Posts by Liam Redmond
Fed Interest Rate Decision: What the October Hold Means for Founders
Wednesday’s Fed interest rate decision left the benchmark rate unchanged, inside a 3.75% to 4% band. Policymakers voted 10 to 2 to pause, and the meeting was the last one before the midterm elections. A pause can sound like a non-event, but it matters to anyone running a company. Your borrowing costs stay where September…
Read MoreFinance Automation Startup Hyphenate Raises $45M Series A
Hyphenate, an autonomous finance platform for the office of the CFO, has raised a $45 million Series A, according to FinTech Global. Nexus Venture Partners led the round and B Capital joined. Total funding now stands at $54 million, including a $9 million seed round a year earlier. If you run a small company, your…
Read MoreFirst-Party Fraud Fight: Casap Raises $56M Series B
Fortune reports that Casap, a startup that helps banks and card companies handle disputes and chargebacks, has raised a $56 million Series B led by Base10 Partners. Synchrony and Experian joined as strategic investors, and total funding now stands at $90 million. The pitch is simple: fight the customers who dispute their own legitimate purchases.…
Read MoreMemory Chip Shortage: SK hynix Posts a Record Quarter
SK hynix posted record third-quarter results on October 28, and the Korea Herald reports that quarterly revenue topped 100 trillion won for the first time. The chipmaker credits demand for advanced AI memory. It also says buyers have already locked up much of its output for the next two years. That matters beyond Seoul. A…
Read MoreVendor Risk Management Lessons From the Frontline Breach
School software provider Frontline Education has confirmed that attackers reached its systems in August, and a Cybernews report says the fallout is still unfolding. The company says the intruders got in through a flaw in a third-party product it relies on. The window was only two days, yet the data involved is sensitive. If you…
Read MoreWealth Management Software Startup Nevis Raises Series B
Nevis, a startup founded by former Revolut leaders, has raised a $70 million Series B to simplify the software financial advisors rely on, Fortune reported on October 26. EQT Ventures led the round, and a partner there is joining the company’s board. Here is the plain-English version. Advisors spend too much time moving between disconnected…
Read MoreConversational Commerce Gets Funded: Omnichat Raises Series A
Omnichat, a chat marketing platform for brands, has raised US$10 million in a funding round that Openspace Capital led, according to a PR Newswire release issued on October 26. Darwin Ventures and Acorn Pacific Ventures also joined the round. Why does this matter to a young founder? Because customers increasingly buy through messaging apps, and…
Read MoreBusiness Focus Lesson: Why PepsiCo Trails Coca-Cola
PepsiCo brings in more than twice the revenue of Coca-Cola, yet investors value it at roughly half as much, Fortune reported on October 26. The gap says a lot about where each company spent its attention. For founders, the story is a free case study in business focus. Sales growth matters, but a crowded portfolio…
Read MoreUnderemployment Hits Recent Grads: A Founder Hiring Guide
About four in ten recent college graduates are working jobs that do not require a degree, according to a Fortune report published October 26. The piece draws on New York Fed data and ties the trend to growing frustration among young people in several countries. If you run a small team, this is not only…
Read MoreInstagram Video Test Lets Brands Go Long Form
Instagram is testing videos that run up to 90 minutes, according to SmartCompany. Meta announced the test on October 26, and a limited group of creators in the U.S. and Brazil are the only ones with access today. Here is why you should care. Your best long video may soon live where your customers already…
Read MoreTech industry workers take another hit as Microsoft offers buyouts to tens of thousands of employees
Microsoft is offering buyouts to 60,000 employees — roughly a quarter of its global workforce — as the company looks to slash costs while investing heavily in artificial intelligence. The tech giant based in Redmond, Wash., has offices throughout the world, including in California. Microsoft didn’t indicate how many California employees are eligible for the…
Read MoreLessons From Barbara Corcoran, Suze Orman and Other Women Who Beat the Odds
What does it take to succeed when you’re the only woman in the room? For Barbara Corcoran, it meant refusing to play by everyone else’s rules. For Suze Orman, it meant proving she could succeed in finance when the people around her didn’t believe she belonged. And for Andrea Miele, it was building something they…
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