Fostering ties for venture capitalists
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People who sign in to the newest social network won't be looking for dates or posting a list of their favorite movies. They will be searching for companies to invest in and listing their interests in areas like clean energy or enterprise software.
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Venture capital firms raised $5.54 billion in the third quarter, a 78 percent spike in fund-raising over the second quarter. That huge increase is already stirring worries
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How to minimize risk while hanging onto the potential reward in small-cap investing.
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U.S.-based venture capital investments reached their highest point last year since 2001 with software remaining the strongest category, according to The MoneyTree Report, released this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).VC firms sunk some $29.4 billion into 3,813 U.S. deals in 2007, according to the report.Software-related VC funding once again received the most money with $5.3 billion, compared to $5.1 billion in 2006, according to the report, which used data from Thomson Financial.VC spending on other technology categories also rose. Funding for computer- and peripheral-based interests was $580 million, up from $497 million in 2006; IT services, $1.3 billion, compared to $1.1 billion in 2006; networking and equipment, $1.25 billion, compared to $1.1 billion the previous year.However, semiconductor VC investment fell to $1.85 billion, from $2.14 billion in 2006. Telecommunication also saw a slowdown, falling to $2.14 billion, compared to $2.6 billion in 2006.While the VC market has hardly bounced back from its boom year -- 2000, when spending stood at $105 billion according to NVCA -- it has slowly crawled back to life. A low point came in 2003, when VC investments were a mere $19.7 billion, NVCA data shows.Major software vendors employ varying strategies toward the VC market. While some companies, notably Sun, infuse cash into startup companies through funds of their own, others, such as IBM, take a different tack, working with VC firms to analyze their portfolios and spot companies that could be potential future partners.&quot;We&#39;re not in the venture investment business,&quot; said Claudia Fan Munce, managing director of IBM&#39;s venture capital group and vice president of corporate strategy.&quot;The due diligence process today is much, much heavier,&quot; Munce remarked of the current climate. But as the report&#39;s numbers indicate, venture investing is far from dead. &quot;They&#39;re coming back in a very different way. They&#39;re not just looking at Silicon Valley,&quot; Munce said.According to the study released this week, U.S.-based VCs invested $1.1 billion in India and $1.4 billion in China, record highs for U.S. investments in those nations (The numbers are not included in the study&#39;s aggregate totals, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.).
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Venture capital investments in U.S. startups climb to a six-year high of $29.4 billion in 2007, raising hope that ample money will still be available to back promising new ideas even if the staggering economy falls into a recession.
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Venture capital and private equity firms enjoyed a particularly strong third quarter when it came to raising money from institutional investors.
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Swarming to the next new thing Over the past four years, venture capitalists have tossed huge amounts of cash at "green-tech" startups. The green, er, field has become saturated with speculative funding, rivaling even the two mainstays of Valley vulture capitalists: IT and life sciences.â¦
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A small group of mostly young entrepreneurs seem determined to turn their back on venture capitalists.
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Is the market for initial public offerings open or closed? Few questions loom larger for venture capital firms, which risk money on entrepreneurial companies and look for ''liquidity events&quot; that will help them recoup their investments. But more than at any other time in the recent past, the answer may depend on your vantage point.
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By Dean Takahashi, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  May 31--Attention Silicon Valley philanthropists: Here's a worthy cause for you.
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By Gary Williams Brigham Young University  Many entrepreneurs hear the word "networking" and assume that this is what you do when you need a job. I know several individuals who cringe at the thought of having to "push" themselves on others in order to search for a new position.
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Venture capitalists like me invest in early-stage small businesses. We help entrepreneurs build them into big businesses. I identify with entrepreneurs because I've been in their shoes &#150; I know what it's like to start a company. Over the years, I've been involved with other businesses that, like Staples, kind of changed their industries. For example, I've been on the ...
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Venture capitalists are lavishing money on the fashionable Linux supercomputing concept--but smaller firms face much larger rivals.
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The annual Demo conference, where startups vie for the attention of VCs and established technology firms with fat wallets and a yen to buy something, is once again a reflection of what's hot in the high-tech industry.
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Venture capitalists curtailed their investments in the third quarter, suggesting the financiers who bankrolled the dot-com boom are taking a more sober approach to the revived interest in high-tech startups.
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Some venture capitalists, who've seen improving conditions in recent years for taking companies public and cashing out investments, are worried the turbulence that has roiled financial markets this summer could spill over into their investment niche.
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Private equity firms have demonstrated strength in numbers by teaming up to make significant acquisitions, and as some firms keep expanding, investors say the trend toward "club" deals will help them snag assets that once were out of their grasp.