Kleiner Perkins related stories
All articles and analysis
Moritz Revisits the Little KingdomPEOPLE PAGE: Sequoia’s Mike Moritz hits bookstores this month with a tome about Apple, Shriram is top VC on Forbes 400, Trailblazer Capital embraces Legos, Perkins takes to the sky
More Federal Money For AltaRockAltaRock received another $26.5 million in grants from the Department of Energy today for two new geothermal drilling projects -- despite claims /49145/clean-tech-woes-altarock-suspends-drilling/ that its drilling project in the California Geysers could cause earthquakes. The New York Times ran a story in June comparing Altarock's California project to a 2006 project in Basel, Switzerland, where an earthquake damaged buildings and frightened residents with a loud roaring noise. Aftershocks followed for several months. AltaRock -- which has raised over $30 million from Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, GreatPoint Ventures, Google.org and others to provide clean energy by extracting heat from rocks -- wasn't behind the Basel project and disputed the Times' claims. But the story prompted a review by the Department of Energy and the Bureau of Land Management, which said that although AltaRock could keep drilling, it couldn't fracture any rock in California until the agencies decided it was safe.
- peHUB First Read
* Goodbye Mumbai: Private equity and hedge funds rush out of India http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/28002320/Changed-Indian-landscape-force.html * The world's 50 most valuable Internet startups http://www.businessinsider.com/sai-50-2009 * Silicon Valley VC confidence stays steady in Q3, according to a study by the University of San Francisco (.pdf) https://admin.venturecapitaljournal.com/wp-content/uploads//us_vc_index_2009_q3.pdf Unfortunately, that's a big like saying the Washington Redskins' performance has stayed steady. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher http://www.reuters.com/article/usMktRpt/idUSLT25074220091029 London falls early http://www.reuters.com/article/londonMktRpt/idUSLT19821820091029 European shares rebound http://www.reuters.com/article/eurMktRpt/idUSLT23099920091029 the Nikkei hits 3-week closing low http://www.reuters.com/article/tokyoMktRpt/idUST35759720091029 and down markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai http://www.reuters.com/article/hongkongMktRpt/idUSHKG32849920091029 * Blackstone Group's Tony James https://admin.venturecapitaljournal.com/54026/blackstone-coo-sees-capital-shift-away-from-the-us/ : “I think we’re on a verge of a shift, which will be gradual — not overnight or two years from now — where the big capital pools shift away from America, to Asia, the Middle East, Australia and even Latin America.” * Nate Anderson: After net neutrality, will we need Google neutrality? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/after-net-neutrality-will-we-need-google-neutrality.ars * Josh Kopelman http://redeye.firstround.com/2009/10/vc-back-to-the-future.html : "The initial funds of Accel, Kleiner Perkins, CRV, Mayfield, Venrock, Greylock, NEA, TA & Sequoia combined were under $125M." If you adjust for inflation, their average fund size was still just $55 million.
- peHUB First Read
* Jeffrey Katz http://www.thedeal.com/newsweekly/community/the-earnout-fallout.php : The recent increase in earnout provisions will likely result in numerous post-acquisition disputes. * The House of Reps add new exemptions http://blogs.wsj.com/privateequity/2009/10/27/sec-registration-bill-advances-but-with-more-exemptions/ (i.s. tomorrow's loopholes) to their investment fund registration bill, including one for funds with $150 million or less in committed capital. * BusinessWeek asks "Who Will Be the Green VC Giant?" http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_44/b4153054900653.htm Unfortunately, the mag apparently is stuck in a past decade, believing that only Kleiner Perkins and Vinod Khosla are viable contenders for the crown. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower http://www.reuters.com/article/usMktRpt/idUSN2828910020091028 London falls early http://www.reuters.com/article/londonMktRpt/idUSLS17984520091028 European shares hit 3-week low http://www.reuters.com/article/eurMktRpt/idUSLS5645920091028 the Nikkei gets dragged down by tech http://www.reuters.com/article/tokyoMktRpt/idUST29191720091028 and Shanghai edges higher http://www.reuters.com/article/hongkongMktRpt/idUSHKG28517020091028 * For Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, failure is an option http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/27/for-silicon-valley-entrepreneurs-failure-is-an-option/ * Bleeding Biotech: Must Congress do more to encourage biotech investment? http://american.com/archive/2009/october/bleeding-biotech * Remember when John Reed helped kill Glass-Steagall? Well, now he wants it reanimated http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/opinion/l23volcker.html?_r=1 * Tweet of the Day, from @george_chen http://twitter.com/george_chen : "I spent 1 year in Beijing to lobby officials for IPO. I had 3 daily tasks: Eat, drink and something else you can guess," says a dealmaker.
