venturecapital posts
FeedPosted Feb 8th 2010 10:30AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Private Equity

The federal government needs cash, and we all know it has to come from somewhere. As no politician has ever been criticized (at least not broadly) for going after the folks with the deepest pockets,
private equity industry needs to dig in for what could become a
fierce battle over new taxes.
The issue isn't new. For a while now, the feds have been kicking around new
taxes on private equity firms based on how profits are classified. Yet, this search for cash could have unintended consequences, as the definitions used could wind up taxing
venture capital funds and small partnerships, which could be the keys to an economic recovery. Critics argue that the tax may not bring in as much money as the government hopes.
Continue reading Private Equity Tax Could Have Unintended Consequences
Posted Jan 15th 2010 2:20PM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Internet, Apple Inc (AAPL), Time Warner (TWX), Private Equity, Media World, Technology, AOL (AOL)

The Twitter-verse continues to get interesting. I've always felt that the returns are to be found around
Twitter rather than with Twitter itself, and the venture capital community seems to be acting from the same position.
Twitter interaction platform HootSuite just announced a new round of venture capital funding, with $1.9 million in fresh money coming in the door to support its growth efforts.
HootSuite, which was started by
Invoke Media in November 2008, has evolved into a brand monitoring, file-sharing and social media integration utility. Only a year later, it has attracted more than 300,000 users, from Time (
TWX) to
Martha Stewart to the White House to Aol (
AOL).BloggingStocks is among the Aol blogs using HootSuite.
Continue reading HootSuite Rakes in Close to $2 Million in New Venture Round
Posted Oct 12th 2009 8:30AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, India, China, Brazil, Private Equity, Eastern Europe, Technology, Green Stocks
The clean technology wave just got a little bigger. This tends to be a side-effect of interest from billionaire investor George Soros. And, as usual, it's more than just money; it's more than just a return. Soros, yet again, is trying to save the world. Interestingly, the bold move was announced at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate – an international association consisting of 430 newspapers from 150 countries (and thus with clear ties to the past, rather than future).
The investor and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC is planning to put $1 billion into clean-tech opportunities using what he calls "rather stringent criteria," which involves being "profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem [i.e., of clean technology adoption and proliferation]." Soros didn't provide any other details on the nature or scope of his investments.
Continue reading Soros to put $1 billion into clean-tech companies
Posted Apr 22nd 2009 4:35PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Intel (INTC), Next Big Thing
Venrock is one of the top VCs in the world. Some of its early-stage investments include
Apple (Nasdaq:
AAPL) and
Intel (Nasdaq:
INTC), just to name a few.
This week, I had a chance to meet up with one of Venrock's partners: David Pakman. Prior to this, he was the CEO of eMusic and the co-founder of Myplay.
So, what are some of the game-changing trends he's looking at? Let's take a look:
Real-Time Web: With Twitter, you can instantly communicate what you're doing. And, with Facebook, you can give your status updates. In fact, such activities are becoming known as the "statusphere."
Continue reading Venrock VC looks at the next big ideas
Posted Feb 24th 2009 1:30PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Private Equity
It's a massive undertaking – that is, the liquidation of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Over a hundred years, the company has assembled a wide assortment of global assets and investments. Although, as the firm tries to unload these – in a harsh environment – there are likely to be some lucky buyers.
And, according to a piece in the Wall Street Journal (subscription only), it looks like Lehman is in the process of spinning off its VC arm, which has about $750 million in assets.
Continue reading Lehman to dump VC arm
Posted Feb 14th 2009 8:40AM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Next Big Thing, Small Business
Seemingly out of nowhere, Twitter has turned into a huge phenomenon. I hear about it all the time. In fact, it's an extremely easy service -- basically, think of it as public instant messaging.
Oh, and there's something else: Twitter doesn't make any money.
But hey, it doesn't so much matter (at least now). You see, the company has raised $35 million from Benchmark, Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital Institutional Venture Partners. It's the company's third round of funding. Moreover, the rumor is that the valuation is now at $200 million to $250 million.
Continue reading Twitter tweets $35 million
Posted Feb 12th 2009 1:18PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Small Business
When talking to the founders of early-stage founders, I hear a common message: it's nearly impossible to raise venture capital. Basically, the VC world is in "hunker-down" mode because of the slowing economy as well as the dearth of IPOs and M&A deals (there were only six VC-backed IPOs last year). True, VCs are supposed to take a long-term view – but human emotions usually dominate during times of uncertainty. Hey, just look at what happened during the dot-com bust.
Continue reading In venture capital, only the paranoid survive
Posted Jan 20th 2009 10:50AM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Next Big Thing, Technology
From 2003 to 2007, VCs had little trouble raising capital for their funds. During this period, the amount raised spiked from $10.6 billion to $35.5 billion.
It's kind of curious, actually, because during this time venture deals have lagged. The primary reasons include the lackluster IPO market and muted M&A environment. Perhaps those who invest in VC funds were being patient. Hey, aren't these vehicles long-term?
Well, maybe not. If anything, it looks like investors are backing off. According to a report from the National Venture Capital Association, there was a 21% drop in VC fundraising last year. The total was about $28 billion.
In fact, VCs raised a mere $3.4 billion in Q4. Simply put, investors are looking for liquidity – and this means avoiding VC funds.
Interestingly enough, it's mostly large funds that are getting dollars, such as Accel Partners (which got a cool $1 billion). This means that there will likely be more focus on larger deals, crowding out the smaller ventures.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market
. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.
Posted Jan 5th 2009 11:45AM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Google (GOOG), salesforce.com inc (CRM)
After the dot-com implosion, there was much talk about the death of the venture capital (VC) industry. And, while there was some pain, many firms survived. But the death may have only been delayed.
VCs need to generate substantial returns for their investors. Even though there have been some winners – such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) – there hasn't been enough activity. Simply put, the IPO market continues to deteriorate and M&A transactions are trailing off. Hey, there were only six VC-backed IPOs in 2008.
So, with thousands of VC firms in the market, it appears that the industry is poised for a Darwinian shakeout, according to the FT.
However, this doesn't mean that VC fundings will go dry. Basically, top firms will continue to do deals, but the approach will be more cautious and certain categories will get starved (such as social media and Web 2.0).
What are some hot spots? Well, according to the NY Times, the areas include web-based software, cloud computing, virtualization, open source and clean tech. Also, new companies will need to go beyond advertising revenues and expand their business models to areas like subscriptions.
Yes, as the recession continues, expect fewer free Net services.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market
. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.
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