Subscriber Stefano Bernadi lays out how the era of crypto token crowdsales and ICOs could completely disrupt the venture capital industry~> The first real revolution in venture capital: crypto tokens

AND….this is exactly the ambition of Brock Pierce, who intends to raise 20% of his firm’s next fund by selling a digital token to investors ~> Why this venture capitalist wants to make traditional VC obsolete

A new generation of quants is turning the $300 billion hedge fund industry on its head with home-grown algorithms ~> Trading places: the rise of the DIY hedge fund

Igor Tulchinsky’s WorldQuant is part of the forefront of a new quantitative renaissance in investing ~> With 125 Ph.D.s in 15 Countries, a Quant ‘Alpha Factory’ Hunts for Investing Edge

Nadia Eghbal is providing $5,000 grants available to those who need a push in making an interesting contribution to the world ~> $5,000, no strings attached

Only 7% of decision-makers at U.S. venture capital firms are women, according to an Axios analysis. Moreover, women effectively control just 4.7% of all venture dollars raised in the past five years by U.S.-based firms. ~> By the numbers: Men still run venture capital

Europe shows the same trends we see in the Valley: booming growth, but disproportionate numbers of women in leadership and meager VC investment in women-led startups ~> Women in tech are still an undervalued pipeline for innovation

LPs are spending more time and resources on finding the ideal portfolio construction to optimise both multiple and IRR, TopTier explains ~> My Fund Is Old Enough To Drive…

While it’s too early to tell how the Micro-VC fundraising market will end up in 2017, it appears to be shaping up as another busy new fund formation year ~> What do LP’s think about Micro-VC?

The Engine, an MIT-affiliated startup accelerator focused on “tough tech” wants to make it more cost-effective for harder-tech startups to get off the ground ~> MIT-affiliated ‘The Engine’ raises $150 million

A member of the founding team of Product Hunt and a LinkedIn veteran are teaming up to invest in early-stage startups ~> Ben Casnocha and Erik Torenberg are raising a $50M investment fund

One of European VC’s biggest personalities, is leaving Accel, the London-headquartered VC firm to create his own franchise, either with a team or as a solo GP ~> Fred Destin leaving Accel to focus on Seed and earlier-stage investing

The backstreets of Ramallah are a long way from Silicon Valley, but a niche venture capital fund is trying to narrow the gap with a focus on early-stage Palestinian tech startups ~> In West Bank, a venture capital fund hunts Palestinian tech returns

Mexico is the most attractive emerging market for investors, based on a range of metrics analyzed by Bloomberg including growth, yields and equity valuations ~> Mexico Emerges as Most Alluring Emerging Market, India Worst

Africa is a market that remains unknown to most VCs. And yet African startups are expected to raise more than a billion dollars by 2018 ~> Africa is the next frontier for VCs

In Pakistan ~> Startups can now raise investment from the market with IPO

A persuasive argument for there being a need for new financing alternatives that help fuel growth through smaller and/or more flexible infusions of capital ~> The Cloud Changes Everything; Including Growth Capital

In today’s political climate it feels like we could see this become more of a common occurrence ~> What happens when startups fire their investors?

Inspiring and entertaining read ~> How a Pizza Deliveryman Became China’s Greatest Angel Investor

Fuel up with vanity metrics and you might drive far enough to get an investment, but eventually you’ll run out of gas ~> I’m Sorry, But Those Are Vanity Metrics

Long but fascinating reading on how to get the best out of different personalities within a team ~> The New Science of Team Chemistry

Aera is a venture capital fund that invests in companies with a social mission ~> Why Combining For-profit and Philanthropic Investment Can Succeed

Atomico explain ~> Family Offices: An untapped $4 trillion source of funds? (page 7)

Are ‘Chief Scientists’ the next hiring trend? ~> Founders Factory has hired an ex-Imperial machine learning guru to support its startups

Andreas Thorstensson from EQT Ventures on The future potential of esports

Who is the man behind some of the most innovative companies in the world, including Tesla, SpaceX, Planet, D-Wave, and Synthetic Genomics? His name is Steve Jurvetson ~> Meet One of the Most Brilliant Investors in Silicon Valley

👍🏻 ~> VC performance is beating the S&P 500

👎🏻 ~> Venture Capital Funnel Shows Odds of Becoming a Unicorn Are Less than 1%

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition, particularly if you are a first-time reader. I have to say, knowing I had 4x as many subscribers to send this issue out to, certainly made it even more enjoyable to curate this week.

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Feedback? 👉🏻 neil@thenordicweb.com or @neilswmurray