Venture Capital

Having built and sold two technology startups for a combined $11.7 billion, Marc Andreessen is ready to take a stab at, well, finding the next Marc Andreessen. The co-founder of Web browsing pioneer Netscape Communications Corp. and software maker Opsware Inc. is starting a new career as a venture capitalist with his longtime business partner, Ben Horowitz. Their venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, opens Monday with a $300 million fund earmarked primarily for startups involved in the Internet, software, consumer gadgets and data storage. Like most venture capitalists, Andreessen and Horowitz are betting they will be able to connect with hard-driving entrepreneurs determined to ... Read Full Story

The economy is forcing venture capital firms to spend more money with longtime holdings, making it harder for younger outfits to get a declining pool of venture funds. That's one finding in a global poll of 775 venture capital firms by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and the National Venture Capital Association set to be released Wednesday. The poll seeks to get a sense of what venture capitalists are thinking. The new poll -- the 2009 Global Venture Survey -- found that most venture firms expect to invest in fewer companies for at least the next few years. Just 13% say they plan to invest in ... 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

While U.S. lawmakers mull health care reform in the nation's capital, another important question is nagging at various biotech capitals from coast to coast: Who will finance new drug development? Venture capital has been the lifeblood of biotech startups and their new technologies. But in the current difficult economic climate, VC money has largely dried up. Now some industry watchers are concerned that an overly aggressive health care bill may erode drug prices, squeeze profitability, and make it even harder to lure VC money to biotech. As it stands, not only is it hard to find new money, but VCs must also husband the ... Read Full Story

Image via CrunchBase Marcello has put out the finalists list for the Seattle 2.0 awards. Go vote for your favorite Seattle startup and let them feel the love. Voting starts today: http://www.seattle20.com/awards/vote.aspx Best Startup * Dreambox Learning (Online education service) * Picnik (Online picture editing service) * Redfin (Online real estate brokerage service) * Wetpaint (Wiki service) Best Boot-strapped Startup * Appature (Enterprise marketing solution for the health industry) * BigOven (Share and find cooking recipes) * Picnik (Online picture editing service) * Urbanspoon (Find restaurants) Best Startup CEO * Andy Liu (CEO and co-founder of BuddyTV) * Glenn Kelman (CEO of Redfin) * ... Read Full Story

Venture capitalist confidence in the economy may be improving for the first time since 1st quarter 2007. As reported by Mark Cannice at the University of San Francisco: "The quarterly Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index™ (Bloomberg ticker symbol: USFSVVCI) is based on an on-going survey of San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The Index measures and reports the opinions of professional venture capitalists in their estimation of the high-growth venture entrepreneurial environment in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next 6 - 18 months.The Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2009, based on a March 2009 ... Read Full Story

Raising funds is a problem for many U.S. venture capital firms, but not yet in China. China's economic growth has slowed, but VCs are upbeat about Internet startups in the country, especially in the online games and e-commerce sectors. And with China's government turning green, VC firms say cleantech is rising. There's still plenty of oomph in China's VC market, says research firm Zero2IPO. In the first 11 months of 2008, domestic and foreign firms raised $7 billion to create 110 new funds, it says. In that span, VC firms in China invested $3.7 billion in startups, up 14% from the year-earlier period. In ... Read Full Story