Need money for your startup? Then you should read my new feature, “These Angels Go Where Others Fear to Tread,” in this week’s issue of BusinessWeek.
The story is about a new and increasingly prominent class of investors, which I call super-angels, who are financing startups as big-name venture capital firms conserve their cash. Over the last few years, these firms have funded hundreds of startups, including top outfits such as Facebook, Digg and Twitter.
My story focuses on First Round Capital and its co-founder Josh Kopelman. But there are a growing number of these firms, including Baseline Ventures, Soft Tech VC, Maples Investments, Felicis Ventures, True Ventures, and others.
[Risk-takers: First Round’s partners Howard Morgan, Chris Fralic, and Rob Hayes]
Since there seems to be more super-angels popping up every week, I am going to start a sort of wiki list of the firms, which I hope you all will add names to. Check out the story here.
I also sat down with BusinessWeek assistant managing editor Jim Elllis for an interview about the story in our new weekly video podcast. Check it out here.
Tags: Baseline Ventures, Digg, Facebook, Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital, Josh Kopelman, Maples Investments, Soft Tech VC, True Ventures, twitter
Creative Capital 
May 24, 2009 at 4:30 pm |
И придратся не к чему, а я так люблю покритиковать…
May 26, 2009 at 5:52 am |
Добавил в закладки. Теперь буду почаще читать!
May 28, 2009 at 1:38 am |
Spencer: Appreciated your blog/perspective on funding dynamics here in ’09. Question: would it be typical or not for a fund manager/VC to invest in a firm which represents potential competition to a project they may have previously invested? Please advise.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the new Yankee Stadium. My wife and I are headed back to our “other” home near Philly next week from here in the Bay Area and we typically pick a couple of days to drive up to the City and partake in any activity that suits our spontaneous disposition at the time. We’re planning on going to a game while we’re there, subsidized by a significant liquidity event from the sale of stock to afford the ticket prices! I love it: A-Fraud!
Hope to hear from you shortly in response to my inquiry. Thanks.
John Spitters
May 28, 2009 at 2:16 pm |
Hey John,
It is not common for VCs to invest in companies that directly compete against one another but it happens from time to time. For example, the firm that just invested $200 million in Facebook, Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies, is essentially financing its competitor. DST is an investor in several social networks in Russia and Eastern Europe.
July 2, 2009 at 4:27 am |
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