recently rated:

Rated by 6

2.3 2.5 2.7 2.5 2.4

2.5

Merus

 

$$$$$ US West

top rated funds:

Rated by 24

3.5 2.7 2.7 3.8 3.1

3.1

The Founders Fund

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 10

3.1 3.2 3.1 3.1 3.1

3.1

Bain Capital Ventures

 

$$$$$ Boston, US East

Rated by 41

4.0 3.0 2.8 2.4 3.0

3.1

Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 16

2.8 3.2 2.7 3.7 3.2

3.1

Milestone Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ New York, US East

Rated by 34

4.0 3.2 2.8 2.7 3.0

3.1

Greylock Partners

Certified

$$$$$ San Mateo, US West

Rated by 11

3.3 3.3 3.4 2.6 2.2

3.0

Balderton (Benchmark EU)

 

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 40

3.1 2.9 2.8 2.9 3.1

3.0

Spark Capital

 

$$$$$ Boston, US East

Rated by 24

3.2 3.2 3.1 2.6 3.0

3.0

Union Square Ventures

 

$$$$$ New York, US East

Rated by 22

2.3 3.1 2.9 3.3 3.5

3.0

Voyager Capital

Certified

$$$$$ Seattle, US West

Rated by 23

3.4 3.3 3.2 2.8 2.6

3.0

Morgenthaler Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 12

2.9 2.6 3.8 3.0 3.0

3.0

Kepha Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Waltham, US East

Rated by 18

3.3 2.6 3.0 3.3 2.8

3.0

Sutter Hill Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 11

3.0 3.0 3.2 2.6 2.8

2.9

SoftTech VC

 

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 13

3.0 2.5 3.3 2.9 2.9

2.9

BV Capital

 

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 40

3.7 2.9 2.7 2.9 2.5

2.9

Accel Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 14

2.8 3.2 2.9 2.6 2.7

2.9

Eden Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Bath, Europe

Rated by 20

2.9 3.2 3.0 2.2 3.1

2.9

Khosla Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 30

2.9 2.9 2.6 2.9 3.1

2.9

BlueRun Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 18

3.2 2.6 2.6 2.6 3.0

2.8

Azure Capital Partners

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 19

2.9 2.9 2.8 2.6 2.8

2.8

Gemini Israel Funds

Certified

$$$$$ Herzliya, ME / Africa

Rated by 10

3.2 2.9 2.5 2.4 3.1

2.8

Sequoia Capital India

 

$$$$$ Bangalore, Asia / Pacific

Rated by 10

2.8 2.7 2.7 2.5 3.1

2.8

Brook Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Wakefield, US East

Rated by 11

2.6 2.8 2.9 3.0 2.9

2.8

Genesis Partners

 

$$$$$ Herzliya, ME / Africa

Rated by 36

3.1 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.9

2.8

Battery Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 10

2.0 2.5 3.6 2.6 2.8

2.7

Southern Capitol Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Raleigh, US East

Rated by 12

2.9 2.9 2.9 2.4 2.4

2.7

Fairhaven Capital

 

$$$$$ Cambridge, US East

Rated by 19

2.3 2.6 3.4 2.4 2.7

2.7

Storm Ventures, Inc.

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 13

2.9 2.7 3.0 1.9 2.9

2.7

Pond Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Richmond, Surrey, Europe

Rated by 20

3.6 2.3 2.5 2.5 2.8

2.7

Matrix Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US East

Rated by 32

3.0 2.6 3.0 2.6 2.3

2.7

Canaan Partners

 

$$$$$ Westport, US East

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Smaller midwestern VC based in Minnesota. Prefer to share deals with other VCs. Seemed to be mostly healthcare-focused with limited expansion in other areas.

We interacted mostly with Matt Blodgett and Cali Tran over at North Bridge. It was our first time raising money and both of these guys were honest and straightforward with us. They were on time for meetings, fulfilled their commitments, and always friendly. They also made several useful business development intros.

Though we ultimately didn't do a deal together, I would call Matt and Cali again and recommend them to other entrepreneurs. Good guys.

CalCEF is green both in focus and experience, but we've had a good experience with them. Sue Preston has gone to bat for us founders on a number of occasions, which we respect. They syndicate their deals and are friendly enough with other firms that we had a syndicate partner very quickly.
On balance, we like CalCEF. Great people, never missed a mtg (sometimes late), interesting LPs, and we feel that they genuinely want to be successful and aren't looking to pull the rug out from under our feet.

We had an introduction by another VC. Intersouth received our information, asked a lot of questions and within two weeks made a major investment in a competitor. They were under no obligation to us but it sure felt like we were taken advantage of.

NVF was a referral by another VC. They were tough on the diligence but once they became believers in the team and our data, NVF have become very important to our firm. Both Campbell and Reinhard have gone to bat for us a number of times. I cannot offer a more favorable review of this firm.

The San Jose Mercury News reported recently on the grim numbers released by the National Venture Capital Association on returns on venture capital investments. 10-year returns turned negative toward the end of 2009 and are even worse in the first quarter of 2010. The 10-year return is a significant benchmark of performance in the venture capital industry. It is reported that the NVCA numbers show “venture capital funds returned 25.8 percent over 10 years for the quarter ending March 2009” and “for the quarter ending March 2010, that return had fallen to minus 3.9 percent.”

