As you might anticipate, the top 15 venture deals of 2016 include the big names you would expect from the canons of U.S. startups: Uber, Snapchat, Lyft and Airbnb. However, the year’s big financings weren’t all about consumer and personal Internet. Two solar energy finance companies made the cut, as did a pair of biotechnology […]
Since the Nov. 8 elections, when eight states voted to legalize recreational and medical marijuana, adding to the current tally of 27 states and Washington, D.C., investors in the legal cannabis space are feeling alternately excited and nervous. The latter reaction may seem counterintuitive, but headwinds are disturbing proponents of legalized pot. For instance, President-elect […]
Boris Wertz’s career as a venture investor is less than a decade old, but he has acquired a market influence that belies that brief timespan. Wertz was an angel investor before founding Version One Ventures, an early-stage tech VC firm, in 2012. Within a year, the Vancouver firm ranked among North America’s top seed investors. It has backed 32 startups, among them some of the hottest names in Canada and Silicon Valley. PE Hub Canada sat down with Wertz to discuss the progress of Version One's latest fund, its recent deals, and growth in Canada’s VC market.
Venture-capital fundraising is closing in on $40 billion this year, making 2016 the third most active year for money raising in the United States. Through Dec. 19, U.S. firms have raised slightly more than $38.9 billion, up 33 percent from what was a relatively busy 2015, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters. This already […]
Boris Wertz’s career as a venture investor is less than a decade old, but he has acquired a market influence that belies that brief timespan. Wertz was an angel investor before founding Version One Ventures, an early-stage, tech-focused venture firm, in 2012. Within a year, the Vancouver firm ranked among North America’s top seed investors. It […]
Returns retreated early this year in a late-decade portfolio of venture funds at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. Three-quarters of the funds with vintages of 2006 to 2011 saw their IRRs drop in the year ended in March, with funds from OrbiMed Advisors, Sofinnova Ventures and GGV Capital showing the greatest retrenchment. At the […]
Khosla Ventures, led by founder Vinod Khosla, invested nearly $52 million in seven deals in November, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters, ranking the Menlo Park, California-based firm as the most active VC firm of the month. (see table below.) Among its deals in November was wellness startup Grokker, which raised $22 million in a Series B […]
The year is winding down, but venture firms remain active on the fundraising front. With just over two weeks remaining in 2016, U.S.-based firms have raised nearly $39 billion in commitments, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters. It’s the most raised in a single year since the heyday period of 2000. Here’s a roundup of […]
A tiny early-stage fund raised by Chicago-based Origin Ventures has produced giant returns. Origin Ventures raised $15.5 million for Fund II, which launched in 2005. This includes a $3 million GP commitment. Fund II made gross distributions of about $194.5 million to LPs, and net distributions of $156.2 million to LPs as of June 30, 2016, […]
Three of the four indices rose upward in November, with venture-backed activity enjoying the biggest jump, thanks to the latest acquisition by Salesforce. However, IPOs fell off a cliff. And as the year winds down, it’s likely that no new VC-backed companies will debut on U.S. exchanges until 2017. Fundraising (value up 4%) Fundraising for […]