Jim Robinson IV of RRE Ventures was on CNBC earlier this morning, live from Sun Valley. He talked about VC willingness to invest, dealflow and (of course) Twitter. He also gave a nice promo to Howard Lindzon's StockTwits, never got asked about Clear (he was on the board) and broke a bit of news: RRE has participated in an (apparently) undisclosed new round of funding for Revolution Money, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based personal payment network that includes both credit cards and a P2P payment system(a la PayPal). Robinson says the new deal is for between $15 and $20 million, and follows nearly $100 million in prior capital from Steve Case, Ted Leonsis, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and others. Video after the jump...
1 min read · 09 July 2009
The Treasury Department yesterday named nine managers for the PPIP, which is designed to help banks escape the toxic messes of their own making. It also said "over 100 unique applications... were received." It almost sounds like PPIP was so popular that Treasury had to beat off hopeful participants with a stick. To know for sure, though, it would be helpful to have a list of the rejected applicants. After all, what if most of them were crackpot lounge singers who don't know CDS from CPR? Unfortunately, Treasury is refusing to give out the list. A Department spokesman simply said "no," when I asked earlier this morning, without providing an official reason. We could speculate that Treasury doesn't want to cause reputational damage to the losers, but the government hasn't objected to identifying losing bidders for failed banks. So that couldn't/shouldn't be it.
2 min read · 09 July 2009
Symphony Technology Group last night announced an agreement to acquire MSC.Software Corp., a publicly-traded provider of simulation software for designing and testing manufactured products. The leveraged buyout is valued at approximately $360 million ($7.63 per share), with hedge fund Elliott Management also participating on the equity. So we’ve got 5 Questions for STG managing director Bill Chisholm: 1. How did this deal come about? We’re a mid-market software and tech services investor, so we try to keep pretty close tabs on companies that could be of interest to us, and keep in touch with their executives. It’s not like there are hundreds of attractive ones out there. MSC is one we’ve tracked for a long time. This time around we were a bit more aggressive and direct, and the company was a bit more receptive than it’s been in the past.
3 min read · 08 July 2009
Venture capital funds raised just $5.1 billion in the first half of 2009, according to data released this morning by Dow Jones. This represents a 63% drop from the same period last year, and is the slowest first half since 2003. The decrease was felt across sub-asset class. Early-stage firms raised $2.7 billion for 36 funds, compared to the $5.2 billion raised by 43 funds in the first half of 2008. Late-stage firms were off more than 53%, while multi-stage funds were down more than 68 percent. Expect these numbers to be largely mirrored in an upcoming report from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB). The overall first-half total
1 min read · 08 July 2009
Quantcast, a San Francisco-based provider of online audience analytics, is looking to raise around $50 million at a $300 million pre-money valuation, peHUB has learned. One source tells us that the company has already received multiple term sheets, but no identities of the lead investors (maybe strategic?) or if the offered terms match what QuantCast is seeking. The raise coincides with a strategic evolution for Quantcast, which recently rolled out a targeted ad platform that utilizes its direct measuring software. As the
1 min read · 07 July 2009
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) is looking to raise $500 million for its second TALF fund, according to marketing materials obtained by peHUB. TALF is an acronym for the U.S. government's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility program, which basically provides private investors with loans to buy up newly-issued, triple-A rated asset-backed securities (credit card loans, auto loans, student loans, small biz loans, etc). The goal was to free up consumer spending, and to include between $3 billion and $4 billion of eligible secutities. BlackRock raised "over 200 million" for its first TALF fund in March and April, and used it to purchase around $575 million in securities (preferred return threshold of 10%). TALF is scheduled to close at year-end (although some of the promised loans are good for three years), but has recently broadened to include legacy consumer ABS, legacy commercial mortgage-backed securities
2 min read · 07 July 2009
FDIC chair Shiela Bair today held a five-hour, closed session with select members of the private equity industry, to discuss proposed rules that would govern future PE investment in banks. To say that many of these rules are unpopular with private equity pros would be an understatement, particularly capital requirement and cross-guarantee provisions. As Wilbur Ross accurately told the WSJ last week, the guidelines are "harsh and discriminatory." So it was with some surprise that Ross was even one of the 26 invitees to today's roundtable, let alone asked to lead the section on capital requirements. He left with his strong objections intact, but also believing that the meeting was "highly productive." "Sheila Bair seems truly interested in getting people's views," Ross told me during a phone conversation earlier tonight. "It was pretty obvious what my reaction had been, but she still had me chair part of the conversation and seated me next to her at lunch. I think it shows that the proposals really are still proposals at this point, and that she and others at the FDIC are serious about wanting input from people in the private equity industry."
3 min read · 07 July 2009
The FDIC today held a roundtable discussion with various PE industry players, regarding last week's proposed guidelines related to private equity investment in banks. The session was closed, but a little birdie tells me that most of the PE representation was attorneys rather than dealmakers . My guess is that the attorneys delivered a fairly simple message: These proposals are nutty, baselessly punative and totally counterproductive if the goal is to encourage PE investment in banks. I get a bit more in depth during a Reuters Insider spot I did earlier today (on tape from the laundry room adjacent to the home office):
2 min read · 06 July 2009
1 min read · 06 July 2009
LP sources say Highland Capital Partners has also cut its carry
1 min read · 06 July 2009
