Accel Partners has hit some serious, major home runs. Until the mid-1990s, the venture capital firm included healthcare plays in its investing strategy that focused on tech startups; just as the dot-com bubble began to inflate, Accel shifted its strategy into a more Internet-centric focus. After a lull last decade cost the venture capital firm some of its limited partners, including, reportedly, Harvard, the top-tier VC proved to its critics why it’s the cream of the crop among early-stage investors. But, in fact, Accel has always been a backer of some of America’s biggest businesses since its 1983 founding. From Wal-Mart to Facebook, Accel identified early-stage prowess at some of the most successful enterprises of the last 30 years....
3 min read · 22 June 2011
Got Our E-Mails? They’re cheap. Because they’re free. You can sign up here. Narrowing the Gap: Barnes & Noble share prices fall on poorer-than-expected numbers, will the Liberty Media bid start to look more attractive? Yikes: PIMCO’s El-Erian predicts Greek default The Yak Index: Mongolia is now hot for sovereign funds and PE
1 min read · 22 June 2011
3 min read · 21 June 2011
Got Our E-mails? Get our wonderful, spectacular e-mails… FREE! Law of Unintended Consequences: Is Wall St.’s new pay structure causing its next round of layoffs? Summertime Snitchin’! The Poohster goes down! New View, Same Result: Sears might move from Chicago… to the nation’s capital?
1 min read · 21 June 2011
The Employee Retirement System of Texas, the state pension with roughly $22 billion in assets under management and nearly 200,000 active and retired members, has picked Wesley W. Gipson to serve as its new director of private equity, peHUB has learned from multiple sources. ERS of Texas declined to comment for this story. Gipson has been with ERS of Texas for a while; he came there in 2009 after spending five years with the Aurora Group. Gipson also worked for Procter & Gamble’s corporate finance division....
1 min read · 20 June 2011
Daily deals website BuyWithMe.com will conduct a new round of fundraising in the next few months, according to a senior source. BuyWithMe has big competitors, clearly: Groupon raised $950 million earlier this year after spurning a Google offer and is expected to raise about $750 million more through its IPO; LivingSocial took in nearly $600 million across two rounds of fundraising in six months’ time. Gilt Groupe sought and secured nearly $140 million en route to a $1 billion valuation. And some of BuyWithMe’s well-capitalized competitors are dispensing money to build scale and quickly develop a merchant roster....
2 min read · 20 June 2011
Got Our E-Mails? Get our e-mails… totally free! Redemption!...? Falcone’s LightSquared strikes a deal with Sprint Come Again? Startups’ fuzzy math Return of the McIlroy: Coming off a flop in Augusta, the young star dominates in Bethesda
1 min read · 20 June 2011
2 min read · 20 June 2011
1 min read · 17 June 2011
Schutt Sports, the portfolio company of Platinum Equity (the Tom Gores firm that just landed the Detroit Pistons), will buy certain football helmet and faceguard assets that belonged to Adams USA. Schutt will continue to develop the brand under the Adams name. Terms of the deal were not publicized.
3 min read · 17 June 2011
