Outlook for Venture Capital in 2010
Lets face it, 2009 was a bad year for start-ups. This has been reflected in the capitulation of the number of IPOs in 2009. When exits are down it makes it harder for new businesses to attract VC investment. Look, when it comes to Venture Capital and Business Angel investment it’s all about the exit. That’s life, so entrepreneurs like us must deal with it.
NVCA president Mark Heesen is concerned about the lack of early stage investments. However, it is predicted that there will be a slight increase in overall VC investment. The NVCA predicts between $21 billion and $25 billion will be invested in 2010. Clean tech and e-commerce are predicted to receive the most money. Forty eight percent of the 325 venture capitalists surveyed by the NVCA believe that more foreign limited partners will invest in US firms. However, the semi-conductor and wireless sectors are flagged as possibly seeing the biggest decline in investment.
Although an increase on 2009. These figures show that the bootstrapping skill is still an extremely important ability for entrepreneurs. However, there is always opportunity. Get your fundamentals right and you will get the funding you need. When it comes to Venture Capital and start-ups the US leads the world by a long way. Those of us outside the US should pay attention because a recovery in US start-up funding will spread across the globe.
