Private Equity
Venture capitalists are gloomier than ever about their prospects. The Silicon Valley Venture Capital Confidence Index hit an all time low of 2.77 in the fourth quarter. (The survey ranks confidence from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest.) It was the fifth consecutive new low since the index began in the first quarter of 2004. The index is compiled by Mark Cannice at the University of San Francisco. He contacted 33 San Francisco Bay Area VCs and asked them about their outlook for the entrepreneurial environment for the Bay Area over the next six to 18 months.
1 min read · 28 January 2009
I was encouraged to read that our new president is meeting with the CEOs of 13 major companies today (IBM, Google, etc.) to talk about the economy (see list of CEOs below). I would be really impressed if Obama organized a similar powwow with venture capitalists. Who better to give him insights about innovative technologies that could use a boost from the stimulus package now being considered in Congress? Pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy will certainly give it a boost, but it will only be short-term if those dollars aren't focused on areas that will pay long-term dividends. For example, I'd rather see Uncle Sam take the $1 billion it plans to give to Amtrak and put it into infrastructure projects to connect far-flung solar installations with the electrical grid. Venture capitalists are the best businesspeople for Obama to consult on this issue. They have deep insight into clean technology because they constantly meet with startups on the cutting edge, but they also have a pragmatic outlook because they are charged with returning money to their investors.
2 min read · 28 January 2009
Allegis Capital is one of those venture firms that you don’t hear much about. It just quietly goes about the business of making money. It’s had some big exits in the past few years, including the sale of IronPort to Cisco for $830 million in 2007. In fact, Allegis has made it a point to focus less on taking portfolio companies public and more on positioning them for sales—which makes it well positioned in the current environment. The seed stage investor is sure to play up its M&A success now that it’s out pitching its sixth fund, which has a target of $150 million to $200 million. (Private Equity Week broke the news on Monday.) I recently spoke to Bob Ackerman, who co-founded Allegis back in 1995. He couldn’t confirm or talk about fund-raising due to SEC restrictions, but he had some interesting things to say nonetheless, particularly about venture firms that are crying in their beer about the lack of an IPO market.
3 min read · 21 January 2009
2 min read · 21 January 2009
2 min read · 19 January 2009
In the More Bad News Department, UK TechCrunch is reporting that Morten Lund, the Danish VC who famously invested in Skype, has declared bankruptcy. Venture Capital Journal was the first U.S. publication--to my knowledge--to do an in depth profile on Lund, who is quite a character. You can read Alex Haislip's excellent profile here for free: Archangel. We hope Lund bounces back. The world needs more risk takers like him.
1 min read · 15 January 2009
Venture capital firms looking to juice their returns would do well to consider PIPEs in former portfolio companies that are now public. As Joanna Glasner reports in this week’s Private Equity Week, venture firms have done at least four such deals in former VC-backed companies in the past few weeks (click her for free copy of the story). And PwC is predicting a surge in PIPEs this year. VCs that got in on the action early may have already benefited. The Thomson Reuters Post-Venture Capital Index (PVCI)—which tracks the performance of public stocks of companies that previously raised money from VC and buyout firms—finally posted a gain in December after three consecutive months of losses. The PVCI rose 5.9% to 365.59 on Dec. 31
1 min read · 14 January 2009
Former VC Rob McCord says no allocation changes in store for two large pensions in state
2 min read · 08 December 2008
1 min read · 01 December 2008
6 min read · 01 December 2008
