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U.S. Venture Capital Firms Raise Highest Amount Since 2001

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 9, 2006 - 3:39am.
San Francisco - U.S. venture capital firms raised $22.16 billion last year, making it the largest fund-raising year since 2001, according to new statistics from VentureOne. The figure was up 19% from 2004, though the number of funds actually dropped slightly. The firm said that the trend toward larger funds is a result of "the increasing globalization of the technology market and the need to provide entrepreneurial companies with larger rounds of financing so they can scale up quicker than the competition." In the fourth quarter, the largest U.S. fund raised was the $1.4 billion Technology Crossover Ventures
tags: Raise | 20%% | Highest | Venture | Amount |

Sprint, Cable TV Firms Invest $200 Million in "Convergence" Joint Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2005 - 4:12am.
New York - Wireless network operator Sprint Nextel announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with cable TV providers Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Advance/Newhouse Communications on a joint venture that aims to offer bundled mobile, TV, broadband and voice services to 75 million homes. Sprint will invest $100 million in the venture, while the cable firms will collectively contribute another $100 million, to develop and market the converged services. New features expected from the combined services include remote programming of home digital video recorders via cell phones, mobile viewing of streamed TV, music and DVR recordings, and mobile access to cable broadband e-mail accounts. The companies will also collaborate on the development of new devices for the services. Beginning in 2006, the venture plans to sell and market their co-branded products and services in Sprint's 1,600 retail stores, Radio Shack stores, and cable retail outlets.
tags: Cable TV | Sprint | Venture | Convergence |

U.S. Venture Capital Fundraising Grows 16% in Third Quarter

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2005 - 4:05am.
San Francisco - U.S. venture-capital fund raising grew 16% in the third quarter, compared with the previous year, according to new statistics from Dow Jones's VentureOne. All told, venture capital firms completed 27 funds worth $5.91 billion. Though the number of funds was about the same as a year ago, their average size grew considerably, continuing a recent trend. For instance, more than 30% of the funds that have closed so far this year have been in the $250-$499 million range, up from 20% of funds from last year. Another 5% are between $500-$999 million -- the most funds of that size completed since 2001. "Despite the larger funds, fund raising, of course, has yet to match the levels raised during the 1998 to 2001 timeframe," said John Gabbert, the vice president of worldwide research at VentureOne. "But we are seeing that the venture-capital industry has reached a level of sustainability, with venture investors closing funds at a close pace to the level they are investing."
tags: U.S | Venture | Fundraising | Third Quarter |

MP3.com Founder Michael Robertson to Launch New Music Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2005 - 3:42am.
San Diego -- Michael Robertson, the founder and former CEO of MP3.com -- which posted over a million tracks from independent artists online -- announced on Wednesday plans to launch a new digital music service that will focus on interoperability and consumer choice. The new venture, MP3tunes, will offer a hardware device, software products and an online music store available in coming months. "When I started MP3.com, the term 'MP3' was an obscure acronym recognizable only by geeks," said Robertson. "Today, certain market forces are trying to drive consumers away from MP3 towards proprietary systems, which lock out some consumers and force everyone to buy a particular company's player or software program. I wanted consumers to have more options, so I felt compelled to reenter the music space to bring the limelight back to MP3." Robertson said MP3tunes' first product will be an online music store featuring high-quality downloads in MP3 format, free from any digital rights management protections. Since selling MP3.com to Vivendi Universal in 2001 for $372 million, Robertson has founded companies that offer a Linux operating system and VoIP services.
tags: New | Venture | Musics | Michael Robertson | MP3.com |

EU Approves Disney-Columbia Video-on-Demand Joint Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 12, 2004 - 7:20am.
Brussels -- The European Commission on Thursday approved the proposed joint venture between The Walt Disney Company, U.K.-based ON Demand Group and U.S.-based film studios Columbia Pictures to provide video-on-demand services in the U.K. and Ireland. The Commission said the joint venture -- called MovieCo -- would increase competition for BSkyB "to the benefit of cable customers" in both countries. In a statement, the Commission said it had examined the transaction's impact on the competitive structure of the market and concluded that the joint venture would give cable network operators "an alternative to procure video content other than BSkyB", currently the dominant player. ON Demand manages transactional TV services, including the launch and operation of pay-per-view and video-on-demand services.
tags: Video-on-Demand | EU | Venture | Disney-Columbia |

