2nd part about Bezos & China
DCM Ventures calls up $100 mln for second Android fund
July 22, 2015 By Alastair Goldfisher
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DCM Ventures announced it has raised $100 million for its second Android fund, A-Fund II, to make early-stage bets on apps and technology related to Google’s Android operating system. The firm’s first Andoird-focused fund, raised in 2011, has backed Augmedix, Freee, KakaoTalk, Kuaishou, Life360, Playstudios, Eaze and Yik Yak, among others. Investors in the fund include returning limited partners Tencent, Naver and Gree, as well as new LPS SoftBank Group, Baidu and Qualcomm.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
PRESS RELEASE
DCM Ventures Raises Second $100 Million Strategic Android Fund
The A-Fund II is a $100 Million Strategic Initiative Focused on Android and Cross-Platform Investments
MENLO PARK, Calif., July 23, 2015 – DCM Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo with more than $2.8 billion under management, today announced its second Android fund, “A-Fund II.” A-Fund II comes on the heels of the success of the first A-Fund, with investments including Augmedix, Freee, KakaoTalk, Kuaishou, Life360, Playstudios, Eaze and Yik Yak. A-Fund II is a $100 million early stage fund focusing on companies poised to disrupt the explosive mobile market and further the rapidly growing Android ecosystem.
“When we raised the first A-fund in early 2011, Android was still a risky minor platform, but today it is the most dominant in terms of openness, innovation and units sold” said David Chao, Co-Founder and General Partner at DCM Ventures. “Our mission is to continue to find unique mobile-first startups in this ecosystem and explore next generation platforms in new services, VR, and wearables.”
“Through A-Fund II we will look to build on the success of the previous fund to focus on companies across key sectors including next generation social platforms, mobile SMB & enterprise SaaS, and the Internet of Things ecosystem,” said Osuke Honda, General Partner at DCM Ventures. “We’ve seen so much evolution of the expanding mobile universe over the past 4 years. We look forward to continue working with some of the most promising and innovative startups taking advantage of the Android/mobile ecosystem, and collaborating with our strategic partners – some of the top mobile Internet companies in the world.”
According to co-founder of Plenty, Bernard:
small farmers are their biggest competition
“We believe the industry will be five times larger when there is supply to meet the demand,” Barnard says. “With the field unable to deliver consistent supply, new forms of agricultural capacity like Plenty must be added to the global food system.”
But as vertical farming companies like Plenty go city by city attempting to dominate local markets, it may be that small farmers get hurt the most. Barnard drew the ire of Washington State dirt farmers last year when he told GeekWire that Plenty expanded to Seattle, in part, because it was the West Coast’s “best example of a large community of people who really don’t have much access to any fresh fruits and vegetables grown locally.”
Another screenshot of Plenty investors
Investors are bullish about the company’s potential. Backers of Plenty’s $200 million round in July included SoftBank (via its Vision Fund); Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt (through Innovation Endeavors); Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions); DCM Ventures; Data Collective; Finistere Ventures; and Louis Bacon.
"A Jeff Bezos-backed warehouse farm startup is building 300 indoor farms across China" from Business Insider
One of the big items in the San Francisco indoor garden is Romaine lettuce
Is the E. Coli outbreak connected to traditional farmers growing Romaine lettuce & were in too much competition with Bezos & China?