Here is a good summary from Shai Goldman on top events in the VC and tech industry of 2009.
“Given that we are just about at year-end, I wanted to provide a recap of some of the most memorable moments that took place in the venture capital and technology ecosystem. Below is a list of the 10 most important events:
First VC backed technology IPO – OpenTable goes public at $20/share on May 21st.
First VC backed acquisition (above $500M) – Pure Digital acquired by Cisco for $590M.
First VC backed cleantech IPO – A123 goes public at $17/share on September 23rd.
Khosla Ventures raises $1.1B – in 2009 most VC funds were shrinking in size, yet Khosla Ventures was able to raise $1.1B, this event was a sign that Limited Partners (L.P.s) we actively seeking investment opportunities in the VC sector – September 1st.
Tesla Motors receives $465M from the D.O.E – First technology company to receive a loan guaranty – June 23rd.
Twitter raises a $100M VC round of financing – at a time when there are questions about the consumer internet sector, this funding provided some positive support that $ can be made in the sector – September 25th.
NASDAQ closes above 2,000 – August 3rd- the previous time NASDAQ was above 2,000 was September 30, 2008.
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 10,000 – October 14th – the previous time the Dow was above 10,000 was October 2, 2008.
Apple App Store gets more that 100,000 applications published – November 4th – as you may recall the App Store launched on July 10, 2008 and the creation of the iPhone and App Store has created opportunities for both VCs and Startups to make $$.
Facebook Connect is widely adopted by 60M users and 80K sites – the utilization of Facebook Connect has allowed startup companies a way to reduce the time / effort for their users to sign up for a particular service.”
Read the full article here.
