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NEWS FEED
Engine elevates the startup voice on acquisitions
Building on Engine’s previous research on the role of acquisitions in the startup ecosystem, Engine today released a report examining the ways that acquisitions are a critical component of the startup ecosystem, featuring over a dozen startup founders, investors, and accelerators.
Startup News Digest 09/15/23
Women startup leaders call on Congress to expand child tax credit.
#StartupsEverywhere: San Francisco, Calif.
Prism is a trailblazer for LGBTQAI+ innovators under the leadership of Renée Rosillo, a trans woman, community leader, and founder. Renée's journey from UN engagements to entrepreneurial pursuits has converged into Prism, a pioneering platform that is weaving connective tissue between queer founders, funders and operators the voices of LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs. With a resolute commitment to authenticity and inclusivity, Prism creates safe spaces that empower queer founders to thrive. We spoke to Renée about her experiences building startups and navigating the ecosystem as a queer founder, how she believes policymakers can open up investment for all founders, and her goals for Prism for the future.
#StartupsEverywhere: Philadelphia, Pa.
Tiffanie Stanard, the Founder and CEO of Stimulus, brings a wealth of experience from her corporate background in vendor management and diverse purchasing then becoming a consultant in the same industry before founding Stimulus. Having worked with companies like Sunoco, McDonald's, Paramount Pictures, Salesforce, and Comcast/NBCUniversal, she recognized the importance of strong supplier relationships as a competitive advantage for businesses. We sat down with her for a conversation about her success and challenges securing funding for her company and how policymakers can better fuel supplier diversity.
Startup News Digest 08/25/23
EU content rules take effect for big platforms; startups on the clock.
#StartupsEverywhere: Washington, D.C.
Marcus Bullock knows firsthand the impact a strong familial support system has on the lives of incarcerated people. As founder & CEO of Flikshop, he’s set out to make sure that families have accessible communication to facilities across the country. He spoke with Engine about reentry resources for incarcerated people interested in entrepreneurship, what policymakers should know around efforts to reduce recidivism, and his goals for Flikshop moving forward.
Startup News Digest 08/18/23
Congressional Startup Day brings together lawmakers and their startup constituents.
Startup News Digest 08/11/23
Canada digital tax threatens global framework, startup competitiveness.
#StartupsEverywhere: Chicago, Ill.
Mycocycle is a Chicago-based biotechnology company that harnesses the mycelial properties of fungi to detoxify and transform construction waste into new raw materials. With over 30 years of experience in the construction industry, Founder and CEO Joanne Rodriguez seeks to transform the treatment of waste through regenerative and sustainable approaches. We spoke to her about her experiences launching a company in the Midwest, navigating the patent system, and her goals for Mycocycle for the future.
Startup News Digest 08/04/23
The Big Story: Bipartisan legislation to build AI resource for startups, researchers. A recently introduced bill would create government AI resources for startups and bolster needed talent in the field. The bipartisan bill—the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act of 2023 (CREATE AI Act)—formally establishes the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) which will provide compute, datasets, and educational resources for startups, students, and academics. The legislation comes amid rapid growth of AI technology and will improve the competitiveness of U.S. startups.
Startup News Digest 07/28/23
The Big Story: Senate advances bills requiring user data collection, limiting legal content online. This week, the Senate Commerce Committee advanced two bills that carry serious risks for cybersecurity, user privacy, and third-party content available on startups’ services. The legislation, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), though well-intentioned, will increase costs of compliance, undermine startup competitiveness, and diminish user experience, as we highlighted in a letter ahead of the committee markup.
As startups struggle with talent, Canada is trying to attract U.S. bound high skilled immigrants
Hiring early employees is one of the first obstacles startup founders face, made more complicated by talent shortages in STEM fields and an immigration system that often makes it time consuming and expensive to hire high-skilled talent from abroad. Other countries—most recently Canada—are taking advantage of that reality to attract tech talent away from the U.S. Without urgent action from policymakers, the U.S. innovation ecosystem will soon lag behind, as talent will continue to seek out nations where they receive a warmer welcome and better support.
#StartupsEverywhere: Fayetteville, Ark.
AcreTrader is a Fayetteville-based equity financing mechanism that helps farmers scale their operations with the support of outside investment. After spending time working in San Francisco, Founder and CEO Carter Malloy moved back home to Arkansas to apply what he learned in equity to the farming system by creating a company that empowers both farmers and investors to buy and sell land in more efficient ways. We spoke to him about his experiences building a startup in a rural area, how he believes policymakers can incentivize investment into middle America, and his goals for AcreTrader for the future.
Startup News Digest 07/21/23
The Big Story: Policymakers threaten successful startup exits, investment. This week, federal agencies released new draft guidelines for merger enforcement that could reduce the number of acquisitions and negatively impact the ability of startups to successfully exit. The new draft guidelines come amid a parallel effort to revise the filing process for larger transactions, adding costs and new burdens to those acquisitions. Taken together, the agencies’ actions are designed to limit acquisitions, which are critical to investment and successful exits in the startup ecosystem.
#StartupsEverywhere: Wilmington, N.C.
Jim Roberts has led the transformation of the once tiny startup ecosystem of coastal Wilmington, North Carolina into an environment on par with cities like Charlotte and Raleigh. This has resulted in national attention and the establishment of Wilmington as an emerging hub for tech entrepreneurs. We spoke with Jim about the importance of community building organizations, his experience leading an angel investor capital network outside of a traditional tech hub, and the impact of a more restricted definition of an accredited investor on startups.
Paying twice? The persistent proposal that could upend the Internet and increase startup costs
Last month, a majority of the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution contemplating a policy framework that could diminish startup competitiveness and endanger the open Internet. The vote is the latest in a long-running effort by telecom companies to force websites and apps to pay them based on the traffic they generate. That model, sometimes called “sender pays,” is gaining popularity with policymakers throughout the world—including in the U.S.—threatening net neutrality principles and the competitiveness of U.S. startups.
Startup News Digest 07/14/23
The Big Story: EU, U.S. implement framework to restore transatlantic data transfers. The European Commission this week adopted a needed decision to implement the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, bringing certainty back to transatlantic data transfers and lowering barriers for startups. The long-awaited agreement ends years of uncertainty surrounding data flows needed for U.S. startups to serve EU customers thanks to the invalidation of an earlier transfer agreement called Privacy Shield. The new framework is a welcome step that will bolster the competitiveness of U.S. startups looking to serve the EU market.
State Policy Update: Legislatures around the country are wrapping up. What have they been up to and how will it impact startups?
As summer kicks into gear, state legislatures are closing up shop, but not before introducing and passing legislation impacting startups. In the absence of federal action on many technology policy issues occupying the public imagination, state legislatures have acted to create their own rules, which can vary slightly, significantly—or outright conflict with—each other.