Private Equity
3 min read · 16 January 2009
1 min read · 14 January 2009
It’s been about a year since Jerry Newman left Bear Stearns, where he had been a senior managing director and head of venture capital coverage. Now we’ve learned that he’s reemerged as a co-founding partner of Next-Gen Ventures, a $20 million angel/seed fund focused on digital media and Web-based SaaS efforts. So far, the group has invested in Zogix, True Choice and FiltrBox (run by Jerry’s son, Ari). His partner if John Wander, the founder of GiantStep Angel Network and a former principal with Stonegate Partners. Other team members include associate Adam Gold, who previously was director of business development for a Denver-based energy drink company called Xelr8.
1 min read · 12 January 2009
Wedbush Morgan Securities has agreed to acquire the business assets of Pacific Growth Equities, a San Francisco-based I-bank and institutional brokerage focused on in emerging growth companies in the life science and technology sectors. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close next month.
3 min read · 12 January 2009
Balderton Capital has held a $430 million first close for its fourth European venture capital fund, which is targeting $500 million. This would be Balderton’s first fund since spinning out as an independent entity from Benchmark Capital.
2 min read · 12 January 2009
Aisling Capital has closed its third fund with $650 million in capital commitments. The New York-based venture firm focuses on the life sciences and healthcare sectors. It had raised $550 million for its second fund in 2005.
2 min read · 08 January 2009
Dow Jones has acquired the database assets of The Library House Ltd., a UK-based provider of data on emerging private companies in Europe. No financial terms were disclosed for the acquisition, which was made out of administration.
3 min read · 06 January 2009
GSR Ventures, a China-focused VC fund with offices in Beijing and Silicon Valley, has closed its third fund with $383 million in capital commitments. The firm also announced an investment in iLemon Group Inc., a Shanghai-based gaming company that creates 3D virtual worlds.
2 min read · 06 January 2009
Limited partners keep telling me how “unrealistic” it is for VCs to launch new firms this year, but that sure isn’t stopping the dreamers. Last month we broke news on the formation of ArrowPoint Ventures, and now there appears to be yet another Boston-area firm getting off the ground. This one is called Genovation Capital, a seed- and early-stage shop that is expected to begin formal fundraising later this quarter. It came together last summer, and includes three partners who previously worked together at television on-demand company Broadbus Inc. (bought by Motorola in 2006 for $189m in cash). They are: Jeff Binder, a Broadbus co-founder who later served as senior director of strategy and M&A for Motorola’s on-demand solutions group; Vin Bisceglia, chairman and CEO of Broadbus from 2004 to 2006; and Dave Fellows, a former Broadbus board member via his role at CTO of Comcast, and a onetime principal with Pilot House Ventures. I spoke with Binder and Bisceglia for nearly an hour this afternoon, and touched on just about every topic other than fundraising (apparently they’ve already retained counsel). My main questions, of course, were about how Genovation would
3 min read · 06 January 2009
Forget everything you’ve read about secondary prices, as it is “at worst stale, at best a fantasy,” according to a study released today by secondary intermediary Cogent Partners. (Download after the jump) The findings are disheartening for any hopeful investor with stakes in the market and very exciting for buyers of distressed LP stakes. The average high bid for buyout and VC secondary assets declined to 61% of NAV in the second half of 2008, compared with the first half, the study says. Notably, the drop marks the lowest level for secondary prices since 2003, since it’s on the heels of an 84.7% decline in the first half of 2008.
2 min read · 05 January 2009
