In this edition of Founder Spotlight, we’re featuring Melvin Christopher, Co-Founder and CTO of Myna, Inc. Melvin is helping to shape the future of AI technology for the restaurant industry. In our interview, he discusses building scalable AI solutions, leading teams, and driving innovative ideas in digital marketing. His technical skills and entrepreneurial drive have …
The British mathematician, Alan Turing, in 1947, famously said, “What we want is a machine that can learn from experience”. Turing never named his idea anything. Fast forward eight decades, and what he envisioned is finally shaping up. AI is now the buzzword in the financial markets and the defining theme in the big technology …
Harjit Singh is the Founder and CEO of Transacta Capital, a buy-side M&A advisory firm redefining how mid-market technology companies scale. With over a decade of experience leading corporate development strategies; including helping a New York based IT Service Company to build one of the largest startup ecosystems with 700+ portfolio companies and a finance …
The general consensus is that uncertain market conditions have held back a number of companies from going public. While the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) has risen steadily since 2023, activity remains far below the highs of 2020 and 2021. Due to such market conditions, many companies have ended up with elongated IPO timelines. …
The Million-Dollar Question Every Founder Faces: Should you spend an extra $800 monthly on a specialized CPA when cash is tight and runway is everything? When we asked founders across industries—from bootstrapped solopreneurs to venture-backed unicorns—about their biggest financial mistake, the answer wasn’t overspending on marketing or hiring too fast. It was picking the wrong …
EQVISTA | NYSE: There is a famous saying… the journey is the reward, you work hard and have very high expectations but there are also moments which stand out. Last week, I went from introducing the first Real-Time Private Stock Valuation Index to a group of finance professionals at Javitz, to the NYSE closing bell for …
In 1993, Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem founded NVIDIA as a fabless manufacturer of graphics accelerator chips for desktop computers. At the time, NVIDIA had secured funding of $20 million from investors like Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures. In 1999, NVIDIA came up with the GeForce 256, which it positioned as the …
In this edition of Founder Spotlight interview, we introduce Cihan Duezguen, Co-Founder and CEO of Green Banana Group. In this interview, Cihan shares his vision behind building bnplx.io, a platform designed to simplify Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) for retailers and providers. With several years in payments (Giropay, Worldpay, FIS) and retail, Cihan saw clear …
This edition of Founder Spotlight features Mike Collins, the founder and CEO of Alumni Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in America focused on individual investors since its founding in 2014. Under his leadership, Alumni Ventures has grown rapidly and was ranked by Time as one of the top 25 venture capital firms. Mike built …
When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were scaling Apple Computer beyond their garage operation in 1978, they turned to a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) that provided $500,000 in startup capital. This crucial funding helped launch the revolutionary Apple II computer and transformed a two-person startup into one of the world’s most valuable companies. Small …
Apple Inc. is one of the top five IT giants in the United States with a market capitalization of $3.445 trillion as of August 2025. The company’s ownership structure is characterized by institutional investors, with over 60% of shares held by major investment firms, while retail investors maintain a substantial 51.43% stake. Apple’s capital structure …
On June 29, 2010, Tesla Inc., went public, becoming the first American carmaker to launch an IPO since 1956. Back then, Tesla was a young company with a big goal: to change the auto industry with fully electric cars. Shares started at $17, raising $226 million to help develop the Model S sedan. In October …
Start-up capital flows increasingly through Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs), yet many late-stage decision makers still misunderstand the moment at which those promises morph into real shares. The investors and start-ups are increasingly favoring SAFEs in the pre-Seed investment ecosystem (which featured in 91% of Q1 2025’s pre-Seed deals) over notes. The vast majority …
Dr. Milan Kuzmanovic is the Founder and Chief AI Officer of Nextesy, a company revolutionizing business administration through AI-powered solutions. With a unique background combining economics and advanced machine learning Dr. Kuzmanovic brings both deep business process expertise and AI development skills to tackle inefficiencies in enterprise operations. Recently securing CHF 3.3 million in pre-seed …
US startups raised over $174 billion in more than 4,000 funding rounds in 2025 until the month of August. In the same period last year, the number of funding rounds was over 7,000. Due to the extremely high volume of funding deals, you cannot expect venture capital investors to spend more than 15-25 minutes on …
I have been in the private equity and valuation space long enough to see the same question surface over and over again: “How do we unlock liquidity for private companies?” It’s a fair question, because liquidity is the lifeblood of any market. Without it, capital is harder to raise, employees have fewer opportunities to realize …
2019 came up as one of the biggest years for tech IPOs. Several tech companies had gone public with billion-dollar valuations. Therefore, it was also called the year of unicorns and has become one of the trending topics for discussion. As a matter of fact, UBER is a company that has come into the limelight …
Private companies often lack real-time, quantitative feedback on their performance because they do not have publicly quoted share prices. This can strain stakeholder communication, as entrepreneurs must devote significant effort during periodic reviews to justify their valuation estimates. Lack of a consistent valuation history also makes it difficult to substantiate growth projections, creating additional hurdles …
The landscape of Fortune 500 companies is evolving, driven by several key market trends that reflect broader economic shifts and consumer preferences. Reports indicate that 38% of these businesses have set targets for significant sustainability initiatives by 2030, with many already achieving or aiming for carbon neutrality. In 2025, the Fortune 500 companies collectively accounted …
In this edition of Founder Spotlight, we are featuring Erik Stadigh, a Finnish entrepreneur and business executive, co-founder and CEO of Lune, a venture-funded startup studio based in London. He started Lune with the goal of making every product and service climate positive by default. The company offers an API that combines detailed emissions tracking …
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