VC rounds at stratospheric valuations. And that's just looking at the money. The social and political side of Silicon Valley also took dramatic turns, with a period of employee activism and embrace of pro-diversity goals, to the right-ward shift of many big VCs and nationwide DEI backlash. Yet in the midst of wave after wave of unprecedentedness, one thing remains troublingly constant: According to Pitchbook data, the share of dollars VCs give to women has hovered around the 2% mark for this entire otherwise volatile period. To better understand the stories behind the numbers, my VC firm, Graham & Walker, surveyed 180 North-America-based female founders this spring, all of whom have raised or plan to raise venture capital. The results, detailed in the report ' Forged in Fire,' highlight the fraught journey many founders face today, and the specific challenges faced by women. 1. There's a caregiving tax for female founders Fifty-five percent of our founders are caregivers—juggling kids, aging parents, or disabled family members while building companies. Conventional wisdom says this is a disadvantage. And in a lot of ways, it was: caregiver founders were slightly less likely to work more than 60 hours per week, had slightly higher rates of burnout, and were more likely to report sacrificing health and sleep. 'Before kids I could force success with a massive amount of working hard,' one founder told us. 'Now it's harder to work the amount of hours I used to.' Another noted she pays 'an insane amount of money to nannies to make my job work.' But here's the twist: Time constraints breed more thoughtful operators. 'Being a parent has made me more efficient, focused, and resilient,' said one founder. 'I've become incredibly strategic in decision-making and delegation.' 2. Gender is seen as a major barrier to fundraising 'It has been sheer hell—there is no other way to describe it,' one founder wrote about her fundraising experience, capturing the sentiment of most respondents. Forty percent cited their gender as the biggest barrier to raising capital. Many reported being explicitly told to ' hire a male co-founder' to increase their chances of success, and a few deliberately did so. 'I purposely chose a white male cofounder with a business background to make VC easier this time. Why bang your head against a wall when you don't have to?' 3. Women pitch to skepticism while men pitch to opportunity Female founders consistently report being asked 'What could go wrong?' while knowing their male counterparts get asked 'How big could this get?' This echoes Harvard research on gendered questioning patterns and has real funding consequences. 'They ask how we're not going to fail, versus asking males how they will succeed. It's so biased,' one respondent noted. Another pleaded: 'Don't just ask us what could go wrong. Ask us what could go right.' They're forced to pitch defensively instead of painting the vision. 4. Female founders are ahead of the curve on AI Despite reports that women adopt AI slower, 86% of female founders are already using AI as an agent, enhancer, and thought partner. All-female teams are actually more optimistic about AI than mixed-gender teams (56% versus 46%). Why the optimism? 'AI allows us to do more with less, which is what we've always had to do anyway,' one founder explained. 5. Female founders have quiet strengths Forty-six respondents detailed ways in which being a woman is an asset for execution, in many cases as a direct result of the challenges they face. They mention their penchant for prioritizing, hard-learned execution prowess, and extraordinary resiliency. The very experiences that make entrepreneurship harder also make these entrepreneurs stronger. And in direct defiance of conventional advice, female founders don't believe they should be pitching with more hype and bravado like male founders often do. 'We're more realistic about outcomes and humble about successes,' said one founder. But this doesn't mean female founders lack ambition. 'Speaking brashly, loudly, or aggressively is not a requirement for building a great company,' said one respondent. Silicon Valley's real heroes are hiding in plain sight Most salient among the findings is a stark contrast between the huge barriers these founders face and the clear-eyed optimism with which they face them. Seventy-one percent of female founders said their last round was harder than expected, regardless of whether they had strong traction and prior experience. Forty-seven percent said economic conditions are hurting their business, and 46% also cited political uncertainty under the current U.S. administration as a direct threat. Three quarters have experienced burnout, and more than a third believe their gender has negatively impacted their business success. Despite it all, 72% of female founders are optimistic about reaching their next milestone. In the words of one respondent, 'I never become less optimistic, I just become smarter at managing the conditions. Part of being a founder is relentless optimism.' In this contrast lies a source for inspiration. These women are everyday superheroes: defying the odds, turning constraints into competitive advantages, building businesses by sheer force of will, refusing to take no for an answer. Solving massive problems with limited resources. And proving that grit goes further than privilege. All they ask for is a chance. As one respondent put it, 'There's a huge amount of money to be made out of taking women seriously.'
