Dan Primack

Laundry Room Chronicles: Did VCs Drive Mint Sale?

Chatting last week with Reuters about Intuit's purchase of Mint.com, including the question of whether or not VCs forced the sale:

Fund Size: It's About The Change, Not The Dollars

Why Are Entrepreneurs So Angry At VCs?

Earlier this week I attended a meeting of the Village Ventures network, which is a group of small regionally-focused and/or sector-focused VC funds. Groups like Borealis Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Inflexion Partners, Point Judith, Highway 12 Ventures, Village Ventures itself and others. Much appreciation to them for having me. One thing I discussed with a bunch of attendees – mostly VCs, but also a few CEOs – was this issue of entrepreneurial animosity toward venture capitalists. Almost a sense of glee (schadenfreude?) that the “VC model is broken.” Most of this animosity has been made public via blogs, and perhaps it has been long-latent without such an easily-accessible bullhorn (just read through year’s old comments on TheFunded). But some of the folks I spoke with think that

Let's Sleep On It: Notes on Mega-Mattress M&A

Ares Management and Teachers’ Private Capital today announced a $730 million agreement to buy mattress maker Simmons from THL Partners. Some notes: *** Ares/Teachers plan to put both Serta and Simmons under the same super holdco, but will operate them as separate, independent entities. Were they merged, it would become the nation’s largest mattress manufacturer (title currently held by KKR’s Sealy). No idea how Ares/Teachers will actually manage the obvious conflicts of interest. For example, will Ares’ Simmons reps not look at their own funds’ quarterly reports that contain confidential info on Serta, and vice versa?

Laundry Room Chronicles: Is A123 Over-Valued?

Chatting with the Reuters folks about VC-backed A123 Systems, which went public earlier today and was up nearly 40% at last check (market cap approaching $2b): Get other peHUB videos here.

Big Tweeting: Twitter Raises $100 Million

Twitter, the San Francisco-based micro-messaging service, today will close upwards of $100 million in new VC funding, as first reported by WSJ's Deal Journal blog. peHUB has since confirmed the news, with a source close to the situation. Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price would be among the new investors, while return backers would include Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners. I'd assume that existing shareholders Benchmark Capital and Union Square Ventures also would participate, but

Thank You Dallas -- peHUB Shindig Sells Out

I am pleased to announce that the upcoming peHUB Shindig in Dallas is now sold out. It's taking place on October 14, which is the night before Buyouts Texas and smack dab in the middle of Red River Rivalry week. We hope to free up a few more tickets closer to the event, so please send me an email if you'd like to be put on the waiting list. All of the ticket proceeds will be donated to a local charity selected by event attendees. A very special thanks to our Dallas Shindig sponsors: Landmark Partners, New Capital Partners and StaffOne.

Where Did All The PE-Backed Bankruptcies Go?

Newspaper publisher Freedom Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 1. It was the 59th private equity-backed company to do so in 2009, compared to just 49 in all of 2008. But then a funny thing happened. Or, more specifically, didn't happen. No other PE-backed companies filed for bankruptcy protection in September. Two companies announced plans to file for bankruptcty protection as part of prepackaged restructurings -- NTK Holdings (THL Partners) and Lazy Days’ RV Center Inc. (Bruckman Rosser Sherrill ) -- but it's unclear if either will do so before September ends.

NY Comptroller DiNapoli Announces New Pay-to-Play Rule

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli today signed an executive order banning the $116.5 billion NY Common Retirement Fund from doing business with anyone who has made contributions to the state comptroller within the past two years. It also would affect firms making contributions to candidates for state comptroller. The executive order is effective in 45 days from today. It also is prospective rather than retrospective, which basically means that past contributions and/or investment decisions will not be affected. Disclosure of contributions would be required to be made by the firms themselves, rather than via a search of campaign finance records. DiNapoli says the rule mirrors proposed regulations by the SEC, which also would ban the use of placement agents. The Comptroller already banned placement agent usage by NYCRF earlier this year. The rule does not apply to law firms or other retained service providers to investment firms. It also does not

Secondary Consolidation: Industry Ventures Buys Little Hawk

San Francisco-based secondary firm Industry Ventures today will announce its acquisition of Little Hawk Capital, a Washington, D.C.-based firm focused on direct and indirect investments in small VC and growth equity funds. Consider it a secondary secondary, which probably makes it a tertiary... Little Hawk founder Roland Reynolds will serve as a principal with Industry Ventures, while existing Industry staffer Ken Wallace was promoted to vice president and will work with Reynolds. Little Hawk raised $30 million for its debut fund in 2006, and still has room for a handful of new commitments. Reynolds says that the plan is to work through this vehicle -- now rebranded Industry Little Hawk -- before beginning a new fund-raise.