I was on a panel last night at an even organised by Jon Watts of MTM London. The event was billed as a discussion about building internet businesses in the UK, but much of the debate turned to whether we are in a bubble at the moment, a topic that keeps coming up at the moment.
When there is talk of bubbles the comparison point is always with the 1999-2000 internet bubble, a period in which a) valuations sky-rocketed and b) many highly valued businesses lacked the substance to become real businesses.
The parallels between now and the late 1990s are:
* that some businesses are commanding huge valuations – Twitter $8-10bn, Facebook $60-70bn, Groupon $12bn etc.
* some much earlier stage companies are also receiving investments at valuations getting towards $100m for companies with a small number of months of good user growth but little else
* there is a widespread feeling that new levels of web penetration are going to change the way we live and do business – last time round with the wired web, this time round with mobile
To read the full, original article click on this link: Are we in a bubble? « The Equity Kicker
Author: Nic Brisbourne
