Fast Chat with Venture Capitalist Faysal Sohail
Earlier this afternoon, I had the chance to chat with Faysal Sohail, a managing director of CMEA Capital in San Francisco, which invests in technology, life sciences and energy and materials companies. We talked about CMEA's decision not to keep funding Alien Technology (roughly $300 million raised), why the industry is about to see more “pre-baked” deals (portfolio companies selling at prearranged prices to strategic investors), and whether it’s too late to make nice with the government if you’re still hoping for some of those stimulus dollars. An edited transcript of that conversation follows: You’ve said that in the next few years, you think that the 550 venture capital firms actively investing will drop to 300 or so. That could be pretty drastic. Do you see a downside to the shakeout? I don’t. There’ve been too many companies in the same exact areas getting funding in recent years. I think the shakeout will force entrepreneurs to come up with bigger ideas -- sectors that haven’t been tapped. If an idea has been funded, they’ll find something else. Innovation won’t slow down.
