Talk:Playground Global

Edit request

I work for Playground Global and I’d like to update their very outdated article. I see that they've had conflict of interest issues in the past, prior to my joining the firm, and I'm hoping to clear those up as I declare and work within the Wikipedia requirements. Here are my requests:

1. The first sentence is outdated and does not explain what the company does. I am requesting this change:
   • Current wording: Playground Global is a venture fund and design studio that provides resources, mentorship and funding for startups making hardware devices.
   • Proposed wording: Playground Global is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in deep tech and offers help with full stack software, hardware, machine learning, marketing, talent and design. .
2. Again, these sentences are outdated or need more context and I'm requesting to update the information.
   • Current wording: The company was founded in 2015 by Andy Rubin, Peter Barrett, Matt Hershenson and Bruce Leak. Playground offers startups support with engineering, distribution, manufacturing and financing in exchange for equity. As of May 2019, Rubin no longer has any economic interest or ongoing roles at Playground, following reports of alleged sexual misconduct. Shortly after, Laurie Yoler joined as Playground's first female general partner.
   • Proposed wording: The company was founded in 2015 by Andy Rubin, Peter Barrett, Matt Hershenson and Bruce Leak. As of May 2019, Rubin no longer has any economic interest or ongoing roles at Playground, following reports of alleged sexual misconduct while working at Google. Shortly after, Laurie Yoler joined as Playground’s first female general partner, joining general partners Barrett, Hershenson, Leak and Jory Bell.
3. Updating more information to reflect current financial numbers and funds
   • Current wording: In 2015, the company’s first investment fund raised $300 million from its limited partners including Google, HP, Foxconn, Redpoint Ventures, Seagate Technology and Tencent, among others.
   • Proposed wording: Playground Global has raised $800 million across two funds. The firm raised a $500 million Fund II in 2016.
4. Please add a new section called Significant investments
   • FarmWise
   • Nauto
   • NextSilicon
   • PsiQuantum Corporation
   • Relativity Space
   • RightHand Robotics
   • Strand Therapeutics
   • Skydio
   • Universal Hydrogen
   • Velo3D
   • Virta Health
   • 1910 Genetics

References

Thanks! AllisonatPG (talk) 17:43, 25 May 2021 (UTC)

I would balk at request number 4 ("Significant investments") because some of the sources are public relations announcements rather than actual reporting by journalists. The other requests look okay to me. Binksternet (talk) 18:11, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply, Binksternet, and for looking over these requests. Are you able to make edits 1-3 that I've requested, or are you comfortable with {{request edit/proceed}} and I will go ahead and make those edits? As for #4, would the section be OK in theory if I filter out any PR-type sources and replace with better ones? AllisonatPG (talk) 08:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

I applied some of your suggested changes, along with additional material I saw reported in the media. Regarding the list of investments, I think it would be more informative if the more important entries on that list were discussed in prose. Binksternet (talk) 16:59, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

Binksternet, AllisonatPG, I am working through the backlog at CAT:EDITREQ. I am closing this COI edit request as  Partly done. I agree with Binksternet that the list of investments inappropriate. I suggest that the list be narrowed down to investments in notable firms (i.e., as a rule of thumb, the ones that have wikipedia articles about them) and write it into prose. This could be the topic of a new edit request. JBchrch talk 15:19, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Edit Request 2

As per JBchrch's suggestion, I'm requesting the addition of a section called Significant Investments. I've included only companies here that have their own articles on Wikipedia. I have one additional request here as well.

1. Request to create Significant Investments section with this content:
   • In June 2015, Playground Global was part of a $20.5 million series A funding round for Nervana Systems, an IA software company acquired by Intel in 2016. In 2017, Playground Global backed Owl Labs, a conferencing devices company, with $1.3 million in seed money. In December 2017, Playground Global led a seed round of $5.7 million for FarmWise to commercialize its automated weeding robot and to continue building autonomous systems which can harvest food for farmers. Playground's Bruce Leak also joined their board of directors. In March 2018, Playground Global led a $35 million funding round for Relativity Space, a startup that develops small launch vehicles with the use of 3-D printing technologies. Playground's Jory Bell joined Relativity's board. In November 2018, Playground Global led a $30 million Series B Funding round for RapidSOS, an emergency response data provider.
2. Second request: The following sentence, "In May 2019, Playground returned Rubin's investment and removed him from management, following reports of sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred in 2013." allows one to infer that the misconduct took place at Playground Global, when it occurred while Rubin was at Google (as stated in source 8). I am requesting the addition of the following text: "In May 2019, Playground returned Rubin's investment and removed him from management, following reports of sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred in 2013 while Rubin was an executive at Google."

References

Thank you for your consideration with both requests. AllisonatPG (talk) 21:02, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

•  Done. Neatly formatted request is implemented. Binksternet (talk) 21:56, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

Thank you so much Binksternet for your implementation of this request! And to JBchrch for your suggestions as well. AllisonatPG (talk) 19:44, 14 July 2021 (UTC)