Private Equity
It turned out Tuesday was just a brief respite. On Wednesday Today we were back in the the business of a market sell-off. Besides the public companies that got a haircut, the tumultuous market also dashed the hopes of six of the 12 companies on the docket to go public this week. Then, Thursday, the market surged back, with the Dow up nearly 4 percent. On Tuesday, three companies postponed their offerings, including 3-D motion-sensing company InvenSense Inc, a VC-backed company that hoped to raise $99.8 million. On Wednesday, another three companies postponed, including two VC-backed startups: employee benefit program provider WageWorks, which held off on a $49 million IPO, and medical services provider WhiteGlove, which tabled
2 min read · 11 August 2011
I'm pleased to announce that our Twitter trending service is now live on peHUB. Powered by Tweetminster, the service tracks content shared on Twitter by experts in various fields. Tweetminster uses an algorithm to track tweets and identify the most influential people in particular market segments. In our case, it tracks the most influential people who tweet about venture capital, technology and entrepreneurship. The service works in real time, so the people and websites it tracks will expand and contract based on usage. Also, the longer the service runs, the "smarter" it will become at identifying the most influential tweeters. We've been running it in beta mode since the start of June and I've found that the Most Shared Links feature has become more
2 min read · 23 July 2011
Time to catch up what your peers found most interesting on peHUB this week. Here are the top 10 posts that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from July 18 to July 22. Hot topics include LP interest in first-time funds outside of Silicon Valley, performance of vintage 2006 funds held by CalPERS, Redpoint's hot streak and Q2 venture investment trends. 1. Slideshow: LPs Keen to Back Newbie VC Funds Outside of Silicon Valley, by Lawrence Aragon 2. Slideshow: CalPERS’ Mid-Decade Venture Boom — Commitments Jumped in 2006-08, by Mark Boslet 3. Slideshow: Redpoint Ventures’ Red-Hot Deals, by Jonathan Marino 4. Slideshow: Top Second Quarter Venture Deals Show Internet, Health Care And Late Stage Focus, by Mark Boslet 5. Slideshow: The New England, New York Rivalry And The Cheapest Place To Do A Second Quarter Venture Deal, by Mark Boslet 6. Legal Battle Brewing Over Quick Flip, by Bernard Vaughan 7. Slideshow: Texas County & District’s Top-Performing Funds, by David Toll 8. Slideshow: Quattrone Is Back with a Vengeance; His Qatalyst Partners Has Advised PopCap, GoDaddy and 11 Others this Year (subscription required), by Luisa Beltran 9. Chicago Shop Rolls Out Exits As It Eyes Fund X, by Bernard Vaughan 10. Shocker! Someone’s Making Money in Newspapers, by Luisa Beltran
1 min read · 22 July 2011
Time to catch up what your peers found most interesting on peHUB this week. Here are the top 10 posts that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from July 11 to July 15. Hot topics include the top 10 VC fundraisers for Q2, the sizzling year for Frank Quattrone's Qatalyst Partners, New Jersey's top-performing funds, Greycroft's newest partner and worries about rising startup valuations. 1. Slideshow: Top 10 Largest VC Fundraisings for Q2, by Lawrence Aragon, peHUB 2. Slideshow: Quattrone Is Back with a Vengeance; His Qatalyst Partners Has Advised PopCap, GoDaddy and 11 Others this Year, by Luisa Beltran, peHUB 3. Slideshow: New Jersey’s Top-Performing Funds, by David Toll, peHUB 4. Slideshow: Most Active VC Firms to Date in 2011(subscribers only), by Alastair Goldfisher, peHUB 5. Greycroft Partners Adds a New VC: Ellie Wheeler, by Connie Loizos, peHUB 6. What is the Sound of a Bubble About to Pop?, by Scott Maxwell, OpenView Venture Partners 7. Analysis: Doubt Creeps into Tech Valuations at Sun Valley, by Sarah McBride and Yinka Adegoke, Reuters 8. Shamrock Capital Raises $400 Mln With Third Fund, by peHUB staff 9. Analysis: Young Startups Demand Steeper Prices from VCs, by Sarah McBride, Reuters 10. Divide Between Venture ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-Nots’ Gets Bigger, by Connie Loizos, peHUB
