Private Equity is not the answer

Many startups have turned to private equity firms in the past few years for next-round fundiing, but that option doesn't look to be available in the current credit crunch.

According to the Boston Consulting Group and the University of Navarra business school in Spain, half of all companies backed by private equity are expected to default on the debt and many buyout firms will be closing their doors soon.

That opens the opportunity for private-public partnerships between VCs and foreign governments to take up the slack for driving innovation and bringing the tech economy back.

Line up set for VComm Venture Faire

The selection process is complete and the participant list in the VComm Venture Faire January 21, 2009 in Redwood City is set.  

From the gaming world, CodePlay, Mutators Research and DotRed will present their vision for game development tools and platforms representing a combined market potential of more than $80 billion. NX Vision will demonstrate its revolutionary approach to place shifting media technology and SnoCat will present a new profit model for social media.  In the medical world, ICEPhone will take the wraps off mobile communication for emergency services and iBehave will reveal technology to reduce animal testing and speed pharma technology to market.  Finally Green-sector players DesignLED and IRT Surveys will reduce power consumpton in consumer electronics and greenhouse gases in buildings, respectively.

These nine companies have been selected by the judge committe provided by the Millennium Group, Scottish Development International and ITI Tech Media, from more than 30 potential participants.

It's not just survival

Business Week Magazine ran an article this week by Rory Driscoll regarding the state of venture capital and tech startups.  Driscoll prefaced the remarks that many VCs are advising companies to cut costs going forward, but the author points out that is not the answer to success.  The real key is being able to establish the "must-have" aspect of your business front and center.

This concept is at the heart of the VComm Venture Faire.  Working with the Scottish trade governmental agencies, we are vetting participating companies and looking for that key point that makes them potentially successful in the short run.