Joanna Glasner
Since the days when Ask Jeeves entered the search engine foray with its know-it-all butler, Internet users have gravitated to the concept of asking queries in everyday language. In practice, for all but the simplest questions, they’ve been disappointed by the results. Now, a new generation of startups believes it has the answer to the […]
Voodoo economics may have been invented in Washington, D.C., but looking at the latest crop of venture-backed companies launching public offerings, the term could just as well apply to Silicon Valley. Over the past few months, startups funded in the heyday of the tech bubble—and largely written off as exit prospects during the subsequent implosion—have […]
In venture capital circles, Cisco Systems is best known as an acquirer of portfolio companies, consistently providing VCs some of the most profitable exits in the industry. This year’s standout acquisition—the $830 million purchase of network security provider IronPort Systems—was no exception. But Cisco is also an active player behind the scenes as a limited […]
Angel investment was up sharply in 2006, according to a report released this week by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. Total angel funding reached $25.6 billion last year, up 11 percent from 2005, according to the report. Angels backed a total of 51,000 entrepreneurial ventures in 2006, a 3 […]
Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s efforts to start a fund focused on Russia and Ukraine are still underway, managing director Tim Draper told attendees of the Stanford Global Technology Symposium Thursday in Palo Alto, Calif. “We’ve had two false starts and we keep plowing ahead,” Draper said. “We’re running as fast as we can.” DFJ is also […]
Working as a VC in Silicon Valley isn’t what most people consider a relaxing gig. But after two years of shuttling between Beijing and Menlo Park for China investment fund GSR Ventures, managing director Richard Lim looks forward to the downtime he gets in California. “People don’t have meetings on weekends here,” says Lim, speaking […]
Faced with a tepid IPO market, some venture capitalists hope to find exits by selling portfolio companies to cash-rich buyout funds. More than 70% of the VCs surveyed in December by the National Venture Capital Association said they believe such exits will become a more attractive option in 2007. Don’t bet on it. Buyout firms […]
Escalating public concern about food pathogens and unhealthy chemical additives has sparked an appetite among venture funds for startups focused on making eating safer. In recent months, VCs have funded an array of food-related startups—including developers of testing applications and makers of actual food—in a spending spree driven by consumer demand for higher quality edibles […]
Venture capitalists have invested in excess of $8 billion in more than 750 nanotech startups over the past 10 years, but they have yet to record a single big exit. What will it take to speed up the snail’s pace?
It’s fitting that Steve Jurvetson—venture capital’s best-known booster of nanotechnology—titles his personal technology blog the J Curve. Today, most early stage investors are still waiting for companies pursuing nano-scale innovations to produce macro-scale profits. If one were to plot the universe of nanotechnology startups along the J curve—which demarcates progress from early hype generation to […]