Mark Boslet
The year started off strong for the IPO market, but ended slow. Facebook, the largest ever venture-backed IPO, turned out among the most disappointing. In summary, 2012 was a period of ups and downs for the U.S. IPOs, according to a study from Renaissance Capital.
Ready for a quick year-end update on Google Ventures? As you know, Google last month increased the annual cash it hands to its venture arm to $300 million from $200 million. Here is a breakdown of its investments by sector.
Glencoe Capital’s Michigan Opportunities Fund said it completed an investment in Encore Rehabilitation Services, LLC. No terms were disclosed. The Encore investment is the seventh by the Michigan Opportunities Fund.
Institutional Venture Partners said it made 13 new investments in 2012 and had four IPOs, including KAYAK and CafePress. The firm also had two M&A exits, including Buddy Media. IVP announced the annual tally in a press release.
A total of 17 VC funds that Washing State backed during the recent decade have returned more cash than called
EcoSolargy Inc. said it raised $150 million in an equity based transaction for its 2013 financing program. The foreign investors were not identified. The company says it is looking to finance utility-scale solar projects that are in pre-development, development or construction stages.
Look global, think entertainment, capitalize on the rise of a worldwide middle class and take advantage of the cloud. This is the simplest way to summarize Accel Partners’ investment themes of the next five to 10 years,
23andMe, Inc. said it raised more than $50 million in a Series D financing with new investor Yuri Milner joined by existing investors Google co-founder Sergey Brin, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki, New Enterprise Associates, Google Ventures and MPM Capital. The company said the Series D investment, along with rapidly decreasing costs, allowed it to lower the price of its Personal Genome Service to $99,
Wayfair.com said it raised $36.3 million in equity financing from Battery Ventures, Great Hill Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Spark Capital. The money will be used to grow Joss & Main, the company's private sale site for the home. The site has nearly three million members and is operating at a $100 million annual revenue run-rate.
Grishin Robotics said it invested $250,000 in RobotAppStore, an online marketplace for purchasing and downloading hundreds of applications for robots, from Roomba vacuum cleaners and NAO humanoids to the AR.Drone quadcopter and Sphero robotic ball.