It's always an interesting week in venture capital. Discover the best stories, blog posts and other information inside the VC ecosystem in the US and in hotspots around the world. Onward dear reader…
Q2 VENTURE SURVEY
Fenwick & West has its quarterly venture survey of Silicon Valley venture capital activity.
Fenwick and West: Silicon Valley Venture Survey – Q2 2012
The general theme of the survey is that up rounds exceeded down rounds by a wide margin, the most in five years.
NOT THE END OF THE WORLD
DFJ Esprit VC Nic Brisbourne has an interesting post about the falling share prices at leading public Internet and digital media technology companies.
The Equity Kicker: Falling Share Prices - Not to Worry
Brisbourne says that while the falling share price problems are very real, they are a function of private "market failure to provide liquidity to investors in late stage companies."
VC LATE VS. EARLY
Venture capital investors have shifted their investment dollars from late stage deals to early stage in recent years, according to a study by Preqin.
Preqin: Industry Analysis by Stage
Preqin’s analysis assumes that the definition of "early stage" deals are all angel/seed, series A and series B deals.
PARTY CRASHERS
Got a lot of individuals in your seed stage investment round?
TechCrunch: Few People Have Fun
With hot startups taking funding from ever-larger syndicate of individual investors in the seed stage, there are negative consequences.
THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL COMMERCE
Norwest Venture Partners VC Josh Goldman is betting big on the future of social ecommerce:
Ecommerce Bytes: Goldman on Social Commerce, Part 2
Some of Goodman’s portfolio companies are redefining what it is to be a social commerce company.
NIGERIA VENTURE CAPITAL
The government of Nigeria is staking a venture capital fund for in-country investment.
WorldStage: Nigeria Launches $15 Million Fund
The Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency will anchor the fund and contribute $3.6 million out of a $15 million target, to be managed by independent fund managers.
COLD CONTACTING A VC
If you want a great way to differentiate yourself when contacting VCs without an introduction, take a look at this ‘case study’:
Mendelson’sMusing: How to Cold Contact a Venture Capitalist
The key takeaway is to do some research on your target contact and customize your approach in a meaningful way to stand out from the crowd. It's about quality, not quantity.
ANGEL BUBBLE?
John Backus of New Atlantic Ventures has a convincing post on why he prefers to be an early-stage traditional VC investor.
NAV Blog: I'd Rather Be a VC
The piece argues that the next few years will see a much greater overhang of angel deals than can be funded by VCs.
GENERAL SOLICITATION RELAXATION
Better late than never. The SEC has issued proposed rules relating to the recently enacted JOBS Act.
Morrison Foerster: Solicitation Emancipation (PDF)
MoFo has an excellent summary of the latest activity in this area that will affect the crowd funding
crowd.
RUSTIC SUCCESS
Los Angeles-based VC Mark Suster interviews Nate Redmond of Rustic Canyon Partners.
Both Sides of the Table: Speaking Out
Redmond has had a few recent successes in his relatively young career as a partner investing out of their most recent $200 million fund.