Dan Primack

Tengion priced its IPO last Friday, becoming the 11th VC-backed company to go public on a U.S. exchange in 2010. It also was the sixth to do so since we last looked at the VC-backed IPO pipeline (the other newbies were Calix, China Lodging, MaxLinear, Meru Networks and SS&C Technologies). There also have been eight new additions to the pipeline in the past month. That works out to a total of 42 VC-backed companies currently in registration to go public on U.S. exchanges, representing more than $4.6 billion in targeted raise (a net increase of just over $100m). The full pipeline is after the jump...

Dennis Miller has transitioned from a general partner to a venture partner role with Spark Capital, peHUB has learned. The move was effective at the beginning of January. He also has relocated from Boston to Los Angeles. Miller will continue to serve on his Spark boards and source new deals, but also will look at […]

NVCA president Mark Heesen gave a “state of the VC industry” talk in Chapel Hill last Friday, and included discussion of Chris Dodd's financial reform. Specifically, Heesen said he was heartened that the proposal clearly distinguished between “venture capital” and “private equity.” As we’ve discussed before, however, the Dodd Bill doesn’t actually define either asset class – instead kicking that responsibility over to the SEC. It’s a tricky job, since hybrid firms would almost certainly try to game the nomenclature, in order to “become” whichever type of firm is less regulated. Moreover, enforcement of a firm’s adherence to definitional guidelines would be difficult without all firms agreeing to open up their portfolios to federal scrutiny.

Money can't buy you love, but shouldn't $15 million be able to help get you a date? Apparently not if you're Dylan Smith, the 24 year-old co-founder and CFO of Box.net. His company today announced $15 million in new VC funding, but it seems he hasn't been able to find the right "Scarlett Johansson type" in Palo Alto. Rather than continuing to woo through traditional channels -- or perhaps go hunting for a hooker with a heart of gold -- Smith turned to The Millionaire Matchmaker, a reality TV show that pairs the rich and romantically-inept with pretty young golddiggers. His episode aired last night, and you can watch it after the jump. For those who can't stomach it, here's the synopsis: Smith seems like a very nice kid who has spent a few hundred thousand too many hours in front of a computer. He gets a minor makeover, learns to dance (sort of) and meets a girl who later visits him in Palo Alto. Enjoy:

Here’s some conventional wisdom on cleantech venture capital: Investors made lots of mistakes by backing capital-intensive companies in 2006-2009. Some of these deals were salvaged by government stimulus (e.g., A123), but the smart money has now moved into deals that look more like IT for the energy market than like energy for the broader consumer/industrial market. But there are exceptions to every rule. Today’s is a company called Orient Green Power, which develops small-scale renewable energy generation facilities in India. It also plans to file for an IPO within the next couple of weeks.

Corefino, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of outsourced accounting and financial solutions, is heading toward a divorce with its venture capitalists. The company raised $13.6 million in Series A funding less than two years ago from Bay Partners and Opus Capital, and quickly secured initial customers. Unfortunately, costs kept exceeding revenue, and the company now needs a financial restructuring and/or acquirer to keep ticking. Who’s to blame depends on who you ask.

It’s the beginning of April, which means that a bunch of first-year MBA candidates are freaking out about not having summer internships lined up yet. But we’re here to help, with our annual Desperate Interns Drive. This is a lot like the Internship Rodeo from November, except that it’s later in the game for both employers and employees. So if your firm or one of your portfolio companies is looking to hire summer interns from the current crop of first-year MBA candidates, please drop me a note at daniel.primack@thomsonreuters.com. All postings can include as much or little information as you’d like to provide. Minimums are firm type (VC, LBO, I-Bank, etc.) and job location. If you’d like to keep your firm identity anonymous, just be sure to let me know. There is no fee for this service.

I spent a bit of time yesterday perusing U.S. VC performance numbers from Cambridge Associates, which are available on the firm’s website. Data is through the end of Q3 2009, and is predictably depressing. If you exclude 10-year returns (because they still include part of dotcom-delirious 2000), the net means either are negative or pathetically positive. For example, the best number would be six-year net mean IRRs, which come in at just 5.65 percent. And those are pooled. If you look instead at vintage years, it’s even worse (best one post-1998 is 3.75 percent). All of this plays into the “VC model is broken” mantra that many now consider conventional wisdom.

Venture capital has spent the past year becoming more accessible, via institutional efforts like office hours and the emergence of omnipresent superangels. Another crack in the old boy network comes today, via the launch of a P2P startup equity platform called Microventures. The company is essentially an equity riff on Prosper or Kiva, in which startups are able to request between $50,000 and $250,000 from accredited investors. MicroVentures takes a fee only if the issuer raises its desired amount, and provides free services that ensure the issuer is in regulatory compliance. "What we're doing is creating a marketplace for entrepreneurs who don't have the means to go out and find venture capitalists, and for investors who might not have access to

More than 600 peHUB readers took over The Bell-in-Hand Tavern in Boston last night, for our latest peHUB Shindig. Plus, we raised more than $5,500 for the New England Home for Homeless Veterans. Great to see so many of you there, and sorry we'd been gone for so long (our last Boston event was in Nov. '08). And for those of you in San Francisco, we'll see you on April 14 (it will sell out, so get your tix fast). A final thanks to our Boston sponsors: .406 Ventures, Atlas Venture, Capital Dynamics, SecondMarket and Velocity Financial Group. Get photos after the jump...