Dylan’s Desk: What it takes to compete with Silicon Valley
You don’t have to live in Palo Alto to become a software billionaire, though it can help.
For decades, people with ideas, programming talent, and the ambition to make their fortune as entrepreneurs have been moving to Silicon Valley, just as Mark Zuckerberg did shortly after founding Facebook.
But now an increasing number of them are staying at home.
Take, for example, Andrew Mason, the founder of Groupon, who started the company in Chicago in … Continue Reading
Venture capitalists favor Silicon Valley, but Silicon Alley is rising fast
Despite a still sluggish economy, venture capital firms poured a total of $28.4 billion into 3,673 deals last year—one of the highest levels of dollar investments of the decade—with the majority of deals going into the software and biotechnology industries.
The annual figures represent an increase of 22 percent in dollar terms and a 4 percent increase in the number of deals compared with the 2010 figures, according to The MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and … Continue Reading
New York’s Zelkova Ventures tries an evergreen approach to funding startups
Investing in startups is a funny business. Sometimes venture capitalists find themselves with a company that is growing and profitable. But if there is no opportunity for an IPO or acquisition by a bigger competitor, there may not be an exit on the table that allows the VCs to get a return on the money they invested which satisfies the backers who support their fund.
“It’s a broken system in some ways,” says Jay Levy, … Continue Reading
Guess which Silicon Valley powerhouse is raising $1.5 billion?
Venture capital megafirm Andreessen-Horowitz is likely in the process of doing some fundraising.
Sources say the firm could be looking for up to $1.5 billion — an amount that would almost double the amount of current funds it has under management. Currently, the firm holds three funds totally $1.75 billion.
Two anonymous sources told the New York Times the funding from this alleged new raise would be divided into a $900 million fund and a … Continue Reading
VCs show healthy appetite for peer-to-peer companies (analysis)
Venture capital firm investment in peer-to-peer technology continues to build strength, according to a recent VentureTrends report by VentureDeal.
While the term “peer-to-peer” first hit the scene during the first dot-com boom and was associated with file-sharing sites like Napster and Kazaa, today’s peer-to-peer companies focus on making connections between individuals for a wide variety of purposes: Selling goods, finding a place to stay, exchanging advice or lending money. It’s part of a multi-industry trend … Continue Reading
VC investment rose 10% in 2011, & web companies grabbed the lion’s share
While the overall economy in 2011 was still on shaky ground, VCs continued to “make it rain” on startups in need of institutional funding.
According to data from Dow Jones, overall investment in newer companies showed a 10 percent year-over-year hike. For Internet companies, though, the increase was closer to 23 percent between 2010 and 2011.
VC investments in web and mobile companies (classified by Dow Jones as the consumer information services sector) added up … Continue Reading
Flagship raises $270M for green & health technologies
Flagship Ventures, a VC firm focusing on technologies for healthcare and sustainability, has closed its 2011 fundraising efforts with $270 million in the bank.
The new Flagship Ventures Fund IV L.P. was set at $250 million, but investors exceeded that amount. Investors included all types of organizations from foundations to corporations to individuals, including a few new limited partners that had not contributed to previous funds.
Flagship’s portfolio companies seem to be tackling big, human-scale … Continue Reading
Dow Jones said VCs had a “lackluster” 2011, recession still in effect
Don’t let the good times roll just yet, Silicon Valley: Analysts at Dow Jones are saying the effects of the 2008 economic crash still haven’t worn off for venture capitalists.
While U.S. VC funds finished the year with a strong fourth quarter of fundraising, funds raised by VCs during 2011 came in at barely more than half of the 2008 total.
“The industry has not yet bounced back from the recession,” said a Dow Jones … Continue Reading
DeanBeat: Game companies raised a record-breaking $1.54B in 2011
Game fundings destroyed the record book for fundings this year as 145 companies raised more than $1.540 billion in 2011, not counting initial public offerings.
In 2011, games took center stage. Game investment changed fundamentally during the year, as investors shifted their money into social, mobile and online games as they chased after users who were embracing the newest platforms for games.
The total game investment number is up more than 47 percent from the … Continue Reading
Must-read for startups: 6 tips for raising capital in 2012
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
This famous introduction by Charles Dickens sums up what entrepreneurs seeking startup capital are facing in 2012.
On the one hand, banks still aren’t lending. And with the debt crisis looming over Europe and political uncertainty here in the U.S., there’s an increased perception of risk for early-stage investors.
