For a brand-new university still drafting its undergraduate program, the University of Austin is attracting some pretty heavy hitters.
That’s the University of Austin—not the University of Texas at Austin—I’ll point out. It’s the school cofounded by venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, journalist Bari Weiss, evolutionary biologist Heather Heying, Harvard University professor Arthur Brooks, and others who all gathered at Lonsdale’s 11-bedroom home in West Austin one hot summer weekend to hash out what it would look like to set up a college they hope will fix academia. According to them, higher education “might be the most fractured institution of all,” as they argue campuses are stifling students from saying what they believe and “faculty are being treated like thought criminals.”
Now a group of venture capitalists and tech founders are getting involved as they sign up to lecture at the university, including at its “Forbidden Courses” program that starts in June, which will delve into questions around science and religion, race, gender politics, and conservatism. There’s Marc Andreessen and Katherine Boyle from a16z; MaC Venture Capital’s Adrian Fenty; Web3 startup Spindl CEO Antonio García Martínez; and Guillermo Rauch, CEO of web development unicorn Vercel, a portfolio company of 8VC, Lonsdale’s multibillion-dollar venture capital firm. Founders Fund vice president Mike Solana had been scheduled to lecture as well, though he has since pulled out due to a conflict, according to UATX.
About one-third of the university’s estimated $150 million raised so far has come from people who work in venture capital or tech, according to UATX president Pano Kanelos, who spoke with me from the school’s Austin campus a few weeks ago. (A spokesperson later said the school wouldn’t confirm exact figures.)
Some of the school’s initial key members have stirred up criticism because of their critiques of cancel culture, “woke”-ness, and sometimes affirmative action or the DEI movement. But Kanelos protests any notion that the university is intended to combat cancel culture.
“We’re not allowed to use the word woke…That’s just not who we are,” Kanelos told me. “You don’t build a university to be against things. You build a university because you believe in things. We’re not here to cancel cancel culture: Why would you spend your time doing that? We’re here because we believe in and we have foundational principles: We believe in open inquiry. We believe in freedom of conscience. We believe in civil discourse.”
The “Forbidden Courses” program starts next month, and I will not be in attendance, though I asked if I could sit in. At the current moment, journalists are not allowed.
Read my full story here.
Thera-no… Almost five years after being indicted on fraud charges, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison yesterday in Texas to start her more than 11-year sentence. Erin Griffith, another former Term Sheet editor, wrote about her arrival to the 655-inmate women’s minimum security prison for the New York Times, noting that she arrived, wearing jeans, and appeared to be accompanied by her parents.
In one regard, Holmes’s long-awaited prison sentence feels almost anticlimactic after years and years of legal proceedings and various appeals. I have become numb to the photos of her holding hands with her now-husband plastered across the television. At the same time, Holmes’s arrival at F.P.C. Bryan is such an exceedingly important moment for the technology industry—an unprecedented testament to where a growth-at-all-costs mindset can go off the rails.
In an industry where nearly half of investors don’t think Holmes was an outlier, Holmes continues to be a symbol of both hubris and deception.
See you tomorrow,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter:@jessicakmathews
Email: [email protected]
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Jackson Fordyce curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- Strive Health, a Denver-based kidney care company, raised $166 million in Series C funding. NEA led the round and was joined by CVS Health Ventures, CapitalG, Echo Ventures, TownHall Ventures, Ascension Ventures, and Redpoint.
- CleanJoule, a Salt Lake City-based sustainable aviation fuel company, raised $50 million in funding. Indigo Partners, GenZero, Cleanhill Partners, and others invested in the round.
- Qflow, a London-based construction tech company, raised £7.2 million ($8.93 million) in Series A funding. Systemiq Capital led the round and was joined by Ascension Ventures, Bridge Investment Group, GravelRd, Greensoil Proptech Ventures, Grosvenor, and others.
- Proxima Fusion, a Munich-based fusion power plants designer, raised €7 million ($7.51 million) in pre-seed funding. Plural and UVC Partners co-led the round and were joined by High-Tech Gründerfonds and the Wilbe Group.
- CUR8, a London-based carbon-removal climate-tech startup, raised £5.3 million ($6.57 million) in pre-seed funding. GV led the round and was joined by CapitalT.
- Canopus Networks, a Sydney-based network analytics platform developer, raised an additional $3 million in funding from Konvoy Ventures.
- Antimatter, a New York-based meme-based learning and teaching platform, raised $2 million in seed funding. Version One led the round and was joined by Spacecadet, Ordinary, GregoryLevey, Haystack, and Compound.
- Proxima, a San Francisco-based game studio, raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. LondonVenture Partners led the round and was joined by Konvoy Ventures, ProgressionFund, and Valhalla Ventures.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Ardian acquired a minority stake in Mon Véto, a Rouen, France-based veterinary clinics group, for €100 million ($107.28 million).
- Altus Fire and Life Safety, backed by AE Industrial Partners, acquired Crime Intervention Alarm, a York, Pa.-based security and surveillance systems provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- SGT Capital agreed to acquire Elatec, a Puchheim, Germany-based access control and mobile authentication technology solutions developer and supplier, from Summit Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- SilverEdge Government Solutions, backed by Godspeed Capital, acquired GardettoEngineering, a Hanover, Md.-based engineering services company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Vector Capital agreed to acquire Riverbed Technology, a San Francisco-based IT solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- PearVC, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, raised $432 million for a fund focused on early-stage investing.
- Talis Capital, a London-based venture capital firm, raised $175 million for its third fund.
PEOPLE
- EQT, a Stockholm-based investment firm, hired Francesco Starace as partner within the EQT infrastructure advisory team. Formerly, he was with Enel.
- Generation Investment Management, a London-based investment manager, hired ChrisRagona as a partner. Formerly, he was with Providence Equity Partners.
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