- Week in deals, Oct. 19, 2009
Summary of North American tech companies and other startups that raised venture financing in the past week
- KP backs iPhone app developer
UK-based Shazam raises undisclosed amount of capital from KP and others
- Kleiner Perkins Backs Shazam Entertainment
Shazam Entertainment Ltd., a London, UK-based developer of music recognition technology, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series D funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. It previously raised over $18 million from firms like DN Capital, Acacia Capital and IDG Ventures Europe.
- peHUB First Read
* Andrew Lo: When the wisdom of crowds becomes the madness of mobs http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/43be59a0-add5-11de-87e7-00144feabdc0.html * The fall of Simmons Bedding Co. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/economy/05simmons.html?_r=1&dbk under the ownership of THL Partners, which actually made back its initial investment (and then some) via a dividend recap several years ago. These dividend recaps are a tricky thing: One the one hand, they made money for PE fund limited partners (who are a PE firm's primary clients). On the other, they cannibalized the actual portfolio company -- thus reducing the likelihood of high multiple ROI and increasing the likelihood of layoffs, bankruptcy, etc. As Steve Schwarzman once said, they were about taking the risk out of what was supposed to be a "high-risk" asset class. The question now is if PE pros have been chastened by the aftermath? My sense is that they have not. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher http://www.reuters.com/article/usMktRpt/idUSL564832920091005 London flattens http://www.reuters.com/article/londonMktRpt/idUSL562754120091005 European shares rise on banks and miners http://www.reuters.com/article/eurMktRpt/idUSL565804620091005 the Nikkei hits 11-week closing low http://www.reuters.com/article/tokyoMktRpt/idUSTKW00660120091005 and Hong Kong rises 0.3% http://www.reuters.com/article/hongkongMktRpt/idUSHKG11309320091005 * Another private equity connection http://blogs.wsj.com/privateequity/2009/10/02/another-pe-connection-in-the-race-to-succeed-ted-kennedy/ in the race to suceed Ted Kennedy, and this one has nothing to do with Steve Pagliuca or Bain Capital. * Boston University and MIT stand to reap huge rewards from the IPO of battery-maker A123 http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/10/02/a123systems-ipo-could-bring-10m-plus-windfall-for-boston-university-sources-say-mit%E2%80%99s-stake-likely-not-too-shabby-either/ * John Thain does Q&A at Wharton http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2343 : "It's unfortunate that the American dream has been demonized." No mention of the obvious collorary: "It's unfortunate that so many on Wall Street were demons."
- Week in deals, Oct. 5, 2009
A summary of North American tech companies and other businesses that raised venture financing in the past week
- Venture Capital Is Not A Road To Riches
But you already knew that, didn't you? Only five people on Forbes' list of 400 Richest Americans this year are venture capitalists. If you don't count the ones that also made money elsewhere -- Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, and Carl Edwin Berg, who built a commercial real estate business with John Sobrato in Silicon Valley -- there are only three. John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins slid down this year's list -- his net worth dropped to $1 billion from $1.6 billion so he's number 346. Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures slid off -- last year he was worth $1.4 billion, but his net worth must have dropped to below $900 million, which is this year's bottom. (A lot of people lost money in the global financial crisis, but maybe Khosla's been investing his money in clean tech companies.) On the other hand, two venture capitalists made the list who didn't last year, maybe because the bottom is $400 million lower.