Venture Capital News
Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists' Confidence in Future High Growth Venture Environment Declines to Lowest Level in Over 2 Years
The University of San Francisco Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index for the second quarter of 2006 was the lowest reading since this Index was originated in April 2004. The study, which was based on a July 2006 survey of 37 San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists, came in at 3.89 on a five-point scale (with five indicating high confidence and one indicating low confidence). The previous quarter’s index was 4.15.
Created and authored by Professor Mark Cannice and Professor Roger Chen of the University of San Francisco School of Business and Management, the quarterly USF VC Index (Bloomberg ticker symbol: USFSVVCI) measures and reports the opinions of Silicon Valley venture capitalists in their estimation of the high-growth venture entrepreneurial environment in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next 6 - 18 months.
For example, some of the responding venture capitalists pointed out potential problems in the high growth environment, such as inflated valuations and difficulties getting an investment to an exit alternative. Mohanjit Jolly of Garage Technology Ventures noted, "There seems to be a lot of frothiness in the venture market currently, especially in certain sectors like consumer internet. When valuations get to relative high double digits with revenue still 18-24 months away, you know it's ‘bubble 2.0'. Tom Baruch of CMEA Ventures offered, "If pessimism in the public market for small technology and life sciences companies remains .. it will start to constrain activity". Still other VCs see good deal flow and a strong environment for innovation. For example, Dave Epstein of Crosslink Capital is seeing a, "great amount of deal flow – good ideas, (and) good people…"
On the whole VC confidence remains healthy but decidedly lower than recent quarters. For comments or the complete report and trend data, please contact Professor Mark Cannice.
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Canaan Teams With Yahoo! Inc. In An $8.6 Million Investment In BharatMatrimony
Representatives of Canaan Partners, a major international venture capital firm, announced Wednesday the funding of BharatMatrimony Group, the leading online matrimonial service in India. This is an exciting new investment by the venture firm’s India office, which opened in June. Canaan is an investor in an $8.6 million A round financing that also includes Yahoo! Inc. The investment will also be used to enhance the entire portfolio of services of BharatMatrimony Group and take them to leadership positions in their respective sectors. The other group businesses of BharatMatrimony include ClickJobs.com, IndiaProperty.com, IndiaAutomobile.com and IndiaList.com.
BharatMatrimony was founded in 1997 and until now was self-funded. More than 500,000 marriages have been arranged online in that time, said Murugavel Janakiraman, the company’s founder and CEO, which makes it the biggest and most successful matrimony service in the world. The company manages more than a dozen different matrimony portals catering to Indians of different languages and religions throughout the world. One major portal is www.bharatmatrimony.com.
Janakiraman met his wife through BharatMatrimony and said many of his employees also got married through the portal. Portals feature thousands of comments and pictures from couples happily married through the help of an Internet portal. “About 80 percent of marriages in India are arranged through immediate families, relatives and friends, and most of the rest through personal matchmakers,” Janakiraman said. “Online matrimony arrangements have been less than 1 percent of the total. But we are working to expand that by greatly expanding the reach of marriage partner matchmaking.”
Alok Mittal, executive director of Canaan’s Indian office, noted that BharatMatrimony portals will be supported by offices in nearly 40 Indian cities with personal computers linked to the Internet. “Dating is not a widely accepted custom for most Indians,” Mittal said. “But marriage is extremely important, and we want to help as many brides and grooms get together as possible.” Families will still have enormous sway in the ultimate selection of marriage partners, Mittal said, and parents are very involved in the whole process.
The portal makes money through monthly subscription charges of $10 to $15 a month. Most users subscribe for three to six months.[ FYI Index ]
California Venture Capital Executive Recruited to RCGA Team
A spokesperson for the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA) announced the results of a several-month-long national recruitment effort. James "Jay" DeLong, former President of Active Capital in Irvine, CA, has joined the RCGA as Vice President for New Ventures and Capital Formation.
In his position in the RCGA Economic Development team, DeLong will direct the RCGA's efforts to facilitate equity and venture capital, and emerging companies to the St. Louis region. His nearly 20 years of economic development experience includes his most recent role as President of Active Capital, an internet-based securities matching company; he also previously was founder and Executive Director of Venture Point, the nation's only Small Business Development Center (SBDC) specializing in technology companies and entrepreneurs facing issues of capital formation, critical time-to-market, and management of fast growth.
Prior to starting Venture Point, DeLong was Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Orange County Business Council, running technical assistance ventures supporting technology transfer, defense conversion, equity investing and high growth. Previously, he directed the American Consortium of Information Systems Technology (ACIST) in Moscow, Russia for three years. DeLong has directed numerous projects designed to promote international trade, technology development and foreign investment for private corporations and federal agencies.
As part of the RCGA Economic Development team, DeLong will report to RCGA Senior Vice President for Economic Development Steve Johnson.
DeLong has served on a number of professional association boards, a sampling of which includes the Pacific Incubation Network, the Tech Coast Venture Network and the California Venture Forum. He has also founded and/or directed several conferences in life sciences and information technology, and has twice chaired the national Corporate Investment and Strategic Alliance Conference.
He is a native of Jefferson City, MO, having relocated to California in 1989. His educational background includes being awarded an International Business Certificate from the American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, AZ, and bachelors of science degrees in Political Science and Philosophy from Westminster College in Fulton, MO.
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American Ventures Sells Coral Gables Office Tower
Representatives of American Ventures Realty Investors, the largest institutional real estate investment manager in Florida, announced Wednesday it has completed the sale of its office tower in Coral Gables, Fla., to RREEF for approximately $60 million, or $272 per square foot. The 220,000 square-foot property at 255 Alhambra Circle had been part of American Ventures’ investment portfolio since 1994. Since 2004, American Ventures had owned the property in a joint venture with Investcorp, a global investment group.
Acquirer RREEF, a leading U.S.-based real estate investment manager, is a division of DB real estate, the investment management group of Deutsche Asset Management.
RREEF has retained American Ventures to continue to manage the office tower property. The Coral Gables office tower is 91-percent leased and includes BankUnited, Stiefel Laboratories and Watson & Wyatt Worldwide as principal tenants. American Ventures sold the property as part of a rebalancing of its investment portfolios, which have comprised some $500 million in commercial real estate and other assets.
The Coral Gables sale follows on the heels of the March 2006 divestment of American Ventures’ Brickell Office Tower in Miami. That property sold for in excess of $325 per net rentable square foot, setting a record transaction price at the time for the Miami commercial real estate market on a dollar-per-square-foot basis.
