ESports IRL, VCs Love Latin America, And Our Quarterly Reports Are Here

A few weeks ago, we chatted about how to make networking more personal. Then I remembered what a founder once told me: If you ever move to a city, and you work in an industry that the city is known for, like tech in San Francisco, it’s basically impossible to be your authentic self.

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So here’s my edit to earlier advice: schedule a coffee this week with someone you actually want to talk to. The kicker: they have to be outside the world of venture capital and tech. Tweet me some takeaways, and I might include them in next week’s post.

Until then, let’s wind back into tech with our Q3 reports. We took a look at global venture capital trends in the past quarter and narrowed that lens to focus on North American deals.TL;DR: Seed is growing all over the world, and shaky IPOs haven’t impacted investor appetite (yet).

Continuing our regional coverage, Mary Ann unpacked Latin America’s tech scene, where startups are on track to raise an unprecedented amount of capital this year. I wrote a story about Boston’s seed scene and how it stacks up against other venture hubs, and, to end our road trip, Joanna drove us through the East Bay’s “funding hotbeds.”

For the people behind the stories, listen to the latest podcast in our mini-series Some Personal News to hear Jason, our senior data reporter, unpack his VC data tips and tricks. And for the latest Seed Series, our look at the earliest investors of risky startups, we chatted with Katie Rae of The Engine, a venture firm spun out of MIT.

This week also had its fair share of funding news. ASYSTEMS, a male wellness startup, raised a $4 million seed round, and Five Below, a cheap goods store, took part in a $12 million Series A round to build out esports in real life. Grammarly also raised $90 million to solve comma complexity for all of us. In super late-stage news, RigUp raised a $300 million a16z-led round for on-demand oil and gas jobs, and Next Insurance raised $250 million at a $1 billion valuation.

Now go grab a coffee,

Natasha

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias.

P.S. Follow me on Twitter @nmasc_