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Archive for the ‘Venture Capital’ Category

Few IPO candidates makes VC´s worried

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Business models, Economy, Gerbsman Partners, Intellectual capital, Investments, Market research, Strategy, Venture Capital, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

A giant investment dilemma is coming into play as of late – the market, Silicon Valley especially, is running short on IPO candidates. The jackpots including Intel, Apple, Netscape, eBay, Yahoo and Google are all history by now. With few candidates, the payoffs look smaller and the real problem shows – where will the money come from for new investments?

Here are a good analysis taken from Silicon Valley.com.

“So how might a Facebook or LinkedIn IPO perform when the time is right? Or what will Skype’s IPO look like, assuming eBay proceeds with plans to spin it out in 2010 as a separate company?

“We’re seeing a rebuilding and stabilization of the IPO market, so that Silicon Valley firms will be able to participate.” said Jeff Grabow of the accounting firm Ernst & Young’s San Jose office, which issued its quarterly U.S. IPO Pipeline report Tuesday.”

It continues…

“The IPO is vital to the valley’s economy, promising a potential jackpot for VCs that compensates for investments that don’t pan out. Not so long ago, the valley seemed to pop out an IPO every few weeks. But since early 2008, the pipeline has been more like a sieve. The venture industry is now pushing for tax breaks and regulatory relief from Washington to revive the market.

Ernst & Young’s report offers a snapshot of the situation. Privately held companies get in the IPO pipeline by filing S-1 forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission that signal their plans to sell stock on public markets. There were 57 companies in the pipeline Dec. 31, but only 44 on March 30.

In the first quarter, 16 companies exited the pipeline — only two made Wall Street debuts. Among the others, 10 registrations had surpassed the one-year expiration for inclusion in the study, which suggests they may just be biding their time in a chilly market. Three registrants withdrew their S-1s, and one postponed. Three companies filed S-1s, including San Francisco-based OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation service.

When OpenTable filed in January, it seemed like wishful thinking in such a dreadful economy. Because SEC rules require “a quiet period” for companies that file for IPO, I couldn’t ask CEO Jeff Jordan why OpenTable was making such a move. How good could the restaurant business be with credit crunched and people pinching pennies?”

Read the full article here.

Other covering the issue: Techmeme, TechSheep, Congoo

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M&A Strategies

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, boic, Business models, Investments, Strategy, Venture Capital, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Here is some interesting viewpoints from Venture Capital Dispatch – a WSJ Online blog written by Scott Austin.

“Last August, Hewlett-Packard Co. signed a letter of intent to pay $360 million cash for LeftHand Networks Inc., a venture-backed provider of storage systems. A few weeks later, Wall Street’s collapse sent the economy in a tailspin and threatened to knock the screws out of the deal.

But after a two-week pause the two sides got back together and in November closed the acquisition on the same terms.”

The article continues…

“LeftHand was able to hold its ground because it had proven itself valuable well before Hewlett-Packard offered to buy it. H-P had been reselling LeftHand’s software on some of its servers for nearly three years, and realized it couldn’t do without it.

The deal signifies the importance of setting up strategic relationships with possible acquirers, especially in this environment, said the aforementioned investor, Matthew McCall, a managing director with Draper Fisher Jurvetson Portage Venture Partners.

“When your hair’s on fire as a corporation, you’ll try anything to make the pain go away,” he said. “Now’s a great opportunity [for start-ups] to enter partnerships, distribution agreements, and dialogues with larger corporations.”

Matthew McCall´s advice continues:

  • Form a strategic relationship with a potential buyer,
  • Look at it from the acquirer’s perspective,
  • Identify the alternatives,
  • Finally, make sure at least two mortal enemies are bidding on your start-up.

Read the full article here.

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VC deal down in the 1st quarter of 2009

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, boic, Economy, Investments, Moneytree, MoneyTree report, National Venture Capital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PWC, Venture Capital, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 21, 2009| 1 Comment »

To no ones surprise, the VC community pulled in its spending spree and held back in the wake of the financial crisis. The recent report release by NVCA (National Venture Capital Association) this last weekend. A funny detail in the mix is that they release the data on saturday afternoon, after all media stopped their coverage for the weekend!

