Private Equity
There's another angel group out there looking for early-stage IT entrepreneurs. This one is called Hacker Angels, and consists of Joshua Schachter (Delicious), Jeff Miller (Punchfork), Gabriel Weinberg (Duck Duck Go) and Roy Rodenstein (Going.com). I spent a few minutes on the phone with Rodenstein, to understand what they're planning: How do you define "hacker?" Well, a couple of us are from MIT, so we definitely define it in a positive sense. Specifically, it's entrepreneurs that can program and are taking the lead in developing the first prototype or whole product themselves... a lean startup model.
2 min read · 14 June 2010
Europe is trying to destroy the global private equity market. Actually, that's a bit hyperbolic. Let's go with this instead: European Union regulators are trying to destroy the global private equity market. At issue is the EU's Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers, which could effectively prevent European institutions and individuals from investing in non-European funds. No more raising fund capital from that Dutch pension system or that British corporation or that wealthy family in Germany. Buh and bye. You know all that talk about how the Volcker Role could kick U.S. banks out of the limited partner biz? Well, in terms of fundraising impact, Volcker is Lamar Odom and the EU is Kevin Garnett.
3 min read · 14 June 2010
Kaplan, an educational subsidiary of The Washington Post Co., has formed a venture capital unit. No capitalization details were disclosed.
2 min read · 09 June 2010
Jerusalem Venture Partners has raised $25 million for an annex to the Israel-focused firm's fourth fund, which originally closed in 2001.
2 min read · 08 June 2010
General Motors today announced that it is launching a venture capital fund focused on the automotive and transportation sectors, with an initial commitment of $100 million. It will be led by Jon Lauckner, who previously served as GM’s vice president for global product planning. I spent a few minutes on the phone with Lauckner, and learned the following: * The fund will have a fairly broad focus within the transportation framework. This means that it could invest in everything from batteries to biofuels to Bluetooth. * On that last point, Lauckner said: "The envelope of automotive technology is ever-epanding, particularly the area of what we call infotainment. More and more technology is making its way from home and business applications into cars, and drivers want to have that functionality."
1 min read · 04 June 2010
General Motors has formed General Motors Ventures, which will invest in technologies within the in the automotive and transportation sectors. It will be led by Jon Lauckner, who previously served as GM's vice president for global product planning.
2 min read · 04 June 2010
In Monday's email, I wrote the following: "Smaller VC funds are in vogue right now anyway, as seed-stage investors have become the new rock stars. Traditional VCs have become adult contemporary." The line was in reference to a larger argument about the potential consequences of changing carried interest tax treatment, but has generated a bit of independent discussion. It was used to introduce a panel at Angel Bootcamp earlier this week, was tweeted up by angels and has generated some VC teeth-nashing via email. So it seems to be worth unpacking a bit more:
3 min read · 03 June 2010
Greetings from the Investor Summit in Boston (precursor to Super Return), where HBS Professor Josh Lerner is about to give a talk about why venture capital isn't actually broken. Consider it the antidote to Paul Kedrosky. Or to conventional wisdom. I'll live-blog it below, and be sure to chime in with comments or questions (which I'll try to ask during Q&A): Josh Lerner -- VC Ain't Broke
1 min read · 02 June 2010
1 min read · 02 June 2010
2 min read · 28 May 2010
