The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the NBA’s oldest and most tradition-bound franchises. But with an aggressive ownership group and boundary pushing CEO, the Sixers are getting into the VC game and changing what it means to be a sports team ~> Why Is an NBA Team Trying to Become Tech’s Next Big Incubator?

The Delaware Blockchain Initiative is applying the technology to its public archives to store, distribute, encrypt and sunset documents. Later, the blockchain could be used for notice-of-lien filings, share issuances and other official actions. ~> How Delaware’s Blockchain Trial Could Change Wall Street

Graduate Business Programmes from Columbia University in New York to University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School have spent millions of dollars building innovation centers and creating venture-capital funds in recent years ~> If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try an M.B.A, but on the flip side: Managers who have spun out of the University’s famed endowment have produced mixed results ~> When a Harvard degree won’t help you

Only around 6% of partners at venture-capital firms are women, down from 10% in 1999. Less than 40% of the top 100 venture-capital firms have a female partner charged with investing. Many of the most highly regarded funds, including Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz, have none. ~> Silicon Valley’s sexism problem

Ben Blume of Atomico explains how Google, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Baidu and others just invested $80m into every AI company

Ford Foundation announced that it would commit $1 billion to investments that “earn not only attractive financial returns but concrete social returns as well" ~> Ford Foundation Is an Unlikely Convert to ‘Impact’ Investing

With Spotify reportedly strongly considering this, Fred Wilson reflects on taking the fundraising function out of the going public equation ~> A Direct Listing

How can entrepreneurs and investors assess the impact of revenue growth on the value of their shares and determine whether it is more value accretive to stay the course, raise more capital or sell the company? ~> Raise another round of Venture Capital or Exit? Do the math. 

Institutional investors have been forced to become more adventurous in their hunt for income and are investing in a more eclectic range of assets ~> Investors grow more adventurous in their search for income

When the shareholders are all machines, how does governance work? ~> When The AI Comes To Your Annual Shareholders Meeting

China is investing in Silicon Valley start-ups with military applications at such a rapid rate that the United States government needs tougher controls ~> China Tech Investment Flying Under the Radar, Pentagon Warns

Nic Brisbourne has Article 50 on his mind - should businesses “keep calm and carry on”? ~> Tips from a venture capital investor on dealing with Brexit uncertainty

Liquidity events and returns of EIF-backed VC investments ~> The European venture capital landscape: an EIF perspective

Being in the hottest part of the investment universe doesn’t necessarily pay ~> World’s Hottest Funds Make No Money for Most Managers in Europe

Charlie O'Donnell speculates Is there a right time to raise a seed round?

If European pension funds allocated just 0.6% more of their capital under management to venture investments they’d be no gap between Europe and the U.S in late-stage funding ~> Europe’s Surprising Tech Success

How a focus on maximising shareholder value can threaten companies’ health and financial performance ~> The Error at the Heart of Corporate Leadership

One corner of the investing world is surprisingly immune to the widespread trend of shrinking management fees: private equity ~> Private Equity’s Gravity-Defying Fee Bonanza

Founder Collective believe: “We can fund your next round, or we can coach you on raising it, but we can’t do both well.” ~> I can grade you, or I can teach you, but I can’t do both

A look at ~> AngelList’s Access Fund II 

No ‘ask’ this week, just a reminder that all feedback and “hellos” are gladly received on neil@thenordicweb.com or @neilswmurray