Furthermore, these numbers indicate a more serious problem in the venture capital financial model. The venture capital model is built on a minimum number of portfolio companies holding IPOs to make up for other portfolio companies which fail. With less and less companies going public, it is closer to impossible for venture firms to meet their required returns for investors and sustain their current business model. This translates into a shift in Silicon Valley and ultimately affecting job creation and the overall economy.

The article points to an end of the vneture capital industry. Is it really an end or just a realignment? And are IPOs headed for a come back or will smaller M&As proliferate in the years to come? Article found can be found here.

As a three time entrepreneur and someone who has raised a fair amount of capital, I have become slightly jaded when it comes to VC's who pitch themselves as "really rolling up their sleeves and helping their portfolio companies. I typically take it as part of the value added portion of why one funds money is better than another.

The same was true when we were raising our last round of capital and started talking to OpenView. They were pitching us on their difference from traditional VC's because of their operating experience and OpenView Labs. Ultimately we decided to move forward with OpenView and I have been simply amazed at how they actually walk the walk.

George Roberts is the partner on the board and Scott Maxwell participates frequently with our company. The value that these two have added along with Labs, has been really amazing. These guys genuinely believe that through operational excellence their portfolio companies will ALL win. They don't believe that Venture has to be a home run business, they firmly believe that all of their portfolio companies will be winners, and if they treat all of them like they have treated Balihoo, then they just might be right.

Blumberg is an excellent early-stage VC. They have a highly engaged, small team that is very committed to the success of its portfolio companies.

I have had the pleasure of working directly with Bruce, who is routinely cranking out 14+ hour days (unusual for any stage of venture) and available at all times to help. He goes out of his way to work with us across any area in which we need resources or connections, and was instrumental in putting together our most recent seed round, including facilitating introductions and closing the loop with the majority of the other capital that came in alongside them.

Overall, Bruce and David have a strong reputation with angel and larger venture investors as hard-working, passionate early team members who will roll up their sleeves and work with founders to tackle the hard problems that are guaranteed to arise with seed-stage companies. They are quick to make bets before product-market fit if they believe in the market and team, and have a straightforward and fast diligence process (we closed in four weeks from first meeting). Their counsel is easy to work with.

Prior to choosing to work with Blumberg, I called five of their later-stage portfolio CEOs at random without warning. All gave glowing reviews and indicated strong support from Blumberg when they raised later rounds.

Had a nice pitch meeting with Chris and Anth in their new London office. Nice guys and good atmosphere. Took time to get a good look at the product and we chatted about some general market directions as well. They had a very hands-on approach on funding terms.

I would highly recommend to talk to Atomico if you get invited.

Found Across The Web:
Characteristics Of A Winning Team [Founder Insight]
Jeff Bussgang touches on the importance of teams when VCs invest. Of note, after rigorous analysis, “the single most highly correlated factor” amongst winning teams was “if the team had previously been successful and made money as a team, they were significantly more likely to be able to do it again.” - Jeff Bussgang

Politics In Your Company [Founder Insight]
Ben Horowitz writes a detailed piece on how politics, the way “people advance their careers or agendas by means other than merit and contribution,” can affect the work place. Horowitz further delves into techniques to minimize politics with three lessons: “Hire people with the right kind of ambition, Build strict processes for potentially political issues and do not deviate, and Be careful with ‘he said, she said.’” - Ben Horowitz

Q3 Venture Capital Numbers [Founder Insight]
peHUB briefly reported on Q3 investment numbers by venture capitalists. Q3 of 2010 lists venture capitalists investing $2.44 billion compared with venture capitalists investing $2.56 billion in the same quarter of 2009. The dollar value may be comparable, but the number of companies invested in Q3 2010 was only 263 compared with 365 companies in Q3 2009. - peHUB

Great Discussions on TheFunded:
Debt Financing To Launch A Startup - If deciding between venture funding and debt financing, this discussion offers many caveats to consider when taking upon debt financing. Though it is not uncommon for a startup to structure their first round of investment as a convertible note, the responsibilities and terms are quite different from venture investments.

Major Events:
BizTechDay
Date/Location: Sep. 28th – Seattle / Sep. 24th – New York / Oct. 23rd – San Francisco
Description: BizTechDay is a event where inspiring entrepreneurs share impactful business idea sand technology strategies. It is where you will meet someone who will change your business.

Founder Showcase - 50% Off Pre-Sale Tickets
Date/Location: October 21, 2010 – Mountain View, CA
Description: See pioneering "super angel" Mike Maples Jr., and pitches from 10 promising start-ups at the 5th Founder Showcase - Silicon Valley's premier startup pitch and networking event. Use code 'showme' to get 50% off tickets before 8/29.

FailCon 2010
Date/Location: October 25, 2010 – San Francisco, CA
Description: At FailCon, join over 400 founders, investors, executives, developers, service provides, and press as we share tips and tools to avoid, prepare for, and recover from the most common startup mistakes. Get 10% off with the code '10Founders'

Any information on these guys at MBVC?