Random Ramblings
Dear Home Depot: Hire Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang immediately. Because when she hands someone a shovel, it seems he can’t help but to begin digging furiously.
That was the case yesterday, when Chang sat down with Tom Perkins for a wide-ranging interview in which he reiterated his Occupy-Nazi analogy (while simultaneously apologizing for using term Kristallnacht), said he hadn’t lost touch with the common man (despite also talking about his $1.7m underwater airplane and how his watch is worth “a six-pack of Rolexes) and explained that his original letter was really prompted by a San Francisco Chronicle columnist calling his ex-wife Danielle Steel a “snob” (And can’t we all relate? After all, if someone called your spouse a “snob,” wouldn’t you respond by comparing them to Hitler?).
But, for our purposes, the most interesting part of the interview came when Perkins took some shots of some shots at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for “throwing me under the bus.” From the interview:
“They made quite a point of my not having been involved for some years, and that’s true. And I think that as I’ve distanced myself from the firm, there’s been a core decline in the firm. But i won’t go further than that,” Perkins said, before being prodded to go further. “Their philosophies and strategies have diverged significantly from my own, and my name on the door probably doesn’t mean much, if anything, any more.”
A Kleiner Perkins spokeswoman declined to comment, which is probably a smart move at this point. For the video of his KPCB comments, please go here.
*** As an aside, let this entire episode be a reminder that naming an investment firm after its founders is only asking for future trouble.
*** Last week we reported that Jason Tan had left TA Associates, where he had been director of China since May 2011. Now he’s resurfaced as a Hong Kong-based managing director with Tiger Global Management. Unclear if he’s on the private or public equities side, although I’d assume the former (given his experience with TA and, before that, Summit Partners). A firm spokeswoman declined to comment.
*** Speaking of personnel moves: Matt Blodgett appears to have left North Bridge Growth Equity, based on his disappearance from the firm’s website. He had joined North Bridge in 2007, and was promoted to general partner just last August (and led a deal last month). No response yet to repeated requests for comment.
*** Yesterday was Erin Griffith’s first day at Fortune, and immediately she broke news that Federated Media had agreed to sell off its legacy direct sales business. Or, put another way, agreed to sell off everything that was Federated Media before it acquired Lijit for just under $100 million in 2011.
Official word of the deal came just an hour or so ago, with Federated saying that the Lijit assets have been renamed Sovrn Holdings, and Federated COO Walter Knapp will become CEO. Company founder John Battelle will become executive chairman. The legacy assets were sold to LIN Digital Media, a subsidiary of publicly-traded LIN Media.
*** If you’re wondering why Union Square Ventures had so little trouble raising $350 million for its two new funds, all you must do is look at its recent performance. According to the University of Texas Investment Management Co. (UTIMCO), Union Square had an aggregate fund IRR of 61.12% over its first four funds through the end of November 2013 (and a 2.06x cash-on-cash return, even though it had yet to return a dime from its 2008 early-stage fund).
*** Secondary stuff: Cogent Partners today has released new research on the secondary private equity markets, and reports record annual volume of $27.5 billion for 2013. It also found that the second-half of 2013 featured the highest average pricing since 2007, at 92% of NAV (largely driven by LBO funds).
Given the massive amount of dry powder (and more to come, with Lexington Partners in market with a massive funds), Cogent says that it expects double-digit growth for secondary market volume in 2014. It also thinks pricing will rise, due to both the aforementioned dry powder and also increased use of third-party financing.
*** Drop a dime: Yes, I now have a Confide account. So if our anonymous tip-box isn’t too your liking, you can send me confidential emails to my danielprimack@gmail address, via the Confide app.
*** Correction: Yesterday we inaccurately reported that Providence Equity Partners had agreed to sell its remaining 31% stake in Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES Network) to 21st Century Fox (Nasdaq: FOX). Providence only holds (and is selling) around 7% of Yes Network.
Apologies. And, to make it better, dear reader, a source tells me that Providence generated a 4.5x gross multiple and around a 26% IRR on the investment. Moreover, by divesting itself of such a loathsome property, Providence Equity Partners may not formally reapply for New England citizenship.
Stuff to read at Fortune.com
Nina Easton: 5 things to expect from tonight’s State of the Union
Sanjay Sanghoe: Why income inequality matters in corporate America
Paradise lost? How garden suburbs can save Detroit
Say wha? The big-time CEO who writes her employees’ parents
Claire Zillman: Should workers get paid to dress for a day on the job?
Stephen Gandel: What arrests say about the future of bitcoin
| THE BIG DEAL |
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| Indiegogo, a San Francisco-based crowdfunding platform, has raised $40 million in Series B funding.Institutional Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers co-led the round, and were joined by return backers Insight Venture Partners, MHS Capital, Metamorphic Ventures and ff Venture Capital. www.indiegogo.com |
| VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Reed, a San Francisco-based provider of tech tools for at-home hair coloring, has raised $12 million in Series B funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by return backers True Ventures and Maveron. www.madison-reed.comCotap, a San Francisco-based enterprise mobile messaging service, has raised $10 million in second-round funding. Emergence Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by return backer Charles River Ventures. www.cotap.com
GoCardless, a London-based online payment platform focused on direct debit, has raised $7 million in Series B funding. Balderton Capital led the round, and was joined by return backers Accel Partners and Passion Capital. www.gocardless.com Simple Energy, a Boulder, Colo.-based energy engagement platform, has raised $6 million in Series B funding led by The Westly Group. www.simpleenergy.com Voxeet, a San Francisco-based audio-conferencing startup, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding.Partech Ventures led the round, and was joined by Aquiti, Kima Ventures and individual angels.www.voxeet.com
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| MOVING IN, UP, ON & ON |
|---|
| J. Rich Alexander has joined Advent International as an operating partner, with a focus on the chemicals space. He had a 35-year career at PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE: PPG), most recently leading its global architectural coatings, fiber glass and flat glass businesses. www.adventinternational.comSheila Bair, former head of the FDIC, has agreed to join the board of Spain-based Banco Santander.www.santander.com
Bill Bron has joined Pine Brook Partners as a managing director in the investment’s firm’s financial services team. He was a founding and managing partner of ACON-Bastion Partners II, and is chairman of Pine Brook portfolio company United PanAm Financial Corp. www.pinebrookpartners.com David Dobies has joined The TCW Group as a Boston-based managing director in the firm’s direct lending group. He previously was a founding partner and co-head of mid-market leveraged lending at NewStar Financial. www.tcw.com Paul Palmieri, the founder and former CEO of Millennial Media (NYSE: MM), has joined New Enterprise Associates as a venture advisor. www.nea.com |
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