Archive: First Stage Investor

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There’s an ancient adage I have leaned upon at certain times in my life: What doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger. It certainly applies to AlphaFlow, the startup I’m showing you today.  2020 was the ultimate stress test for AlphaFlow. And it survived.  We all know that retailers took a massive hit last year. But when so much business activity — including all kinds of construction — ground to a halt, the…
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I recently spoke to Chris Yerbey, the founder and CEO of Amsterdam-based Tradefox. We recommended TradeFox in 2017 (back when it was called Scrap Connection) and again in 2019. It provides a business intelligence and trading…
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Digital Brands Group (DBG) had its initial public offering (IPO) recently. And it generated some confusion and many questions from our members. So I’m taking the opportunity today to address some of the issues you’ve raised. To refresh your memory, DBG’s IPO incorporated a “reverse stock…
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New Pick: The Future of Bottled Juice

By Andy Gordon on May 20, 2021

Deal Details Startup: Genius Juice Security type: Crowd SAFE* Discount: 20% Valuation (cap): $14 million Minimum investment: $100 Where to invest: Republic Deadline: September 16, 2021…
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Crypto Crash Isn’t Elon Musk’s Fault

By Vin Narayanan on May 20, 2021

One of these days, we’ll dig into my complicated feelings about Elon Musk. They were complicated before Tesla bought bitcoin, started accepting bitcoin as a payment method, stopped accepting bitcoin as a payment method and Musk hopped aboard the crazy dogecoin train. (Say it…
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InnaMed is one of the rare startups that has earned a thumbs up from Andy Gordon twice. It’s current raise — which Andy believes is a very good investment opportunity — closes on May 28.  With just…
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How to Develop a Strategy for Ethereum

By Vin Narayanan on May 13, 2021

Ethereum (ETH) is killing it. That’s the only way to describe this current run that the second-largest cryptocurrency is on. On Wednesday, its price hit an all-time high of $4358.30 at 10:30 a.m. ET according to CoinMarketCap. A year ago, ethereum was trading for $197.59. That’s…
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Important Correction: DBG IPO a Down Round

By Andy Gordon on May 10, 2021

We missed out on a big piece of information in last Thursday’s update on DBG (Digital Brands Group). And it led to some bad math. At First Stage Investor, we own our mistakes. And we made a big one.
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Note: This article contains incorrect information. Please read this correction piece instead. First Stage Investor sincerely apologizes for this mistake. DBG (Digital Brands Group) holds a unique distinction in the First Stage Investor portfolio. It’s the only company we’ve recommended three…
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Verizon has reportedly sold Yahoo and AOL today for around $5 billion. But Verizon spent $9 billion total to acquire both companies! Today’s sale marks the end of Verizon’s attempts to break into digital advertising. In this week’s Startup Insider, Andy Gordon and Vin Narayanan take a look…
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Startup Insider: How Startups Go Public

By Early Investing on April 29, 2021

For startup investors, a company going public is the holy grail. That’s when the relatively small amount of money they invested into a young company turns into (hopefully) big bucks. There are three paths startups can take to going public — initial public offerings (IPOs), direct…
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Invest in the Next Super Material

By Andy Gordon on April 26, 2021

DEAL DETAILS Startup: BNNano Security type: Common stock Round size: Up to $1.07 million under Reg. CF  Share price: $1.70 Valuation: $20,211,463 Minimum investment: $100.30 Investment portal:…
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Bitcoin Sell-Off is Nothing to Panic About

By Vin Narayanan on April 19, 2021

My phone woke me up unexpectedly Sunday morning. It was buzzing with the news that bitcoin had suffered a flash crash — dropping as much as 14% to $51,141. I saw the alerts, checked my Twitter timeline and…
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Deal Details Startup: TapRm Security type: Crowd SAFE* Discount: 0% Valuation (cap): $22 million Minimum investment: $100.98 Where to invest: Republic Deadline: May 1, 2021 TapRm…
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When Frank Holmes reaches out and asks to talk to you, you always say yes. And then you make sure your members can see the conversation.  Frank is the CEO and chief investment officer for U.S. Global Investors (which runs the JETS ETF…
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New Pick: Invest in the Google for Videos

By Andy Gordon on April 8, 2021

Deal Details Startup: Vyrill Security type: Convertible Note Valuation (cap): $8 million  Minimum investment: $250 Where to invest: Wefunder Deadline: April 23, 2021 …