Sandeep Khare
As Jeff Bussgang pointed out in his column today, the alleged fraud at VC-backed Canopy Financial is reminiscent of the fraud case at VC-backed Entellium last year. In that case, the former CEO and CFO were sent to prison in March for wire fraud and lying to investors (including Ignition Partners and Intel Captial) about their company’s actual revenue.
Former Entellium CEO Paul Johnston was sentenced to three years in prison and a little over $2 million in restitution, while former CFO Parrish Jones was sent away for two years and ordered to make restitution of more than $850,000.
Once they get out of prison, the pair also have to serve 80 hours of community service in a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
Venture Capital Journal published a story last year after the Entellium case broke, questioning whether VCs could have done anything to prevent the fraud. Since it’s Friday, dear HUB readers, I’m making the story free today. Read it here.
Full transcript of VCJ’s one-hour interview with Marc Andreessen, who co-founded new venture firm Andreessen Horowitz
In the more-bad-news-for-VCs file, the cash cow known as Google has been deliberately inactive on the the M&A front because it's waiting for "prices to get better," according to CEO Eric Schmidt. Silicon Alley Insider reports that Schmidt told the Morgan Stanley tech conference conference today that Google's M&A activity is "pretty inactive right now" because "we've largely been waiting for prices to get better."
Yes, you read that right. The company that had $15.85 BILLIOn in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities as of Dec. 31, is worried that it's going to overpay for a startup.
State treasurer says venture capital has been Connecticut's strongest performer
JPMorgan Partners in March said that it would split up its venture capital and leveraged buyout activities. Senior Editor Jerry Borrell managed to pry some additional details out of JPMP Partner Shahan Soghikian, who is head of the firm’s West Coast investment activities. Q How big is your current fund? A JPMorgan Global Investors LP […]
Walking through the crisp offices of Accel Partners, it would be easy to confuse Managing Partner Jim Breyer with a college intern. The 41-year-old seems to have inherited the Dick Clark gene, but the boyish-looking venture capitalist has compiled a track record that is nothing short of astonishing: He’s created […]
John Delaney and Jay Rand aren’t venture capitalists, but both are keenly aware of the issues facing VCs today. They are attorneys, and, lately, VCs have been spending a lot more time sitting across the table from legal counsel-whether it’s because of a potential clawback, the threat of having their private equity data made public […]
Art Marks, who retired from New Enterprise Associates in June 2001, came out of self-imposed stealth mode in April to announce that he had joined forces with two other industry vets to start a new venture firm – Valhalla Partners. Marks, 57, has been thinking about the effort for months and even went so far […]