However, record low interest rates, stagnant public stock markets and real estate, and weakening … Continue Reading
Rainn Wilson calls on Silicon Valley to give back this holiday season (video)
There are a few ways to give back to your community. Have a bake sale, donate clothes to the Goodwill, or call up your good buddy Rainn Wilson and throw a party in Palo Alto for charity.
That’s exactly what Payam Zamani, chief executive officer of Reply.com, did to raise awareness for an organization close to his heart: the Mona Foundation, which is focused on improving education around the world, particularly for women.
“He’s one … Continue Reading
Venture capitalists focus on later stages, but Silicon Valley still rules
Venture capital funding hasn’t hit the peaks it saw in early 2000, but it’s still going strong — particularly in Silicon Valley and for software companies.
Our analysis of venture funding from a variety of data sources revealed some interesting facts about last quarter’s deal flow.
Last quarter, venture capital firms invested $6.95 billion into 876 deals, averaging $7.9 million per deal, with the vast majority of funding funneling out of Silicon Valley in the … Continue Reading
LivingSocial closes $176 million round. How far off is an IPO?
Daily deals site LivingSocial has closed a monster $176 million round of financing, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. VentureBeat has learned that the $176 million is the first tranche of $400 million the company hopes to raise over the next weeks and months to finance continued operations and expansion.
We reported in mid-November that the company was looking to raise $200 million at a $5 billion valuation. Investment bank … Continue Reading
For venture investing, will 2012 look more like 2008 than 2011? (poll)
Will 2012 be a continuation of the good, bubble-like times for the venture capital industry and startups that are raising money? Or will we see a dramatic, economic-doldrums-induced slowdown like we did at the end of 2008?
Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch has raised these interesting questions in a post that recalls the R.I.P. Good Times slide deck that Sequoia Capital produced in 2008 as it was predicting disastrous times for startups and advising those startups … Continue Reading
The color of money: Survey sheds light on racial makeup of VC industry
The professional venture capital community is more diverse than ever, but employment is still largely dominated by white men, according to the results of a joint census conducted by the National Venture Capital Association and Dow Jones VentureSource, which was released today.
The greatest ethnic diversity in the venture capital industry is among those who have less than five years’ experience.
“As the venture capital industry continues to contract and the number of professionals declines … Continue Reading
Cloud technologies are a huge, untapped market, says Trinity Ventures’ Dan Scholnick (video)
Dan Scholnick is a general partner at Trinity Ventures. In this conversation with VentureBeat editor-in-chief and founder Matt Marshall, he discusses the future and potential of cloud technologies.
Scholnick will also be speaking at CloudBeat 2011, VentureBeat’s upcoming enterprise cloud conference, so you can catch him there for more perspective. He’ll be moderating a case study session with Thomas Kelly, Enterprise Architect for Cloud Services at Best Buy.
For Scholnick, “cloud” is a vague term, … Continue Reading
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is raising a new $6B fund for Asian investments
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a private equity fund, is looking to raise $6 billion to establish a new pool for Asian startups.
Reuters reports that the new funding will be raised during the beginning of 2012 and that the firm had originally planned to raise $4 billion but will now be aiming as high as $6 billion.
Already, KKR represents the largest Asian-focused fund from a private equity firm. The firm maintains a $4 billion … Continue Reading
Vroom! eBike maker Brammo raises $28 million
Electric motorcycle maker Brammo has raised $28 million in a new funding round led by Polaris Industries, the company announced today.
The money will help Brammo solidify its position in the market against electric bike rivals such as Zero Motorcylces, and to reach new customers. Brammo also produces and distributes the Brammo Digital Drivetrain, and the Brammo Power battery back, which can be used by manufacturers in their vehicles.
“We are excited to add … Continue Reading
Flailing daily deals site says it’s a victim of shrinking capital markets
Yesterday’s massive layoffs at daily deals site BuyWithMe were the result of shrinking capital markets, the company’s chief operating officer said today.
The announcement that BuyWithMe, the No. 3 daily deals site on the Web, was cutting significantly more than half its staff followed an unsuccessful attempt to raise capital at a $500 million valuation.
BuyWithMe Chief Operating Officer David Wolfe said in an email that the company was the victim of an increasingly-hostile investment … Continue Reading
Venture Capital deals drop across the board, clean tech hit
Venture Capital deals in the third quarter of 2011 dropped 12 percent in dollars invested compared to last quarter. Clean technology and life sciences industries were particularly hard hit, according to a report released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.
“Public policy challenges in the life sciences and clean technology sectors are impacting investment levels this quarter as is the IPO market that basically came to a screeching halt in August,” explained … Continue Reading
