Every now and then I run into a post that I'd love VC Cafe readers to see. The post "What I learned from raising venture capital" by Gabriel Weinberg, the founder of DuckDuckGo is one of them. WHAT TO DO WHEN RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL: Save up good news for the middle of the process - launching features that promote growth and getting recognition from the industry (awards, etc) in good timing can help "maximize luck"
The latest Global Trends in Venture Capital report, compiled by the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) and Deloitte, asks the question: "Is a an active IPO market in your home country essential for the success of the venture capital industry in that market?"
I'm currently in Madrid, Spain, giving a keynote in La Red Innova, speaking about mobile search and its impact on ecommerce. Red Innova is a thought leadership conference held for the third year in Madrid
For the third consecutive year, Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist put together a list of the top 50 startups in Israel (in Hebrew). VC Cafe took note to bring you the full list of top 50 Israeli startups in English: PowerMat, Broadlight, Conduit, PrimeSense, Objet, Kenshoo, Imperva, Anobit, DoubleVerify, Wix, SuperDerivatives, AeroScout, Siano, Waze, TaKaDu, ExLibris, SolarEdge, Adsmarket, (Matomy), dbMotion, RADWIN, cVidya, Boxee, N—trig, Cotendo, Varonis, Kontera, Outbrain, RedBend, Mobixell, Celeno, AMIMON, Pontis, Gigya, Clarizen, Mobileye, Celtro, Altair, Amobee, WhiteSmoke, Cyber—Ark, OpTier, Wanova, ConteXtream, eXelate, Peer39, Netformx, Tradonomi (eToro), Surf, Zend, Soluto
Viola Private Equity, an Israeli PE fund with $164 million under management for technology buyouts, has announced a $7 million investment in Zend, the leading provider of open-source and commercial solutions based on PHP web applications.
The latest VentureDeal quarterly report is out (see pdf) and it suggests that VC activity in tech has slowed down in the third quarter. Overall, 343 US companies raised $1.8 billion in venture capital funding in Q3 2010, representing a 14% decline in total funding amount compared to the previous quarter. The number of companies funded has also declined by 6%.
The Q3 2010 MoneyTree report for Israel was published yesterday with somewhat encouraging results: VC investments in Israel continue to grow and some $253 million were invested in VC-backed tech companies in the third quarter, representing a 23% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 42% compared to the same period last year which only saw $178 million invested.
The amount raised was similar to $343 million raised by 104 companies in the previous quarter, and 13 percent above $303 million raised by 108 companies in the third quarter of 2009.
Vote on the top Israeli startups 2010 as suggested by members of the Israeli startup industry on Quora. Simply select your three top choices and leave your email to get notified of the results.
Vodafone's venture capital arm made a strategic minority investment in Israeli startup Perfecto Mobile joining previous backers Carmel Ventures and Vertex Venture Capital who invested $7 million ten months ago. The sum of the round was undisclosed, but sources in the Israeli media estimate it at $4-5 million.
