Dan Primack

Silver Spring Networks has delayed its much-anticipated IPO until Q4 of this year, peHUB has learned. The smart grid company had been expected to file its S-1 last month and price sometime this summer. A WSJ article suggested that the offering would value Silver Spring at around $3 billion, with Jefferies and Morgan Stanley serving as co-lead underwriters. So what happened? The most likely explanation is that Silver Springs had to recover from fallout of some bad smart meters sold to PG&E in California. Not so much the tech hiccup itself -- Silver Springs quickly corrected the problem -- but rather from the PR mess that resulted from so many customers being over-billed (including some customers who were unaware that smart meters even had been installed).

I'm pleased to announce that the next peHUB Shindig will take place on Wednesday, June 16 in Chicago. We’re doing it again at English, which is on North La Salle Boulevard. Per usual, tickets cost just $10 with proceeds going to support a local nonprofit that will be selected by event attendees. You can nominate a charity upon registration. Go here to get your ticket BIG thanks for our sponsors Conversus Asset Management and Crowe Horwath. Without sponsors, there are no Shindigs… I look forward to seeing a bunch of you there.

Warren Lee, a venture partner with Canaan Partners, this week is doing the portfolio board two-step. He's moving off the board of Associated Content, due to its acquisition by Yahoo, and moved onto the board of Bit.tv, following Canaan's role as lead investor on a new $10.1 million funding round. I spent a few minutes on the phone with Lee yesterday, just after he touched down at SFO. Here's an edited transcript: Why sell Associated Content now? Canaan's been an investor in the company for three years, and people have constantly been talking about wanting to acquire it. It was kind of annoying -- in a good way -- and we kept having to fend people off. The company continued to grow and some of us wanted to keep building it as a stand-alone, but we decided to take a look at the bunch of strategic acquirers who were buzzing around... Yahoo's financial offer was attractive to both employees and investors. Probably just as important was that we wanted the company to go to a place where it would be well taken care of.

The CVCA and Thomson Reuters this morning released new data on Canadian PE and VC investment activity. Short story is that buyouts were up (slightly) and venture capital deals were down (although the rate of decline slowed). Here is the PE release and here is the VC release.

For nearly the past decade, talk of VC-backed IPOs has included at least passing mention to alternative exchanges. London’s AIM, Hong Kong, Shanghai, India, etc. Basically: If the window is closed to smaller companies here, maybe it’s open elsewhere. The latest entrant is Taiwan, which recently changed its rules to allow listings by foreign companies. Its guinea pig will be a Campbell, Calif.-based chipmaker called Integrated Memory Logic (IML), which has raised around $8 million in VC funding from Storm Ventures, InveStar Capital and Telos Venture Partners. IML officially priced $40 million of shares last Friday ($39.6m in the bank, after fees) and will begin trading tomorrow. Fairly similar to a NYSE listing ceremony, except they bang a drum instead of a bell.

Gilt Groupe, a New York-based online luxury retailer, has raised $35 million in new VC funding. The company previously raised around $48 million from General Atlantic and Matrix Partners. No new board members are listed in the filing. A recent WSJ article quoted Gilt Group chairman Kevin Ryan as saying that the company generated $170 million in 2009 revenue in 2009, and could reach $400 million and $500 million by the end of this year. That same piece speculated about a possible IPO filing.

Cambridge Associates and the National Venture Capital Association today released new VC fund performance data, through the end of Q4 2009. I haven't had a chance to examine all of it yet, except to say that short-term performance improved, but 5-year and 10-year performance sagged. Not surprising on that last part, now that 10-year figures no longer include 1999 (and, as such, have moved into negative territory). Plan to have a bit more on this later this morning. For now, here is the press release and the benchmark report.

Venture capital sentiment continued to improve last quarter, according to a study of deal terms by law firm Cooley LLP. "In the first quarter of 2010 investment terms continued to be favorable -- a trend that began in the second half of 2009," said Craig Jacoby, head of Cooley's emerging companies practice. "While not all indicators are positive, we believe the trends are moving in the right direction and point to a healthier investment climate." The most positive indicator was that the percentage of up-rounds hit 58%, which is the highest level since Q3 2008 (its nader was a 16% mark in Q1 2009). Also increasing were the median pre-money valuations of Series A ($6.9m) and Series D or higher ($76.8m) rounds. Median pre-money valuations for Series B ($19.8m) and Series C ($32m) rounds fell from Q4 2009, but still came in higher than the year-ago period. Approximately 7% of all Q1 2010 deals had a pre-money valuation of $100 million or higher.

The annual City Year Serve-a-Thon takes place next Saturday (5/22) in Boston, and one of the teams will be made up of venture capital and private equity pros (plus yours truly). We'll be working on two projects at the Condon Elementary School in South Boston: Revitalizing the school's overgrown baseball field (photo on left), and painting a large mural on its gymnasium wall. If we get participant overflow, we may also do some painting/landscaping outside a housing project down the street. If you are interested in joining us, please visit: www.cityyear.org/bostonserveathon Registration costs just $30, which helps raise money for City Year and cover the event's overhead. When registering, be sure to select the "PEVC" team. I hope to see a bunch of you there...

Last fall, NYPPEX Private Markets issued a report about how secondary market investors were overvaluing VC-backed juggernauts Facebook and Twitter. Not only were they paying more for their shares than were venture capitalists, but they were getting common stock instead of preferred stock. Now, NYPPEX is planning to release a new report suggesting that only two things have changed: (1) Secondary market investors are overpaying by even more; and (2) Facebook and Twitter have been joined by Tesla Motors. "In effect, they are betting on further significant revenue growth and a highly successful IPO," says Larry Allen, managing member of NYPPEX. "If one of those two events do not materialize, then today's secondary investors may be providing the exit." Let's take a quick look at each of the three companies: