Pre-money valuations rose across nearly all deal stages in the fourth quarter, suggesting that investors continued to pour money into favorable transactions despite the rocky financial markets, according to a study from Cooley. Eighty-seven percent of the rounds the law firm handled during the period were up rounds, another reflection of the upbeat mood. The […]
Early-stage-focused Catapult Ventures, which invests in artificial intelligence and robotics, closed its inaugural fund above target at $55.35 million. Co-Founding Managing Partners Darren Liccardo and Rouz Jazayeri told VCJ that they were able to secure three early anchor commitments that allowed them to start investing right away and build a portfolio of seven companies. The […]
Venture investors around the globe continue to rely on personal networks, rather than data, to source deals, but signs of a shift are underway. Fifty-nine percent of investors say personal networks are their most important resource for finding and evaluating deals, according to a survey from PitchBook. But almost half said they plan on increasing […]
In early February, Spotify announced that it is expanding beyond music and getting into the world of podcasting through its acquisitions of VC-backed Anchor, provider of a platform for podcast creation and distribution, and Gimlet Media, producer of well-known narrative podcasts. Spotify paid about $175 million (including retention and other deal adjustments) for the New […]
Japan’s Dynamic Map Platform agreed to acquire Ushr, a Canadian-born maker of high-definition map technology for autonomous driving. Terms weren’t disclosed. Earlier this week, Nikkei Asian Review reported the purchase price to be nearly $181 million. Reuters later reported the price to be closer to $200 million. Upon closing, DMP and Ushr will form a single platform […]
The venture community had a strong 2018 for fundraising and venture-backed M&A. And January started where last year left off. TCV raising its largest fund to date and SAP making a big acquisition led the way. Meanwhile, U.S. deal activity and IPOs trailed off, with no new VC-backed public debuts appearing in January. The following […]
Eric Woo in December quietly joined AngelList in the new position of head of institutional capital. Woo most recently was an adviser in the venture community, consulting to startups, accelerators, fund managers, corporations and LPs. And he earlier was a principal at the San Francisco LP Top Tier Capital Partners. Woo tells VCJ that at […]
Presented here is performance data for the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada‘s vintage 2008 to 2010 venture capital funds. The figures from the Nevada LP are current as of June 2018. An expanded spreadsheet with additional data is attached. To download the full version of the spreadsheet below with additional data, click here: Nevada PERS venture portfolio (2008 to […]
Last year, John Vrionis, who was previously a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, launched Unusual Ventures together with Joyti Bansal, the founder of Lightspeed-backed AppDynamics, which was sold to Cisco for $3.7 billion in 2017. Vrionis has an impressive track record leading investments in enterprise technologies. Besides AppDynamics, he led deals in Nicira, which sold […]
The trend in 2018 was larger, but fewer M&A deals, according to the annual M&A Report from PitchBook. North American M&A activity hit $2 trillion for the fourth year in a row, the report said. The number of deals, however, steadily dropped to 11,208 from 14,452 in 2015, implying that deal sizes have inched up […]