Top Five Signs the Venture Capital Recovery is Underway

September 25, 2009 by Andrew Shriner
Filed under: Finance, Venture Capital 

“From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over,” Ben Bernanke recently declared.

Here at Darth Capitalist, we are all relieved that the whole recession business is now behind us and we hope that amid record profits and forthcoming record bonuses, Goldman Sachs will remember that we have always liked them and our account and routing numbers are available upon request.

But what of the current state of venture capital? Nearly every day there is talk of broken models, shakeouts, closures, portfolio liquidations, and men trying to feed their families on management fees alone. Despite such horror stories, we here at Darth Capitalist have seen the signs that the venture capital recovery is indeed at hand. So without any further preamble…

Darth Capitalist Presents the Top Five Signs the Venture Capital Recovery is Underway:

5. Tesla delivers its 700th roadster on September 15th.

Although Bentley remains the official car of the superstar venture capitalist, the rank and file of the profession can’t be expected to ride their road bikes to breakfast meetings.

4. Private equity recruiting firm GLOCAP is looking to hire Associate Recruiters for their Venture Capital practice in San Francisco.

When the recruiters are recruiting recruiters for an industry, things must be on the mend.

3. Venture capitalists are cool again.

Just ask the Reservoir Dogs, er Foundry Group.

2. CalPERS increases asset allocation for its Alternate Investment Management program (read: private equity) from 10 to 14 percent.

It may be time for VCs to go back to the well. This time, its back to basics. Again. Seriously.

1. Obscene valuations are back!

In your face, Facebook! Step aside, Slide! Twitter gets $1B post money valuation on $100M in new funding from backers Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price. Previously, Twitter raised more than $50M from Benchmark Capital, Institutional Ventures Partners, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.

In anticipation of the forthcoming golden age of venture capital, we at Darth Capitalist are celebrating with cautious optimism by lighting our cigars with $100 bills. Canadian.

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Comments

2 Comments on Top Five Signs the Venture Capital Recovery is Underway

  1. Tom on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 10:14 AM

    2. > we at Darth Capitalist are celebrating with cautious optimism by lighting our
    > cigars with $100 bills. Canadian.

    I’m still a bit pessimistic: I’m using 100 in Iraqi Dinars…

  2. Heather Coull on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 10:24 AM

    3. Hi,

    I came across your blog and this particular article and I think it’s really great! We absolutely hope that the recession is over and that VCs will be more likely to invest!

    I wanted to leave you with a great resource. FundingPost is the company that I work with and we match entrepreneurs with Angel Investors and VCs both on-line and off. We’re holding a technology specific event in NYC on the 11th of November. We’ll only be having 20 companies participate and over 45 VCs! So, this is really a great opportunity for anyone in the technology field looking to get funded.

    http://www.fundingpost.com/PVC

    I hope that you find this of value!
    Thanks for the article!

    Thanks!
    Heather Coull
    Marketing Manager
    FundingPost.com
    617-688-0440
    Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/creativelycoull
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fundingpost
    iPhone app: http://www.FundingPost.com/iphone

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