The bursting of the Internet bubble, several years of unfriendly public markets, and changes in Wall Street and financial regulations have been hard on venture capital over the past decade. But not all the pressures facing the industry are external, especially in Silicon Valley. The venture community there is showing signs of middle age -- moving more slowly and cautiously than before, and hitting fewer home runs than it did in younger, leaner days. As a result, experts say, the sector is having trouble producing the robust performance long associated with it. This means investors need to look at venture capital, and its impact on their portfolios, in a new way.
For context, consider that back in 1995, Fortune magazine published a story questioning whether venture capital was getting too big and institutionalized to do what it did best: Generate big returns for investors by finding an entrepreneur in a garage with a good idea, and giving him the money and support needed to grow. One sign of this unhealthy bigness, according to the article, was that the industry had raised an unprecedented $5 billion in 1994. By comparison, VC firms raised $7.5 billion in the first half of 2010, according to Dow Jones LP Source.
To observers, the 2010 number represents both a comeback (firms raised nearly $1 billion less in the same period last year) and a rightsizing (the companies raised more than $14 billion in the first half of 2008, which is startling given the downward slide on Wall Street and in the economy as a whole later that year.)
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Author: Knowledge@Wharton
