Start-Up IPOs Go Elsewhere
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Not many Silicon Valley companies have gone public in recent years. And as 2009 draws to a close, the past 12 months have followed the same lackluster pattern. |
Through early this week, eight venture-capital-backed companies had gone public in 2009, according to research firm VentureSource. (VentureSource is owned by News Corp., which also owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.) That was better than 2008, when seven venture-backed companies had IPOs. |
But of the 2009 venture-backed IPOs, just two were locally based, notes VentureSource: San Francisco online reservations company OpenTable Inc. and security-technology company Fortinet Inc. in Sunnyvale. |
Still, OpenTable Chief Financial Officer Matt Roberts doesn’t expect the drought of local IPOs to last. Other Silicon Valley start-ups have been talking to OpenTable about the IPO process recently, he notes. |
Apple, Google Vie for Start-Ups
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Google Inc. and Apple Inc., which have long thrived without treading on one another’s turf, are vying to acquire some of the same Silicon Valley start-ups and developing products that put themselves in more direct competition. |
The twin pursuit of the start-ups reveal that the two tech titans have further plans to move deeper into each other’s business: Apple wanted to get into advertising, while Google sought a music service. |
For years, the two giants focused on different parts of the tech market, with Google dominant in Internet search and Apple making computers and consumer electronics devices. |
More acquisitions could be in the works as Silicon Valley dealmaking heats up overall. As the worst of the recession appears to have passed, tech companies are eager to pick up promising technologies before prices climb. Read more at online.wsj.com |
An inside look from VentureWire at high-tech start-ups and their investors.
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For VCs, Tax Hike Threatens Innovation, But Also Fairness |
The venture capital industry is engaged in an urgent effort to ward off Congress from significantly increasing the taxes on profits made by venture firms. |
The House today voted in favor of the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 that would raise tax rates on carried interest earned by investment managers – including venture firms – to ordinary income rates, or around 35%, from a lower capital gains rate of 15%. While venture firms collect management fees of about 2% committed capital, carried interest - or the profits made when portfolio companies are sold or go public - is the big money maker for VCs. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
“Son, I Used To Pay Thousands Of Dollars For Textbooks…” |
Remember paying astronomical prices for college textbooks that, once class was over, had only one possible use: as paperweights? |
The Daily Start-Up: Senate Extends SBA Programs…Again |
| Just In Time For Christmas - U.S. senators are beginning to look like a bunch of procrastinators when it comes to deciding the fate of Small Business Administration funding programs. For the fourth time this year, the Senate passed legislation to temporarily extend the programs, this time through April 30. As Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, notes, “This temporary reauthorization will help keep America’s 29 million small businesses running through the holiday season.” The House and Senate earlier this year passed bills reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research program, which was set to expire this Saturday. But the two bills differ on key issues, in particular the amount of access that venture-backed companies would have to the SBIR funds. The programs have previously been extended three times, to March 20, July 31 and Oct. 31.Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
In order for our country to re-emerge as the world’s greatest economy, we need more individuals with this type of spirit and zeal for innovation–not more government programs and regulation. The government needs to “get out of the way and stay out of the way”. Launching LinkedIn From a Living Room
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If anyone knows the value of connections, it’s Reid Hoffman. In May 2003, the former Apple Inc. and PayPal executive launched LinkedIn out of his living room, inviting 350 of his contacts to join his network and create their own profiles. By the end of that month, LinkedIn had 4,500 members. Today, the 500-employee private company – valued by investors at $1 billion – has some 50 million users. Mr. Hoffman, 42 years old, now enjoys a reputation as a Silicon Valley heavyweight, investing in more than 60 start-ups (including Friendster, Facebook and Digg) and serving on the boards of Mozilla and eight other companies. Read more at online.wsj.com |
The Daily Start-Up: Wonderful World Of Web 2.0 |
Innovation reigns in the tech industry! This Year’s Top 10 Largest Venture Funding Deals |
Twitter Inc.’s $100 million funding round drew considerable attention for its massive size, but it’s not the largest venture deal so far this year. That round actually tied for the fourth largest, according to data compiled from Dow Jones VentureSource. |
Here’s a list of the Top 10 venture capital rounds through the third quarter. The deals are impressive considering the cloud hanging over the venture industry. Besides Twitter and another dot-commer, Facebook Inc., these companies range from massive clean-technology projects and health-care plays to wireless equipment makers and, in one case, a waste-collection service. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
Most Active Venture Capital Investors Through 3Q |
Venture capital funding fell 42% through the third quarter compared with last year, as investors remained cautious of making new deals and limited partners scaled back commitments to the asset class. |
Photo-Blogging Site DailyBooth Raises $1 Million |
Money continues to rain down on “real-time” start-ups–Web sites, like Twitter, that are devoted to helping users share details about their lives as they happen. The latest example: a fledgling two-person company called DailyBooth, which has just raised $1 million from a gang of blue-chip venture capitalists and angel investors. |
Launched in February, DailyBooth allows users to snap photos of themselves in and upload them for their friends to follow. It has drawn a core group of users ranging from artists to narcissistic teenagers, who, instead of tapping out status updates about eating lunch, post a picture of themselves chowing down a sandwich. Others respond instantly, with their own photo replies or written comments. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
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Start-Up IPOs to Improve in 2010?
