Private Equity
Venture capitalists spend an inordinate portion of their working lives staring at PowerPoint presentations. But it seems like more are looking for a better way. Looking at venture funding data, it seems that several would-be PowerPoint rivals have raised money in the last couple of years. The most recent, San Francisco-based SlideRocket, raised $5 million last week from Azure Capital and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. As someone who’s spent enough time at venture events to see more than my fair share of PowerPoint presentations, I can agree that there ought to be a more dynamic, less clunky way to do things. (Though admittedly, it’s unclear to me to what extent the blame lies with PowerPoint itself or with presenters who aren’t using the program’s features to optimal effect.)
2 min read · 29 July 2009
2 min read · 23 July 2009
Two VC-backed companies have managed to go public this year, but the window is far from open
3 min read · 01 July 2009
Startups developing applications for mobile and social networking platforms are finding success quickly, often without help (or money) from VCs.
10 min read · 01 July 2009
There are cleantech bulls. And then there is Steve Westly. The former eBay marketing director and onetime California state controller, who currently runs Silicon Valley venture firm The Westly Group, is predicting that the moribund market for new public offerings is about to wake up. In the next 12 months, Westly told participants today at VCJ's Financing the Cleantech Vision conference, there will be a dozen clean technology IPOs. Some of them, he predicted, will be blockbusters. It’s a remarkably optimistic outlook, given that so far this year there have been only been 13 U.S. IPOs priced in any industry – down from 35 during the same period last year, which was also a subdued period for new offerings. On the new filings front, the situation compares even more poorly – with just 12 IPOs filed this year, down 89% from last year, according to Renaissance Capital.
2 min read · 26 June 2009
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is hosting its annual business plan competition again, but this year is telling presenters to stay home. The Silicon Valley firm's contest -- which includes 16 startups from 6 countries -- is using TelePresence, Cisco’s costly and much-promoted videoconferencing system that’s designed to make people in different places appear as if they’re in a single boardroom. The competition takes place on Tuesday, with judges gathering at Cisco’s San Jose headquarters to choose who will win a $250,000 investment. Half the presenters are based in the U.S., with the others located in Israel, China, Russia, India and Brazil. Finalists run the gamut from Five Minutes, maker of a Chinese social game called Happy Farm
2 min read · 24 June 2009
VCs have funded more than a dozen startups focused on data centers in the past six months, hoping for a repeat of the 1998 boom—without the bust the followed
9 min read · 01 June 2009
There are encouraging signs in the IPO market, with OpenTable on tap to be the first VC-backed IPO in nine months
2 min read · 01 June 2009
Steven Fludder explains how startups fit into GE’s new initiative to deliver more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products
4 min read · 01 June 2009
1 min read · 16 May 2009
