Dan Primack

Interesting item in the SF Chronicle over the weekend. It’s about a proposed measure that would require all San Francisco city and county employees to contribute 9% of their pay toward their pensions. It also would double the cost of family medical coverage. One of the proposals big financial backers is Sequoia Capital’s Mike Moritz (and his wife), who have contributed $245k to the cause. Local labor leaders have responded by asking Nancy Pelosi to oppose any federal funding for Sequoia portfolio companies (including DoE grants). No word yet from

A bunch of changes over at Altira Group, an energy-focused venture capital firm that’s been in business since 1996. Most notable is the addition of new partner Steve Foster, who had spent the past decade with TPG (including as co-founder of TPG Ventures). The firm also has promoted Hull McKinnon to partner, while existing partner Jan Boyer has quietly left for parts unknown. All of this seems to be in preparation of Altira’s plans to raise a new fund, since it’s almost done adding new portfolio companies to a $175 million pool raised in 2007.

Yesterday I asked email readers to name the latest U.S. venture firm to seriously consider raising a China fund. Their hint was that it already has some Chinese companies in its general portfolio. The answer is Highland Capital Partners, which first broached the subject in an LP advisory call last week. The basic idea would be for the China fund to have a dedicated team and its own name (probably some Mandarin translation of “higher ground”) – with Highland serving as a cornerstone limited partner.

Last year, a survey by executive search firm Polachi Inc. found that an overwhelming majority of venture capitalists considered their industry to be “broken.” Now it seems that things might have been “fixed,” based on results being officially released later this week. Fifty-six percent of respondents – over 98% of whom are VC firm partners or managing partners -- said they feel more confident and optimistic about the industry today than they did one year ago. A few other findings after the jump...

We've done more than 20 peHUB Shindigs over the past few years, but somehow have ignored the Southeast. Unintentional, I assure you, and we hope to amends with an Atlanta event on Thursday, August 5. Tickets cost just $10 each, with proceeds going to a nonprofit that will be chosen by event attendees. So join me and a couple hundred local PE pros, venture capitalists, bankers, entrepreneurs, lawyers and assorted hangers on. No content, just cocktails and conversation. To get your ticket, go to: http://pehubatlanta.eventbrite.com BIG thanks to sponsors Grant Thornton, Navigation Capital Partners and Womble Carlyle. Without sponsors, there are no Shindigs... I look forward to seeing you there!

Draper Fisher Jurvetson has wrapped up its tenth fund, with $350 million in capital commitments. The firm posted a related press release to its website late Friday, but didn’t submit it to the newswires. “Raising a fund is no longer a newsworthy event from our perspective,” DFJ partner Josh Stein explained to me over the weekend. “We want to generate attention for our exits.” It’s an interesting argument, and one worth further discussion. Maybe tomorrow. For now, however, let’s discuss the fundraise (because that is, for better or worse, what we do here)… DFJ originally sent out books in late 2008 with a $600 million cover, which was a slight reduction from the $650 million raised in 2007 for Fund IX. But launching a venture fundraise in late 2008 was a lot like me trying to buy a Porsche. You can say you’re going to do it. You can go through the opening motions. But, eventually, some inescapable realities turn the entire thing into a farce.

Kleiner Perkins partner Joe Lacob yesterday agreed to buy the Golden State Warriors. Now I know what you're thinking: "Gee, he must have gotten tired of having to attend all those playoff games as a Celtics minority owner. Next May, he'll be able to turn in by 10pm each night." For me, the question is if he'll be a fulltime owner like Wyc Grousbeck, who quit his VC job before later returning in a part-time capacity (after he realized that there wasn't too much for him to do in the Celts office each day, after working out in the team gym). Or will he be like Steve Pagliuca, who kept his dayjob at Bain Capital (and even found time to run for U.S. Senate)? I put the question to Lacob via email, to which he replied: "Good question. But, I cannot comment on this one yet."

Over the past day, private companies have announced over $324 million in new venture capital funding. That's really remarkable, particularly when you consider that the largest disclosed deal (Atlassian) was only $60 million... Is it just "timing" groupthink by PR flacks, or is Q3 going to be a blow-out?

Paul Roales, an associate with Pearl Street Venture Funds, is the latest venture capitalist to run for elective office. He's the Democratic Party nominee to represent Indiana's 26th District in the state legislature. May not sound like too big a deal, but Karl Rove would disagree. In a March column for the Wall Street Journal, Rove wrote: Some of the most important contests this fall will be way down the ballot in communities like Portsmouth, Ohio and West Lafayette, Ind., and neighborhoods like Brushy Creek in Round Rock, Texas, and Murrysville Township in Westmoreland County, Pa. These are state legislative races that will determine who redraws congressional district lines after this year's census, a process that could determine which party controls upwards of 20 seats and whether many other seats will be competitive.

The NVCA and Deloitte today released results of a global VC sentiment survey, which measured opinions of more than 500 global venture capitalists. Not surprisingly, 90% of U.S. VCs expected to see the number of firms to shrink over the next five years, while most of those in China, India and Brazil expect growth. Among cited problems in the U.S. were difficulties in achieving successful exits (88%), unfavorable tax policies (59%) and unstable regulatory policy (53%). On the upside, most lauded government-funded R&D efforts and an “improving entrepreneurial environment.”