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2.7 VCs Optimistic While Numbers Collapsing [Roundup]
TheFunded.com News
Posted by Admin on 2009-07-14
TheFunded.com is testing out a new service to highlight relevant news on the venture capital industry from across the Internet to help entrepreneurs understand the investor mindset.
VC Optimism Growing: Venture capitalists see the crisis abating and innovation continuing in Q2 '09, according to a quarterly study by Mark V. Cannice, Ph.D., at the University of San Francisco.
Amid Anemic VC Resources: Just 25 funds raised capital in Q2 '09, the lowest number since 1996. The $1.7 Billion committed to these funds was the lowest amount since 2003. These data points are courtesy of the NVCA.
-- "The current funding drought exacerbates troubles for the valley's startup economy. Without that money, seed funding to launch new companies will be harder to come by, and existing companies will have more difficulty securing "later-stage" funding to build their businesses." - Mercury News
-- "Many venture capitalists may be waiting until 2010 or beyond to reach out to investors, the association added." - Reuters
-- “There will be firms that will not be able to raise a follow-on fund and our industry is positioned to contract over the next five years through this type of attrition” - SF Business Times
-- "For startups with proven traction there is still money out there. For instance, Pandora just raised a massive $35 million round last week and we tracked $6.4 billion in venture money going into companies last quarter, a 25 percent drop from the year before but still a healthy rate of investment." - TechCrunch
Yet One VC Envisions Change: Dixon Doll tells The Deal that growth will return to venture fundraising: "We are going through a period of contraction right now, but based on my years of experience in the industry, I don't expect this current trend to become a permanent phenomenon. Venture capital has grown with the U.S. economy, and I think it will continue to do so."
With Some IPO Excitement Returning: The Wall Street Journal Blogs reports on bankers being "smitten" with small IPOs, after six venture backed IPOs have occurred in 2009.
But, It's Hard to be an LP: Roger Conrad published a concise overview of what is like to be a limited partner in a venture fund, in case you were wondering.
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