“Venture capitalists invested just $3.0 billion in 549 deals in the first quarter of 2009, according to the MoneyTree™ Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data provided by Thomson Reuters. Quarterly investment activity was down 47 percent in dollars and 37 percent in deals from the fourth quarter of 2008 when $5.7 billion was invested in 866 deals. The quarter, which saw double digit declines in every major industry sector, marks the lowest venture investment level since 1997”

Overall, its not good news. In specific areas, the analysis continues;

“The Software sector received the highest level of funding with $614 million going into 138 rounds, a drop of 42 percent in dollars and 34 percent in deals compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.”

“The Life Sciences sector (Biotechnology and Medical Devices combined) experienced a 40 percent decline in terms of dollars and a 31 percent drop in deals with $989 million going into 133 rounds. Investment in Biotechnology fell 46 percent to $577 million in the quarter, while Medical Device investments fell 27 percent to $412 million. Investments in Life Sciences companies represented 33 percent of all investment dollars and 24 percent of all deals in the first quarter, which is in line with historical norms.”

For the whole pressrelease, click here. For additional coverage on this story see; ABF Journal, The Batts report.

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Successful Date Certain M&A of “Business Unit and Intellectual Property”

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, boic, Distressed Intellectual Property, Distressed IP, Gerbsman Partners, Intellectual capital, Venture Capital, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Steven R. Gerbsman, Principal of Gerbsman Partners, Kenneth Hardesty and Dennis Sholl, members of Gerbsman Partners Board of Intellectual Capital, announced today their success in maximizing stakeholder value for a venture capital backed medical device company that developed a new minimally-invasive treatment option for patients with emphysema.

Gerbsman Partners provided Crisis Management leadership, facilitated the sale of the business unit, associated Intellectual Property and assets and recovered receivables. Due to market conditions, the senior lender and the board of directors made the strategic decision to maximize the value of the business unit and Intellectual Property. Gerbsman Partners provided leadership to the company with:

  • Crisis Management and medical device expertise in developing the strategic action plans for maximizing value of the business unit, Intellectual Property and assets;
  • Proven domain expertise in maximizing the value of the business unit and Intellectual Property through a targeted and proprietary “Date Certain M&A Process”;
  • The ability to “Manage the Process” among potential Acquirers, Lawyers, Creditors Management and Advisors;
  • The proven ability to “Drive” toward successful closure for all parties at interest.

About Gerbsman Partners

Gerbsman Partners focuses on maximizing enterprise value for stakeholders and shareholders in under-performing, under-capitalized and under-valued companies and their Intellectual Property. Since 2001, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in maximizing value for 52 Technology, Life Science and Medical Device companies and their Intellectual Property and has restructured/terminated over $770 million of real estate executory contracts and equipment lease/sub-debt obligations. Since inception in 1980, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in over $2.2 billion of financings, restructurings and M&A transactions.

Gerbsman Partners has offices and strategic alliances in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Europe and Israel.

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Venture Capitalists Reflect On Past 10 Years

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Market research, Venture Capital, tagged , , , , , on March 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Here is a good reflection from VentureWire and a few selected vc´s. Makes for a good read.

“When I first began working for VentureWire in 2004 after laboring as an editor on Dow Jones Newswires’ public-equities desk, I studied up on the mechanics of venture capital – how funds work, how term sheets are structured, all the financial minutiae that makes the industry tick.

I learned about the people and companies that shaped its origins, the emergence of Sand Hill Road and Silicon Valley, the boom years that created overnight rock stars and the ensuing bust that tore them down just as quickly.

And while I’m continuously fascinated by all these changing dynamics, what really keeps me going as the editor of a venture-capital trade publication are the stories behind the stories. For very few people can spin a yarn as well as a longtime venture capitalist.

In that spirit, and to celebrate VentureWire’s 10th anniversary this week, our reporting and editing team asked VCs to give us one of their favorite personal memories of the venture capital business in the past decade or so. Some VCs had trouble choosing just one memory, while others recounted the colorful story behind an investment. The following is an edited compilation of selected answers. While this is just a minuscule sampling, we wanted to give our readers a chance to reflect on something positive at a time when gloomy news is the norm.”

To read the full article by Scott Austin at Ventures, click here.

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