1 min read · 15 July 2011
Want to catch up on the blog posts that your peers found most interesting on peHUB this week? Here are the top 10 posts written by peHUB and Reuters staffers that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from July 4 to July 8. Hot topics included CalPERS's Chief Investment Officer Joe Dear's compensation, how little-known Avalon Ventures got into the Zynga deal, a wave of new early stage funds being raised, Silver Spring filing for an IPO and lots more. 1. Dear Joe Dear: What Do You Make at CalPERS?, by Gregory Roth 2. Avalon Ventures: the Low-Flying Firm About to Make a Billion Bucks on Zynga’s IPO, by Connie Loizos 3. Report Finds 127 Early Stage Funds Now Being Raised, by Mark Boslet 4. Solamere Exec Helps Lead Romney Fundraising Effort, by Bernard Vaughan 5. Silver Spring Networks files for IPO of up to $150M, by Reuters 6. Aussie Contact Helps NY Firm Flip Company In One Day, by Bernard Vaughan 7. TALK BACK: What’s Going on in China?, by Jonathan Marino 8. Carlyle in Talks to Buy Energy Capital Partners, by Reuters 9. Fears Of SEC Registration Disappear, But Venture Firms May Face New Record Keeping Demands (subscription required), by Mark Boslet 10. Truly Quick: True Ventures Nears Final Close on $200M Fund, by Jonathan Marino
1 min read · 08 July 2011
Catch up with what your peers found most interesting on peHUB this week. The top 10 posts that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from June 27 to July 1 include GRP Partner Mark Suster's take on how changes in the software industry will impact venture investing, a giant slideshow of photos from our Chicago Shindig, IRRs from CalPERS, the uncanny similarities between Andreessen Horowitz (aka A16Z) and Kleiner Perkins and the biggest owners of Zynga (which filed to go public today). 1. Slideshow: Chicago Shindig Photos — Lots of ‘em, by Lawrence Aragon 2. Slideshow: IRRs From CalPERS’ Brand Name Venture Funds Underwhelm (Part I), by Mark Boslet 3. Slideshow: CalPERS’ Recent Vintage Brand Name Venture Funds Show Promising IRRs, Largely (Part II), by Mark Boslet 4. Slideshow: Top 10 PE-backed Deals This Year, by Luisa Beltran 5. Kleiner Perkins and Andreessen Horowitz: Separated at Birth?, by Connie Loizos 6. Understanding the Changes in the Software & Venture Capital Industries, by Mark Suster, general partner with GRP Partners 7. Slideshow: Who Are Zynga’s Biggest Shareholders?, by Lawrence Aragon 8. Slideshow: 10 Largest Pending Q2 LBOs, by Bernard Vaughan 9. Here Comes the Deal That Will Save Kleiner Perkins’ Bacon, by Connie Loizos 10. Slideshow: Accel-erating Returns at the Top-Tier VC, by Jonathan Marino (subscribers only)
1 min read · 01 July 2011
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool. When we heard Larry Summers was jumping into the VC game, we just assumed Kleiner Perkins was adding another celebrity to its roster. But it turned out that newbie venture firm Andreessen Horowitz brought on the former U.S. Treasury Secretary as a “part-time special advisor.” We’re still trying to figure out what a part-time special advisor does, but the more pressing question we have is whether big shots like Summers do anything for a venture firm other than get it mentioned in the press. Before we start calling these firms to ask our annoying questions, we’d like to know what you, dear reader, have to say. For example, do you think that U2 lead singer Bono has added value to Elevation Partners, the technology-focused PE firm he co-founded in 2005? It’s not clear to us what Elevation has gotten out of the relationship – besides the fact that Elevation co-founder Roger McNamee’s band, Moonalice, got to open for U2 in Oakland, Calif., earlier this month. We’re also curious about how Kleiner Perkins has benefitted from its alliances with
