Mark Boslet
Angel activity rose modestly in the first half of the year with per-deal funding levels largely unchanged and investors shifting their focus toward expansion stage deal making.
Only a small handful of VCs have the courage to invest in music startups. Sure, plenty of exciting companies get funding: SoundCloud, Spotify, Moontoast, Rdio, Pandora Media, Shazam, BandPage. But where is the Google of the space? No one knows.
Private company IPOs with multiple classes of stock are trendy and so far a mixed blessing for venture investors. About as many of the venture-backed companies that have gone public in the past 18 months with two classes of stock have done well as done poorly.
Menlo Ventures scores highest in the December 2011 report by MassPRIM, which invests in buyout and VC funds
Mega funds accounted for 35% of all VC raised during 2011 and the first half of 2012, compared to 6% in 2007
Since the start of 2011, mega funds have raised $10.3 billion of the $29.7 billion in capital collected during the period, or 35% of the total
500 Startups said it has added two venture partners. Pankaj Jain will be stationed in India and Shai Goldman, in New York City, according to the firm's Web site. Goldman was most recently with Silicon Valley Bank and will invest in Boston as well as New York. Jain was previously consulting for the TLabs accelerator in New Delhi.
Punchbowl.com said it secured $1.5M in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. The company has previously raised $4 million in equity financing and has Contour Venture Partners and Intel Capital as backers.
Venture capital activity retreated around the globe in the third quarter with dollars invested falling 20% and the deal total slipping eight percent from the second quarter, according to Preqin.
Betterment said it raised $10 million in a Series B financing led by Menlo Ventures and joined by existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Anthemis Group. Since its launch in 2010, Betterment, an online investment service, has increased customer assets under management 500% a year, according to a press release.