Dan Primack

Things are bleak in limited partner world right now, and expected to get bleaker as FAS 157-compliant annuals roll in. The only bright spot I’ve heard about is a theory that 2009/2010 vintage funds should be strong performers, because they’ll be investing at depressed valuations. I accept the argument for buyout funds, so long as credit […]

I don’t think I say this enough (or perhaps ever), but: Thank you Henry Kravis. Speaking at the Super Return Conference in Dubai on Wednesday, the KKR chief said: All of us need to accept responsibility for the damage done to the free-market system… We’ve moved too slowly to replace management in some situations…. We wait too long hoping they’ll improve but they never do… You have to focus on all the stakeholders. It’s a new thing for us and something we’re really hammering. Long term value is only achieved if growth benefits all stakeholders in a company, from owners to employees, communities and even governments. We are also conscious we are fiduciaries to millions of hard-working men and women and university endowments…Trust must be earned over the long haul and maintained constantly. We have not always adequately explained what we do to the man on the street. Even some of our investors, although happy with the returns we deliver, don’t fully understand what we do and why they should invest with us. Words can be cheap, but admitting you have a problem (not a circumstance) is the first step

Two readers wrote in this morning to suggest “Joe the Plumber” knows more about economics than do most VCs (many of whom are predisposed to Obama). I’m not in sync with their larger political point, but will grant this: A lot more plumbers have turned a profit in the past five years than have venture capitalists… […]

Soliant Energy, a Monrovia, Calif.-based solar module manufacturer, has raised nearly $21 million in Series B funding. Convexa Capital was joined by GE Energy Financial Services and return backers Nth Power, Rockport Capital Partners and Trinity Ventures. The company had previously raised $9 million.   PRESS RELEASE   GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of […]

Booyah is stew-like food prepared en masse for large gatherings, and has become an exclamatory catchphrase for broadcasters like Jim Cramer and Stuart Scott. More quietly, it’s also become the name of an online content startup funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The Silicon Valley company is still in stealth mode, but here is what we know: Booyah was formed earlier this year by a trio of folks – Sam Christiansen, Keith Lee and Brian Morrisroe -- who previously worked at Blizzard Entertainment, which is responsible for the World of Warcraft games. Kleiner Perkins is its only institutional backer to date, and has invested

Last Friday, I asked you to name the university endowment that’s trying to sell a large portfolio of private equity fund commitments. I probably should have italicized the word “large,” or perhaps used a more emphatic synonym like humongous. The result was that some of you offered up schools like Duke and Stanford – both of which have assets for sale on the secondary market, but not of the scope I was suggesting. Then yesterday one of you got it right, which means it’s time to share… The answer we were looking for was Harvard. The Ivy Leaguer has retained Cogent Partners to pitch what could be one of the largest secondary sales of all time, with an optimistic asking price in excess of $1 billion. The available portfolio includes a variety of venture capital and buyouts funds, albeit none of its crème de la crème VC (i.e., Sequoia Capital or

Did Barack Obama just propose to eliminate capital gains taxes on venture capitalists? The same Barack Obama who most VCs believe will increase their tax burdens? The answer seems to be yes, upon my first reading of a new economic stimulus plan released this morning by Obama, called the Small Business Emergency Rescue Plan. Here's a snippet: Barack Obama believes that we need to encourage investment in small businesses to help create jobs and turn our economy around. That’s why Obama will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments made in small and start-up businesses. Unlike John McCain, who wants to give $200 billion in new tax cuts to America’s largest and most profitable businesses, Barack Obama wants to cut taxes for the small businesses that create jobs but struggling with restricted access to credit alongside skyrocketing health care and energy costs. That would seem to cover venture capitalists, or at least those who still engage in early-stage investing. I've put in a call to Obama's campaign to see if there's any fine print that would exclude institutional investment, but have not yet gotten a call back. At the very least, angel investors would seem to be covered. The only caveat here, and it's a big one, is that Obama favors a change

File under: Confirmation of what we already knew. The National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB) today released data showing that VC fundraising has declined from both the prior quarter and from the third quarter of 2007. Fifty-five U.S.-based firms raised approximately $8.12 billion in Q3 2008, compared to 76 firms raising $9.25 billion in Q2, and 78 firms raising nearly $8.6 billion in Q3 2007. It's worth noting that the Q3 tally was higher than what was raised in Q1 of this year, and that it's higher than all but one quarter of 2006. On the downside, however, the Q3 capital was raised by fewer firms than in any time over the past few years, which means two things: (A) Fewer firms are raising larger funds; (2) Most of those fewer firms are existing firms, rather than new ones. Download the press release here: q3fundraising. Deal data will be released this coming weekend.

Alan Patricof has been hearing the VC industry's doom and gloom -- including Sequoia Capital's graveyard deck -- and thinks that a lot of it is overstated. In comments to PaidContent, he says: The comments made by the partners of Sequoia Capital at their recently held ‘CEO Summit’ have been widely covered by leaks to numerous bloggers. These bloggers have disseminated the details and spread the contagion of the sentiments to the public at large, unfortunately running the risk that the words become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Without challenging the comments, which expressed a heightened degree of doom and gloom for the economic prospects of young start-up companies particularly, I do think it calls for a somewhat more restrained response on the outlook and required action before throwing the baby out with the bath water. Kind of reads a bit like shooting the messenger, so now is probably a good time to tell you that I’ll be interviewing Patricof as part of the North American VC Summit on Oct. 28 in Quebec City. He’ll give a 20 minutes speech, and then I’ll do a 20 minutes Q&A with him. Later that same afternoon, I’ll do the same thing with David Rimer of Index Ventures. In between will be a luncheon keynote from Steven Schwarzman. Get more info here.

Tech bloggers and venture capitalists have finally emerged from their self-congratulatory cocoon, and realized that they are not immune from the financial meltdown. It’s a couple of weeks tardy, but better late than never (plus, everyone was preoccupied with the all-important Facebook redesign)... Most of the newfound focus has been on stemming portfolio company spend, but let me suggest the next two story lines (after the jump).