2 min read · 30 June 2011
Catch up on what your colleagues found most interesting on peHUB this week. Posts that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from June 13 to June 17 focused on reader opinions about expanding the 500-shareholder rule; the biggest winners in Pandora's IPO; IRRs for Austin Ventures and Morgenthaler provided by UTIMCO; PE pros that have bought into pro sports teams; Searchlight's new media fund; and more. 1. Slideshow: Top 10 Winners in Pandora’s IPO, by Lawrence Aragon 2. Slideshow: IRRs for Eight Morgenthaler Funds, Courtesy of UTIMCO, by Mark Boslet 3. Slideshow: Who Makes The Most Money Of All?, by David Toll (Subscribers only) 4. Slideshow: VCs and PE Execs Who’ve Made the Leap into Pro Sports, by Jonathan Marino 5. Slideshow: UTIMCO Holds 7 Austin Ventures Funds, 4 of Which Have Negative IRRs, by Mark Boslet 6. Winklevoss Twins Still Pursuing Facebook Founder, by Jonathan Stempel, Reuters 7. Searchlight Reaches $800M On Debut Media Fund, by Gregory Roth 8. TALK BACK: What to Do with the 500 Shareholder Rule, by Jonathan Marino 9. Middle Market M&A Dominates First Five Months, Strategic Most Active Buyers, by Luisa Beltran 10. Reinventing The Board Meeting, by Brad Feld, Foundry Group (Subscribers only)
1 min read · 18 June 2011
Catch up on what your colleagues found most interesting on peHUB this week. Posts that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from June 6 to June 10 focused on compensation data; venture returns at UTIMCO; most active PE buyers for Q2; Austin Ventures decision to hire a chief compliance officer; Gridiron Partners holding a first close; outrage over Lynn Tilton's plans to take one of her companies into bankruptcy; and more. 1. Slideshow: Who Makes The Most Money Of All?, by David Toll 2. Slideshow: UTIMCO’s Top 5 Venture Capital Investments, by Mark Boslet (subscribers only) 3. Slideshow: Q2’s Most Active Buyers, by Bernard Vaughan (subscribers only) 4. Excerpt: Sub Debt Coming in More Flavors, by Steve Bills 5. TPG Capital Is Planning $1B BDC, by Steve Bills 6. Why Did Austin Ventures Hire A Chief Compliance Officer?, by David Toll 7. Job Moves: Kleiner Lures Huang from Vivo, CalPERS Gets Real, Founders Fund CFO Moves On, More, by Joanna Glasner (subscribers only) 8. Lynn Tilton Blasted for Bankruptcy Conflicts, by Tom Hals, Reuters 9. Conn. Firm With Ties To Pro Sports Holds $147M First Close: Source, by Bernard Vaughan 10. Cerberus’ Feinberg Foresees Smaller Funds, by Megan Davies, Reuters
1 min read · 11 June 2011
Catch up on what your colleagues found most interesting on peHUB this week. Posts that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from May 30 to June 3 focused on venture returns at UTIMCO; insiders who cashed out before Groupon's IPO; Level Equity raising its first fund; Sequoia Capital backing a chain of grilled cheese shops; and more. 1. Slideshow: UTIMCO’s Top 5 Venture Capital Investments, by Mark Boslet 2. Slideshow: Top 10 Winners in pre-IPO Cash-Out at Groupon, by Lawrence Aragon 3. Backers of Biggest Groupon Round Not Among Top Shareholders, by Joanna Glasner 4. Former Insight GPs Raise $120M for New Firm, Level Equity, by Lawrence Aragon 5. Job Moves: Vivo Promotes Two, TA Goes to Hong Kong, Obama Appointee Joins Venrock, More, by Joanna Glasner 6. Sequoia Flips Over Kaplan’s Grilled Cheese, by Sarah McBride, Reuters 7. Fundless Sponsor Sponsor Plots Fund IV, by Bernard Vaughan 8. It’s Baaack: Wine.com Shopping for $10M to $15M — Exclusive, by Connie Loizos 9. So, Um, What’s Up with DLA Piper?, by Connie Loizos 10. Another Argument For Back-ended Carry Distributions?, by David Toll
1 min read · 03 June 2011
