Venture-Backed IPOs Mostly Under Water
The NVCA and many VCs have complained for years about the IPO market. This year, when just seven venture-backed issuers have gone out, there's plenty of reason to feel disillusioned. But even in 2006, the best year for venture-backed IPOs since the bubble's burst, complaints were commonplace: the IPO market is hamstrung because of regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, growing international competition for stock listings has made it tougher to pull off IPOs in the United States, etc., etc. Those claims are disputable. Less disputable is that VCs haven't been helping to create the Apples, the Googles -- companies with game-changing market capitalizations -- they once did. The numbers tell the story: of the most recent 100 venture-backed IPOs, a full 70 percent of them are under water, and 10 of them are trading 70 percent below their offering prices. That's not good for VCs, or anyone else. The full spreadsheet of issuers, IPO dates and where their stocks stood as of the end of yesterday, are right here. Take a look, and let us know what your take is.
