Nic Szerman lost his job at. Startups Meta in November, two months after joining full-time. suffering a massive 13% reduction in staff as. The advertising market cratered.
Days later he was back at work. Seeking investment for his own company Nulink, a blockchain-based payments company. and sending pitches to startup accelerator Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency fund.
“As counterintuitive as it may sound, this layoff has put me in a good position,” said the 24-year-old. “Because I don’t have to pay back the sign-on bonus, I get four months’ salary, and now I have time to focus on my own projects.”
Jarman is part of a wave of entrepreneurs rising from. The ashes of massive job losses in Silicon Valley in. The second half of 2022, according to venture capitalists.
US tech giants including Meta, Microsoft. Twitter and Snap have laid off more .
While venture capital (VC) funding fell 33% globally to about $483 billion in 2022. Early-stage funding remained strong. With $37.4 billion raised in so-called angel or seed rounds, matching the record levels seen in 2021. Data from research firm PitchBook.
Day One Ventures, an early-stage venture fund in. San Francisco, launched a new initiative in November to fund startups founded by. People laid off from their tech jobs, under the slogan “Funded, Not Fired.”
The program aims to cut 20 checks for $100,000 by the end of 2022. First Day said it received more. Than 1,000 applications from people torn by Meta, Stripe and Twitter.
“We’re investing $2 million in 20 companies — if we find one unicorn. that’s almost the funding back. which is a unique opportunity for us as fund managers. Said Masha Butcher, co-founder of Day One Ventures.
Companies like Stripe, Airbnb, Dropbox built on the crisis.”
Also in November multi-stage fund Index Ventures. Which has bankrolled Facebook, Etsy and Skype. Launched its second Origin fund, which will invest $300 million in early-stage startups.
Silicon Valley investors US Venture Partners and Austrian VC firm SpeedInvest have. Already committed similar amounts to startups.
Investors highlighted gaming and artificial intelligence as hot areas of interest.
Day One Ventures, an early-stage venture fund in. San Francisco, launched a new initiative in November to fund startups founded by. People laid off from their tech jobs, under the slogan “Funded, Not Fired.”
The program aims to cut 20 checks for $100,000 by the end of 2022. First Day said it received more.
“We’re investing $2 million in 20 companies — if we find one unicorn. that’s almost the funding back. which is a unique opportunity for us as fund managers. Said Masha Butcher, co-founder of Day One Ventures.
Companies like Stripe, Airbnb, Dropbox built on the crisis.”
Also in November, multi-stage fund Index Ventures. Which has bankrolled Facebook, Etsy and Skype. Launched its second Origin fund, which will invest $300 million in early-stage startups.
Silicon Valley investors US Venture Partners and Austrian VC firm SpeedInvest have. Already committed similar amounts to startups.
Investors highlighted gaming and artificial intelligence as hot areas of interest.
