vc

Where's the money?

Entrepreneurs got some answers Thursday from investment bankers and institutional investors during the AlwaysOn Venture Summit in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

For starters, companies looking to cash in via an IPO, or acquisition, are finding that it's usually through the acquisition route, said Paul Deninger, vice chairman of Jefferies & Co.

Over the past five years, mergers and acquisitions have provided 80 to 90 percent of all equity returned to investors of venture-backed technology companies, compared with 30 to 40 percent in the early 1990s, he noted.

And that trend concerns Deninger, who compared the situation to venture capitalists &… Read more

AdBrite gets $23 million in VC funding

The online advertising market just continues to heat up.

Online ad marketplace AdBrite has received $23 million in Series C venture funding. The money comes from current investor Sequoia Capital, as well as from DAG Ventures and Mitsui Ventures. AdBrite launched a real-time auction model this year and was named the third-fastest growing young tech company in North America by Deloitte's Rising Star program.

The news follows an even larger funding announcement from rival online ad network Specific Media. Earlier this month Specific Media closed $100 million in Series B financing with private equity firm Francisco Partners.

The funding … Read more

Top 10 dumbest things I've seen or done in the workplace

In 20-plus years in high tech, I've witnessed and done some really stupid things.

I'm talking about things that were embarrassing, unethical, incompetent or just plain dumb. This kind of stuff can get you fired, sued or even arrested. In a worst-case scenario, it can cause the demise of a company.

Keep in mind that some of this stuff is politically incorrect, racy, or even illegal, which is precisely why it's so dumb. So if you get offended by that sort of thing, be forewarned. Also, some of these things didn't exactly happen "in the … Read more

Is Facebook ready to stuff its treasure chest with more booty?

Another day, another clump of Facebook financial dirt.

Kara Swisher at All Things Digital wrote early Tuesday that "according to sources," Facebook is considering the possibility of a massive new investment round. If this turns out to be true, it could lift the company's much-talked-about valuation even further into the stratosphere. Facebook's last investment round, a $25 million bounty in 2006, pushed its pre-money valuation to about $525 million. This rumored new round, which Swisher claims is "well beyond" that scope, could solidify Facebook's position in the $6 billion to $10 billion club (… Read more

How to get funding for your Facebook idea

This morning, venture capital firm Bay Partners announced that it is kicking off AppFactory, a special funding program for Facebook developers.

Bay is a typical Silicon Valley venture firm, operating three large funds. AppFactory will draw resources from the latest, a $300 million pile of cash and commitments that Bay will funnel, in chunks as small as $25,000, to promising Facebook developers.

Unlike its larger and more traditional technology investments, Bay will not run its AppFactory candidates through weeks or months of due diligence. At the funding levels it's thinking about, it's not worth the effort. In … Read more