When the party has confetti but no allergen-friendly appetizers

Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh look at this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

The stakes aren’t just on Wall Street anymore—they’re in your group chats, book clubs, and that awkward shuffle that happens when everyone’s trying to get out the door at the same time at the end of class.

Community investment clubs are nothing new, but the renewed interest in decentralization and the glittering—albeit hangover—allure of getting in on the ground level of a rocket ship enterprise has created a new wave of crowdfunding efforts.

Individualism is out. Collectivism is in vogue. And this week brought a whole bunch of examples to prove just that point.

Let’s start with Stanford. Three years ago, a group of Stanford students started working with law firm Fenwick & West to find a legal structure that suits their needs: no accreditation requirement or hard limit on the number of people involved. The effort eventually became Stanford 2020, an investment club that raised $1.5 million for its debut fund. Fast forward to today, the leader of that club, Steph Mui, is trying to replicate that playbook in the form of a venture-backed startup. PIN, which stands for ‘strength in numbers’ recently raised $5.6 million in seed funding led by Initialized Capital, with investments from GSR, NEA, Industry and Canaan.

Mui credits the growing mindset around crypto-native DAOs as part of the reason investment clubs are of more interest these days. “We started before DAOs became really cool,” Mui said. “When we started, the DAO-like structure that we created around voting was more of a necessity from a regulatory perspective … now it’s actually a huge bonus.”

Moving from helping Stanford students invest in their peers to trying to help anyone with a community do the same is a big bet on the future of investing. As Mui said, when Stanford 2020 first launched, some reacted that it was not a surprising move for a privileged set of people to participate in a privileged asset class. This almost stopped the startup from existing entirely.

“What changed that divide for me was talking to literally over 100 groups … and realizing that’s not the case at all,” she said. “Now that I’m a founder, I realize that all startups have very different needs … all of these groups benefit from having community clubs of all kinds at their table because of the expertise they need.”

While interest is certainly cemented, hurdles exist, like when it comes to getting diverse beta users (and making sure startups want the club’s money in the first place).

For my full take – and to make this title really make sense – read my latest TechCrunch+ article co-written with my best friend Anita Ramaswamy: “Investment clubs are cool again, and maybe so is the community.” And to thank you for being a Startups Weekly subscriber, here’s a little TC+ discount for you: Enter “STARTUPS” at checkout for 15% off your subscription.

In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll look at the latest wave of Sequoia bets, an update on layoffs, and as always you can support me by forwarding this newsletter to a friend or follow me on twitter. I appreciate you!

The Sequoia wave

Despite the regional slowdown, Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia announced theirs the accelerator’s newest group of companies. The full list of companies is in history, but just know that the majority build for global markets, almost half have a presence in the US and European markets, and, unsurprisingly, have a pay-per-click game included.

Here’s why it’s important: The Surge program is becoming a force to be reckoned with, building a roster that may already have a useful stamp of approval for subsequent rounds. Alumni have raised more than $1.7 billion in follow-on funding, and 60% of companies in the first cohorts have gone on to raise their Series A and beyond. Past participants include Doubtnut, Khatabook, Bijak, Juno and Apna Club.

India's Captain Fresh raises $60 million, more than doubling valuation to $500 million in three months

Image Credits: Getty Images

The venture-backed are fighting back

Are you enjoying the good news? Great because we’re going to make a hard point and go into a new cut update.

This week’s real estate tech startup Reali shut down after raising $100 million just a year ago as other homebuyer-focused startups struggle.
If not inflation, then its supply chain, as TC’s Kyle Wiggers teaches us in his latest report. Fourkites, which helps manage freight shipments by road, rail, ocean, air and parcels, laid off people – then weeks later raised $30 million, according to SEC filings.
I posted a scoop on Friday about layoffs at Argyle, a fintech company that wants to be “Plaid for employment records.” The company cut 20 jobs, or 6.5 percent of its workforce, but it’s unclear how many, if any, contractors were let go or what the layoff details look like, if any.
Plus, more layoffs are coming at Better.com, which TC’s Mary Ann Azevedo reports will will be the mortgage lender’s fourth layoff in nine months.

Image Credits: Getty Images

If you missed last week’s newsletter

Read it here: Return and Expulsion.” We’ve also recorded an accompanying podcast if you prefer a newsletter for your ears, “The evolving story of Black Girls Code offers a complex look at many different things.”

TECHCRUNCH DISRUPT 2022 IS OUT. Wait. Look at him? Yes, I’m excited too.
Listen to TechCrunch’s other podcasts, including ours a crypto-focused show that goes by Chain Reaction and a show focused on the founder, which is called Found. The TechCrunch podcast also continues to entertain me, so pay attention to all the good shows they put on.
Remember, TechCrunch Live is on a brand new platform, and we’ve made it easier to apply for a pitch internship. Investors (and my inbox) can attest to the importance of brevity, comprehensibility and clarity in pitches, so it’s great to see. Startups can now apply any day and any time for Pitch Practice from filling out this form.
Go mining for an opportunity in TC Sessions: Crypto, this November in Miami. Yes, you heard that right, we’re coming to Miami.
finally TechCrunch Live is coming to Minneapolis. On September 7th, join the TechCrunch team as we interview the best and brightest in town. Minneapolis is among the best cities in the Midwest to start a company — and you’ll soon find out why!