Joanna Glasner

It seemed to me that more of companies getting venture funding lately have names that begin with the least-used letters of the alphabet. But after wasting time trying to confirm this on ill-conceived database searches, I figured it’d be better to talk to someone who actually follows this stuff. So, I talked to Atoll Foden, president of Silicon Valley branding consultancy Brighter Naming, who says obscure letters are indeed in vogue. That’s largely because, with a million-plus domains getting registered each month, all the obvious ones are already taken. “X, Y, Z and Q names are fabulous names right now,” Foden says. “It solves a lot of legal problems because there aren’t many words in the dictionary beginning with those letters.”

Ben Bernanke may have declared the recession over yesterday, but talking to early-stage investors, the belt-tightening mindset is still in force. Demand for smaller, more closely vetted deals was part of the impetus for a new program launched yesterday by Tech Coast Angels (TCA) Orange County called O.C. SeedTrack (www.seedtrack.org), targeting companies that are too "start up" for VC funding or even angel funding. The program will provide a mix of funding and mentoring. Qualifying startups get a small amount of financing (less than $100k) as well as the sweat equity of a Tech Coast Angels member. I spoke yesterday to Seedtrack's chairman, John Murphy, and to one of its committee members, Raymond Chan, about their plans for the program. Here’s some of what they said:

Here in Park City, Utah, at the fall Venture Capital in Rockies conference, HP chief strategy and technology officer Shane Robison told venture investors that he’s glad the company is no longer doing much internal VC. But the $110 billion hardware, software and services giant still has dry powder for M&A, coming on the heels of a couple sizeable acquisitions of venture-backed companies. The Palo Alto, Calif., company is particularly interested in companies developing technologies that tie in with HP R&D initiatives. But when asked whether HP has plans to launch an Intel Capital-type effort to make strategic venture investments, Robison says he sees scant likelihood of that occurring.

VCs spent a fortune on nanotechnology investments early in the decade, and have since generated very little in the way of returns. But there may be hope for ROI in the near term, if one considers a rise in the introduction of nanotech-enabled products as a positive indicator for future exits. According to a new report from Pew Charitable Trusts’ Project on Emerging Technologies (PEN), over 1,000 nanotechnology-enabled products have been made available to consumers around the world. Recent updates to the inventory list include non-stick cookware, lighter, stronger tennis racquets, and wearable sensors that monitor posture. (See full list here) It’s apparently a big increase from just a few years ago. PEN Director David Rejeski says that when the inventory list launched in March, 2006, they found only 212 products. If the introduction of new products continues at the present rate, he predicts, the number of products listed in the inventory will reach close to 1,600 within the next two years.

Venture capitalists spend an inordinate portion of their working lives staring at PowerPoint presentations. But it seems like more are looking for a better way. Looking at venture funding data, it seems that several would-be PowerPoint rivals have raised money in the last couple of years. The most recent, San Francisco-based SlideRocket, raised $5 million last week from Azure Capital and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. As someone who’s spent enough time at venture events to see more than my fair share of PowerPoint presentations, I can agree that there ought to be a more dynamic, less clunky way to do things. (Though admittedly, it’s unclear to me to what extent the blame lies with PowerPoint itself or with presenters who aren’t using the program’s features to optimal effect.)

Cleantech venture capitalists are pretty psyched at the prospect of securing stimulus money for their portfolio companies. But they’re also doubtful that the money will actually go to companies with superior technologies. Rather, they say, recipients are likely to be judged on who creates the most “green jobs,” with less regard for whether those positions […]