Venture Capital

Venture capitalists and investment bankers are fascinated by the potential of making money from Smart Grid investments and initial public offerings in the coming year, judging from the latest panel at VentureBeat’s GreenBeat 09 event today. In spite of a difficult IPO market and the recession’s drag on the industry, Smart Grid companies are starting to get attention from both VCs and acquisitive technology giants, according to the speakers on the Follow the Money panel, moderated by VentureBeat’s lead writer for GreenBeat, Camille Ricketts (pictured at podium). Peter Wagner, a partner at Accel Partners (second from right), compared the Smart Grid opportunities to those ... Read Full Story

Folks wanting to identify the top venture capitalists will have to look at a new source from now on. Forbes’ annual Midas List, in which the magazine ranked the VCs who saw the best returns in the past five years, is reportedly dead. Meanwhile, online network and conference company AlwaysOn has released its own list, the 2009 Venture Capital 100 . Forbes’ decision to drop the Midas List was reported by peHUB , which said the mews was confirmed by the magazine. The magazine didn’t give a specific reason for the decision, but peHUB notes that Forbes recently made another big round of layoffs. ... Read Full Story

(Editor’s note: Laura Grimmer is CEO of Articulate Communications Inc., a B2B technology and services communications firm. She submitted this story to VentureBeat.) Over the past 20 years, I have worked with countless VC firms to promote their portfolio companies. However, it never fails to amaze me how ignorant those VC firms are about what marketing actually does. Very few VCs invest either the time or resources to create basic credibility or market visibility for themselves. However, there are five easy ways VC firms can accomplish this. These methods will help them be perceived as credible thought leaders, reach their target audiences and build ... Read Full Story

Venture capitalists' investments in U.S. startups rose in the third quarter when compared with the first two quarters of the year, suggesting increased confidence in the economy. When compared with the year-ago period, however, they marked a fifth consecutive quarter of decline. As the economic downturn has dragged on, venture capitalists have become increasingly cautious about investing in startups. The dismal economy has made it less likely that startups can find a buyer or complete initial public offerings. That means venture capitalists have more difficulty seeing returns on their investments, leaving them less likely to pour money into new companies. That caution was reflected ... Read Full Story

This is a special snippet post summarising the Big Tech Buyouts article from BusinessWeek , by Douglas MacMillan. All images copyright of BusinessWeek. Silicon Valley angel investor Jeff Clavier “It’s a good time to be an investor because there are tons of opportunities out there that are interesting,”. What’s good for investors is an outright bonanza for entrepreneurs. Not only are established Internet acquirers such as Google ( GOOG ), Yahoo! ( YHOO ), and News Corp. ( NWS ) spending lavishly on budding properties, companies such as Hearst and Getty Images ( GYI ) are placing smaller, strategic bets. But what changes when ... Read Full Story

Many ventures are faced with the challenging task of raising venture capital. The first part of this process is finding the right venture capital firm (VC). While this may seem simple, it isn’t. There are thousands of venture capital firms in the United States alone, and going after the wrong ones is one of the most common reasons why companies fail to raise the capital they need. When seeking a venture capital firm, there are six key variables to consider: location, sector preference, stage preference, partners, portfolio and assets. Location: most venture capital firms only invest within 100 miles of their office(s). By investing ... Read Full Story

Investments by venture capital firms rebounded last quarter, reversing five quarters of declines, but remain near 13-year lows. Venture capitalists invested $3.7 billion in the second quarter, up 15% from the first, while the number of deals overall was about even at 612, according to the MoneyTree report set to be released Tuesday. For the first time since the National Venture Capital Association and others started tracking these data in 1980, biotech surpassed software as the largest single category of venture investment. Investment in life sciences, including biotech, jumped 47% to $1.5 billion. But information technology, including software, stayed just ahead of life sciences, ... Read Full Story