Private Equity
In a dismal year for both VC-backed IPOs and M&A, Accel Partners stood out. Nine of its portfolio companies were sold for combined proceeds in excess of $2 billion, a significant increase from 2008, when 10 of its portfolio companies were sold for less than $300 million in total disclosed proceeds. Accel’s three biggest hits were mobile advertising startup AdMob, bought by Google for $750 million; open source software developer SpringSource, acquired by VMWare for $420 million; and national defense technology provider BBN Technologies, bought by Raytheon for $350 million. I spoke to Accel’s Jim Breyer about his firm’s M&A successes and a host of other issues for Venture Capital Journal’s January issue. VCJ subscribers can read the full interview here. For you, dear peHUB reader, you can get video snippets of our interview after the jump...
1 min read · 13 January 2010
As Jeff Bussgang pointed out in his column today, the alleged fraud at VC-backed Canopy Financial is reminiscent of the fraud case at VC-backed Entellium last year. In that case, the former CEO and CFO were sent to prison in March for wire fraud and lying to investors (including Ignition Partners and Intel Captial) about their company’s actual revenue. Former Entellium CEO Paul Johnston was sentenced to three years in prison and a little over $2 million in restitution, while former CFO Parrish Jones was sent away for two years and ordered to make restitution of more than $850,000. Once they get out of prison, the pair also have to serve 80 hours of community service in a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Venture Capital Journal published a story last year after the Entellium case broke, questioning whether VCs could have done anything to prevent the fraud. Since it’s Friday, dear HUB readers, I’m making the story free today. Read it here.
1 min read · 04 December 2009
Full transcript of VCJ’s one-hour interview with Marc Andreessen, who co-founded new venture firm Andreessen Horowitz
10 min read · 01 August 2009
In the more-bad-news-for-VCs file, the cash cow known as Google has been deliberately inactive on the the M&A front because it's waiting for "prices to get better," according to CEO Eric Schmidt. Silicon Alley Insider reports that Schmidt told the Morgan Stanley tech conference conference today that Google's M&A activity is "pretty inactive right now" because "we've largely been waiting for prices to get better." Yes, you read that right. The company that had $15.85 BILLIOn in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities as of Dec. 31, is worried that it's going to overpay for a startup.
1 min read · 04 March 2009
State treasurer says venture capital has been Connecticut's strongest performer
2 min read · 01 August 2007
4 min read · 01 April 2005
10 min read · 01 February 2003
10 min read · 01 January 2003
10 min read · 01 June 2002
