Joanna Glasner

I attended a panel a couple of weeks ago on the topic of backing ventures that appeal to Gen Y, and it got me thinking about the VC generation gap ever since. Broadly speaking the Millennial Generation, or Gen Y, refers to people born between the early 80s and the mid-90s. That is, those who […]

Venture-backed Internet company founders usually dream of selling out to Google one day. But few imagine it could work the other way around. Until earlier today, that is, when WideOrbit announced that it has agreed to buy Google's radio automation business. San Francisco-based Wide orbit provides software that broadcasters and cable operators use to manage ad revenue, and had raised around $40 million in VC funding from Mayfield Fund, Khosla Ventures, Greycroft Partners and Hearst Ventures. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, although the online conjecture mill assumes that Google took a hit unloading the assets. The sale includes three Google brands: Google Radio Automation, Maestro and

How much would today’s hot private companies be worth if they could magically begin trading on a public exchange? That’s hard to say, given that there aren’t a lot of public companies to compare to in areas like social networking and electric car manufacturing. But at least some analysts are speculating publicly. I came across […]

There are cleantech bulls. And then there is Steve Westly. The former eBay marketing director and onetime California state controller, who currently runs Silicon Valley venture firm The Westly Group, is predicting that the moribund market for new public offerings is about to wake up. In the next 12 months, Westly told participants today at VCJ's Financing the Cleantech Vision conference, there will be a dozen clean technology IPOs. Some of them, he predicted, will be blockbusters. It’s a remarkably optimistic outlook, given that so far this year there have been only been 13 U.S. IPOs priced in any industry – down from 35 during the same period last year, which was also a subdued period for new offerings. On the new filings front, the situation compares even more poorly – with just 12 IPOs filed this year, down 89% from last year, according to Renaissance Capital.

Companies that filed to go public before the market crashed last year seem ready to give it another go. Today, I a saw that Omeros, a biopharmaceutical company, filed an amended prospectus for a public offering it initially proposed a year ago. The company, which posted a loss of $5.5 million in the first quarter, […]

The IPO market showed some signs of life today with DigitalGlobe’s $280 million offering, and fresh indications that some long-dormant IPO candidates may actually make it to market. Shares of Longmont, Colo.-based Digital Globe priced at $19 – above the anticipated range of $16 to $18. The stock traded as high as $25 before settling […]

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System adopted a new policy today that requires fund managers to disclose fees and other information about the placement agents they hire to seek CalPERS’ investments. It’s a significant move in part because CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund, with approximately $177 billion in market assets. Board members began discussing a […]

In releasing it recommendations for reviving the moribund IPO market, the National Venture Capital Association also revealed an interesting stat. The NVCA estimates that in 2008 public companies that were once venture backed accounted for more than 12 million U.S. jobs and $2.9 trillion in revenues, according to a report to be released in early […]

In the capital intensive cleantech investment cycle, failure risk is high at every stage. But perhaps nowhere is it riskier than during what Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory biz-dev executive Annemarie Meike calls “the Valley of Death.” That’s the point, Meike says, when government funding for a project has run out, researchers have unearthed some promising […]

Double bottom line funds and mission-related venture. It sounds like the kind of thing one gets into more for altruism than to maximize returns.But as we found in this month’s Venture Capital Journal cover story, such approaches are gaining ground among more high net worth investors, and, to a limited extent, foundations. Here’s a link […]