Venture Capital

Understandably, some people are making comparisons to 1999.

Millennial Media, a giant mobile advertising platform that rose up to take on the likes of Google and Apple, saw its stock nearly double on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares were priced last night at $13 each, and closed at $25.

The company, which helps create ads for smartphones and tablets, is the largest independent player in this booming market. Its revenue rose 117 percent in 2011 to $103.7 million, although the company is still losing money. Such a stock debut is sure to … Read more

Join me tonight as I talk tech startups with three of Silicon Valley's most respected investors and overall startup advocates -- Dave McClure of 500 Startups, Naval Ravikant of AngelList, and George Zachary of Charles River partners

You can read more about the event here. If you want to understand who gets funded and why, come back to this post tonight at 7 p.m. PT, where we'll be streaming it all live.

And if you are in San Francisco, we … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--If you 're an entrepreneur looking for money today on the famous Silicon Valley venture capital row known as Sand Hill Road, yes, that is the sound of crickets you hear.

That's because today is Y Combinator Demo Day, and the lion's share of the biggest tech-oriented VCs in the Valley are packed into one auditorium here, listening to 65 early-stage companies pitch their wares.

The list is a veritable who's who of investors: Ron Conway, Tim Draper, Jeff Clavier, Mike Arrington, Stewart Alsop, and many, many others. And they've got their checkbooks … Read more

Here's one likely outcome of the JOBS Act that passed the Senate last week and is on its way to becoming law: The noise from startups vying for investor attention is going to go up.

Maybe way up.

A key provision of the Act makes it okay for a company to publicly talk about the fact that it's raising money -- something that, while often ignored, has been a lingering threat among the booming startup world. When the rule barring general solicitation goes away, any hesitancy to hawk one's business will vanish.

How could that play out? … Read more

See that giant building above? That's the headquarters of CBS Interactive, home to CNET, in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood. And if you've ever wondered what's inside--keep reading out-of-towners, this is for you too--now's your chance to find out.

In addition to the staples--wine, beer, and light grub--we'll have three longtime Valley players--Dave McClure of … Read more

With so many millionaires minted by companies like PayPal, Google, and now Facebook, angel investing has become a big deal, particularly in tech. But some of the more seasoned investors are apprehensive about participation from newcomers.

Investors Paige Craig, David Tisch, and Naval Ravikant discussed the topic of angel investing in a panel led by CNET executive editor Paul Sloan. The group agreed that many investors have no business investing.

According to Ravikant, there are, "too few sophisticated investors," and he'd know. As the founder of AngelList, a network that connects startups with angel investors, he's … Read more

More than 20,000 people will roll into Austin, Texas, this week for the annual South by Southwest Interactive festival. The question is, besides copious amounts of free beer and barbecue, why are all those people--a broad mix of marketers, entrepreneurs, journalists, and social media junkies--showing up?

Over the years, SXSW has gotten bigger and has morphed from being an insular technology conference with a tight community of regular attendees to a mainstream event that appeals to everyone from those SXSW veterans to thousands of first-timers who want to get in on the action.

With that many people on hand … Read more

Jack Dorsey and the brass at Square--the startup he runs when he's not doing duty as executive chairman of Twitter, the other company he co-founded--always gets amazing press.

And often deservedly so. Square's main product, a sleek device that turns the iPhone into a credit card processor, is a game changer for many. It's made it easy for individuals and small vendors to accept credit cards with little hassle, paying a flat transaction fee of 2.75 percent.

Square late Sunday blasted out news about a new product, an iPad app called Square Register, that won it … Read more

CRV intends to focus investments from its latest fund on startups with, "disruptive technologies, teams and business models." Startups like Hubspot, Vlingo, Yammer and Zendesk, all count themselves among CRVs investments.

"CRV has seen consistent liquidity from our portfolio over the last decade, with 21 major liquidity events, IPOs and company acquisitions since the collapse of the bubble," said CRV general partner Izhar Armony.

In addition to its strong startup portfolio, CRV boasts a number of … Read more