SoftBank, Beyond Meat, Andreessen Horowitz and Sense

SoftBank mulls Vision Fund IPO

SoftBank is reportedly considering a range of big new fundraising plans, including a potential public offering of its $100 billion Vision Fund. The firm is also looking to launch a second fund of at least that size, and is said to be talking with the sultanate of Oman about a multi-billion-dollar investment.

Beyond Meat soars after IPO

Investors are apparently ravenously hungry for fake meat. Shares of plant-based protein maker Beyond Meat soared a staggering 163 percent in first-day trading Thursday. That’s the kind of pop rarely seen even for the hottest tech startups, let alone a company that markets its products on supermarket shelves.

Andreessen follows trend with bigger late-stage fund

Andreessen Horowitz has a decade-long history of big fundraises. However, even by those standards, the firm’s recently closed $2 billion later stage fund stands out for its massive size.

Sense secures $13.5M to connect contractors

San Francisco-based Sense, a startup offering an automated communications platform that connects contractors to the companies they’re working with, raised a $13.5 million Series B round led by Google Ventures.

What a US agency can teach startups about diversity hiring

While many big tech companies struggle to meet diversity goals, the United States Digital Service, a government team tasked with integrating tech into government services, has built a leadership team that’s majority female and about 25 percent minorities. Crunchbase News takes a look at the hiring strategies they’ve employed.

Crunchbase: Tips to build a strong startup pitch

The startups that give the best pitches are the ones who do the best job of filtering the feedback they receive before taking the stage. Here are seven pieces of advice to help you nail your pitch.