Axios
07-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
Here are the Triangle's largest "unicorn" startups
When Durham-based sports software company Teamworks revealed last month it had gained a valuation of more than $1 billion, it became the Triangle's first tech startup to join the " unicorn" club — startups surpassing a $1 billion valuation — in more than three years. Why it matters: While the early pandemic years saw an influx of cash go to startups due to low interest rates, raising money has grown significantly more difficult over the past two years. But there are signs that such investments could be picking back up, Scot Wingo, a local investor, told Axios. What they're saying: "It's whipsawing around," Wingo said of investments into startups, noting investment companies seem less concerned now about tariffs. "There is a lot of private equity deals going on, and there have been a couple high-profile IPOs that have gone well," he added. "It definitely feels like directionally we are going in the right way." Between the lines: It's been years since the Triangle had a startup go public on a stock exchange, and startups valued at more than $1 billion represent some of the region's best chances of hitting that mark. An IPO could potentially provide financial windfalls for some local employees and investors that could flow back through the local economy. Wingo said many people are watching to see how well Figma's potential IPO fares, as an encouragement for local startups like Pendo or SAS. Zoom in: There are more than 1,200 startups around the world valued at $1 billion or more, according to CB Insights. Five of them are located in the Triangle, according to data from CB Insights, Pitchbook and Crunchbase. Here are the startups in the Triangle that have fetched "unicorn" valuations: 🕹️ Epic Games: The Cary-based video game maker has a valuation of $22 billion, according to CB Insights, after raising $1.5 billion from Disney last year. The company is the 13th most valuable startup in the world, according to CB Insights, and is so large that Axios' Dan Primack suggested referring to startups of its size as "dragons" rather than unicorns. Locally, the company has a large presence in Cary, with more than 3,000 employees. However, it has withdrawn plans to build a new headquarters on the former site of Cary Towne Center. 🖥️ Pendo: The Raleigh software startup has a valuation of $2.6 billion, according to Pitchbook, and has long held ambitions of going public. The company has conducted layoffs in recent years, but remains one of the largest tech firms in Raleigh and became profitable for the first time last year. 🏈 Teamworks: Founded by a former Duke football player, Durham-based Teamworks runs a software platform that helps sports teams manage their players' schedules, nutrition and even their online brand — a feature that has become popular in the era of NIL. The company now has a valuation of $1.2 billion, according to Pitchbook, and its customers include every NFL team, most Division I college athletic departments and 90% of MLB teams. 🔐 JupiterOne: Morrisville-based JupiterOne, a maker of cybersecurity tools, has a valuation of $1 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company's founder, N.C. State grad Erkang Zheng, stepped down as CEO last year. But he is now raising money for a new AI startup, though details on the company have not yet been revealed.
Business Insider
03-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
National security-focused VC firm America's Frontier Fund is raising $315 million for its debut fund
A national security-focused VC fund, America's Frontier Fund, is raising a large new fund, capitalizing on the sector's support as the Trump administration rallies behind defense tech. The firm is raising up to $315 million for its first fund, called the Frontier Fund, according to a pitch deck viewed by Business Insider. In early 2023, the target for the fund was $500 million, per an SEC filing. The fund will consist of $140 million of private capital from limited partners and $175 million of government loans, according to the deck. The fundraise hasn't closed yet, and the terms of the deal could change. Part of the funding will come through the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technology Initiative, a program launched by the Defense Department and the Small Business Administration to grow private investment in biotech, quantum science, advanced materials, AI, space, and more. A spokesperson for the venture firm declined to comment on the fundraise. America's Frontier Fund will receive government-guaranteed loans, matching private investments up to $175 million. The firm will repay the loan with interest over a ten-year period, according to Washington Business Journal, which first reported the fund's government loans in 2024. The fund has also raised $100 million from the state of New Mexico, Bloomberg reported in 2023. The private capital raise has not been previously reported. The Frontier Fund will give the Arlington, Va.-based firm fresh cash to back startups building frontier technologies — advanced manufacturing, compute solutions, energy, and other highly technical fields — that support American economic and geopolitical influence. America's Frontier Fund recently invested in Venus Aerospace, which makes hypersonic engine technology, and Foundation Alloy, a metal production startup. $315 million is large for a first fund; market downturn, delayed initial public offerings, and more have hampered venture firm's capacity to raise large sums of money from limited partners. In 2024, 121 US-based venture capital firms raised funds for the first time, notching $5.7 billion in commitments. That year, the average size of a US-based firm's first fund was just under $41 million, over $270 million smaller than the Frontier Fund, according to data firm Pitchbook. Investments in the defense tech space have surged up to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025, compared with $200 million the same period last year, according to Pitchbook. The firm also invests out of its Roadrunner Venture Studios, which backs pre-seed and seed stage startups building frontier tech primarily in New Mexico. Silicon Valley heavyweights like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Founders Fund partner Peter Thiel have invested in the firm's separate nonprofit arm, the America's Frontier Fund Foundation, an initiative to support US technological competitiveness, like partnering with the Austin Community College District on expanding its advanced manufacturing program. Gilman Louie, the CEO of America's Frontier Fund, previously cofounded and ran In-Q-Tel, the CIA-funded investment firm. Cofounder and managing partner Jordan Blashek formerly worked at Schmidt Futures, Eric Schmidt's family office, now Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic organization that funds research in AI, advanced computing, biotech, climate, and other industries.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Catalio Capital closes over $400M Fund IV
Venture capital firm Catalio Capital Management announced today the closing of its more than $400 million Fund IV, as first reported by Bloomberg. The fund will continue the firm's thesis of backing healthcare and biotechnology companies. The firm was founded in 2020 and has made more than 100 investments, according to Pitchbook. Catalio's Fund IV, in particular, has backed 16 companies already, including the diagnostics company PinkDX and the drug discovery company Superluminal Medicines. The firm previously raised a $381 million Fund III in 2020 and a $100 million Fund II in 2019, per PitchBook. The biotech market, in particular, has not been immune to the venture downturn of the past year, followed by higher interest rates and a cooler IPO market. The market overall raised just $12 billion last year, a sharp decline from its peak of $152.3 billion in 2023, as reported by Bloomberg. Sign in to access your portfolio