EU Lists Objections to Microsoft-Time Warner Joint Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 12, 2004 - 7:17am.
Brussels -- According to news reports, the European Commission this week officially notified Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. of its objections to the U.S.-based companies' proposed bid to jointly acquire ContentGuard, a specialist in digital media distribution. Although the list of objections has not been released, European regulators are reportedly concerned the deal would give Microsoft a dominant position in the Digital Rights Management (DRM) market. The Commission has also expressed concern that the joint venture would stifle the development of open interoperability standards in Europe. All that said, some industry experts are predicting the Commission will approve the deal if Microsoft and Time Warner agree to grant third parties access to their technology through licensing. Microsoft and Time Warner now have two weeks to respond to the Commission's statement and until Jan. 6, 2005, to present any settlement terms.
tags: Microsoft | Time Warner | EU | Venture |

Audible, Random House Joint Venture to Sell Audiobooks in Germany

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2004 - 9:59am.
Wayne, N.J. -- Audiobook publisher Audible on Tuesday announced the formation of an international joint venture with publisher Verlagsgruppe Random House and Holtzbrinck Networxs to create a German-language version of its online audiobook store. Audible.de is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2004 and will consist of a German language site featuring German audio content as well as Audible's English-language content for download. New Jersey-based Audible also announced on Tuesday that it partnered with C-SPAN to offer free audio downloads of keynote speeches from the 2004 Republican National Convention.
tags: Germany | Audible | Venture | Audiobooks | Random |

Report: Venture Capital Returns Positive for First Time in Three Years

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 22, 2004 - 3:35am.
New York -- One-year returns on venture capital investments were positive during the fourth quarter of 2003 for the first time in three years, posting an aggregate 8% growth, according to a new report from Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association. The total private equity asset class -- including venture capital, buyouts and mezzanine funds -- posted an 18.3% performance in the fourth quarter, representing the second consecutive positive quarter, the survey found. "There is reason to think that continued increases are sustainable especially if the IPO and M&A exit markets continue to improve this year," said Jesse Reyes, vice president at Thomson Venture Economics.
tags: Raise | Venture | Capital | Positive |

Square, Electronic Arts to End Joint Venture After Square-Enix Merger

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 19, 2003 - 2:52am.
Los Angeles -- Square, the Japanese video game developer responsible for the popular "Final Fantasy" franchise, announced on Wednesday that, following its previously announced merger with Enix, the company will end its five-year joint venture with Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts. Square Electronic Arts, which handled the publishing of all Square titles in North America, will be dissolved on March 31; Square will then merge with Japan-based game publisher Enix on April 1. Square Enix U.S.A. will be established to publish Square Enix titles in North America, with Jun Iwasaki serving as president and CEO.
tags: Electronic Arts | Venture | Square | Square-Enix |

Ericsson, Sony Inject Millions More Into Mobile Joint Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 29, 2003 - 4:31am.
Stockholm and Tokyo -- Japan's Sony and Sweden's Ericsson said on Wednesday that they will invest an additional 150 million euro ($162 million) each into their struggling mobile phone joint venture. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, created in October of last year, has been losing market share to competitors Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Siemens, partly because it has been unable to deliver its phones in volumes to shops in time.
tags: Mobile | Sony | Ericsson | Venture |

Report: Venture Reporter Parent Rising Tide Studios Up for Sale

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 27, 2003 - 4:54am.
New York -- Crain's New York Business reports that Rising Tide Studios, publisher of Venture Reporter, Silicon Alley Reporter and Digital Coast Reporter magazines, has put itself up for sale. The company is carrying $2 million in debt, and may file for Chapter 11. New York-based Rising Tide founder Jason McCabe Calcanis told Crain's that a group of New York-based angel investors is considering investing in the company, or a large corporation may buy the company.
tags: Reports | Venture | Studios | Tide |