- OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture-capital firm, is winding down operations which has sparked reactions within the investment community.
- Startups Rhythms, Sesh, X-Energy, SupportPay, and Black Paper Party have all been marked as companies to watch, each gathering significant interest and investments.
- LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman criticized the handling of the OpenAI CEO ousting and reinstatement, branding the situation as a ‘failure of board governance’.
- Beeper Mini, a messaging app designed to bring iMessage capabilities to Android users, is working through struggles after Apple blocked access to its servers.
The investment community has responded to the news that Boston-based venture-capital firm OpenView Venture Partners is closing its doors. Some see it as an opportunity for a later stage VC fund to fill the gap. OpenView’s seventh fund fell short of its initial target of $800 million, raising only $570 million. Despite economic conditions, some leaders suggest that fundraising challenges were not the reason behind the firm’s collapse.
Several startups have emerged as promising ventures. Software company Rhythms raised a $26 million seed round; Katy Hearn, co-founder of Alani Nu, has launched Sesh, a fitness platform for women; X-Energy, a startup engineering small nuclear reactors, has raised an additional $80 million; SupportPay raised $3.1 million for its platform to simplify child-support payment interactions; and finally, Black Paper Party raised $250,000 from an investor after a Shark Tank episode.
In other news, co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, criticized the decision-making process of the OpenAI board over CEO Sam Altman’s ousting and reinstatement. Despite this, Hoffman affirms that the structure of OpenAI, a for-profit company owned by a non-profit foundation, is sound and should remain.
Meanwhile, Beeper Inc. faced obstacles when Apple blocked access to its servers after the launch of its messaging app Beeper Mini – designed to give Android users access to iMessage capabilities. After being temporarily shut down, Beeper Mini is back online with limited capabilities while they work on restoring full functionality.
