Small Business Resource

Where Is The Money Venture Capital Investments First Quarter 2011

Article by David Webb

Venture capital investments in the U.S. during the first quarter were up 5 percent from the final quarter of 2010 in terms of dollars, but down 11 percent in the number of deals, according to the National Venture Capital Association.

Its quarterly MoneyTree Report, put out with partner PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, says there were 736 deals last quarter worth .9 billion, compared to 827 deals worth .6 billion in the previous quarter. It was the lowest deal count since the third quarter of 2009.

“Our focus is solely on large rounds north of million. We are only looking for late stage companies with size and a completed business plan,” commented Edwin Steinberger of Global Strategies Advisors based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Steinberger was previously a serial entrepreneur having founded six companies that had liquidity events for their investors.

The average size of a venture capital investment hit at least million for the first time since early 2007, with 14 companies getting investments of million or more and four of those deals topped 0 million.

Mutual-fund company T. Rowe Price just disclosed investments in a number of high-profile, private Web companies, including Facebook.These aren’t the firm’s first investments in this area — it previously invested in Twitter in 2009. But, like Goldman’s investment in Facebook earlier this year, this news is another sign of the rapidly-growing interest from traditional financial institutions in Web startups.T. Rowe Price has invested 0.5 million in Facebook, nearly .8 million in social gaming giant Zynga, and .8 million in group-buying site Groupon, according to filings released today and spotted by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The Zynga and Groupon investments had already been reported, but they weren’t confirmed by either company.

There is also new emphasis on early stage investments. Several seed stage funds have sprung up as well as the rise of the “superangel”. The hope is that one of them will become the next Groupon. Early stage venture investors tend to look for bold, swing for the fences investments rather than more mature, seasoned companies. Superangels also act as a mentor to young entrepreneurs striving to rise above the numerous companies seeking to be the next blockbuster investment.

Peter Klamka, an early stage investor added, “This is a great time for seed stage investing. Creative, talent, and brilliant people are bringing great products to various investors. Exit strategies tend to be acqusitions but there are other liquidity strategies as well.”

David Webb is a freelance writer and student of human moves. He believes is you are the best at something then rich can be arranged. Rich can come fairly easily. You can follow him on http://www.twitter.com/dfwebb

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Venture Capital Funding

Article by Gareth Hoyle

I am sure we have all been there, thought of an idea that we think would do brilliantly. It is often when we are going about our day to day tasks then we think of something that could be invented to make our lives that much easier. The problem is that we don’t have the funds to even think about doing this so it is not something that we take seriously.

Either that or we have a business that could do really well if we had the funds to expand or start it but simply do not have a way to raise the funds.

For both of these reasons businesses fold under or fail to even get started every single day. It is such a shame because as a nation we have some fantastic ideas which go under simply due to lack of funding.

The main reason for this is that people do not know that they can look into options for venture capital funding. There are companies out there that are willing to invest in your great ideas. They do this for a stake in your business. The amount of funding that you get and the stake that they want for this will vary so it is something that you can discuss with them if that is the route to go down.

These people are usually experienced business people which means that they can give you advice on whether your business is likely to be successful. Bear in mind that they are likely to only want to invest if they think that the business is going to succeed.

Capital venture companies also can offer other services such as recruiting high quality management teams, developing growth strategies and introducing you to potential business partners and clients. That is why getting them on board is worth so much more than just the money that they are willing to invest in your company, although of course that is handy too.

If you have a business idea or your business is looking to expand but you don’t have the funds then you should definitely look at venture capital funding. These companies are looking for people just like you to invest in.

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Where Is The Money Venture Capital Investments First Quarter 2011

Venture Capital Funding