Private Equity
Whenever a big corporation misses earnings or is faced by slackening demand for its products, its in-house venture capitalists shudder. So when Intel Corp. said it planned to cut between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs earlier this week, we called over to Intel Capital to see how it would be affected. "Intel Capital has no plans to do any downsizing of its own or to alter their investment strategy," says spokesperson Heather Clisby. In fact, she says that the chipmaker's investment arm recently expanded its operations into South Africa, appointing six-year Intel Capital investor Sam Mensah to run the office.
1 min read · 22 January 2009
Venture capitalists have cooled on virtual worlds, according to new data out today from conference company Virtual Worlds Management. The report says that VCs invested $594 million into 63 virtual worlds companies during 2008 (for a list, go here), down from the $1.4 billion invested during 2007. The data is a little slippery though, as exactly what constitutes a virtual world is subject to some debate. During 2007, for example, Providence Equity Partners put $300 million behind ZeniMax, which counts virtual worlds as just one of its business lines.
1 min read · 21 January 2009
1 min read · 31 December 2008
Veteran venture capitalists Larry Mohr and Sal Gutierrez have held a second close for the debut fund of Retro Venture Partners and have now raised a total of $27.8 million, according to a regulatory filing. Retro was originally named Retiro Venture Partners and held a first close on $18.2 million last May. It is unclear how much money Mohr and Gutierrez are trying to raise. Gutierrez was not available for comment, and
1 min read · 30 December 2008
Project financier Rohan Singh, a Senior Vice President of HSH Nordbank’s Energy Group, has agreed to speak on the VCJ breakfast series panel in January. HSH Nordbank may not be a known entity to many VCs, since it keeps a low profile, but the firm put $3 billion into cleantech project finance in 2007. Singh has over 10 years of energy banking experience, during which he has been involved in originating, structuring and syndicating several transactions in the power industry, especially clean energy.
1 min read · 16 December 2008
1 min read · 16 December 2008
1 min read · 18 November 2008
Where do you go when you've proved your technology and need cash to build out your manufacturing plant or expand sales globally? Cleantech companies have had a particularly hard time connecting with expansion capital, especially after the credit crunch effectively shut down lending.
1 min read · 10 November 2008
1 min read · 01 November 2008
Elon Musk told Reuters he will try to raise $20 million from his existing investors to ensure that Tesla is able to deliver its Roadsters and continue work on its electric sedan. The investor-turned-CEO says the company has $9 million of cash on hand, but will need more to tide it over. Musk was working on a $100 million investment round before the stock market fell off the table. When the DOW dove, each potential investor tightened up the terms, forcing Musk out of the fundraising market. Tesla, by virtue of its high-profile product, is just one of maybe a hundred or more cleantech companies in trouble thanks to the crumbling credit market. But we’re going to do something to help. Thomson Reuters is sponsoring a breakfast panel that will feature some of the people who can and will still be financing large cleantech projects through the downturn.
1 min read · 31 October 2008
