If you're thinking of launching a technology startup, now might be a really good time to move ahead with your plans. Venture capital firm Greylock Partners announced this week intentions to funnel $575 million into a fund designed to promote new tech businesses.
If the VC firm sounds familiar, it should. Greylock Partners has a history of backing big-name startups, including Pandora, Facebook, and Digg. Furthering its association with Internet celebrity Web sites, Greylock also announced a new investing partner, LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman.
With recent reports that VCs' interest in funding startups may be waning, what accounts for the enormous commitment from Greylock? According to the New York Times, David Sze, a partner at Greylock, said that about half a billion dollars was the ideal fund size because it allowed the firm to invest in a range of deals. It often invests $250,000 to $6 million in young companies, as it did with LinkedIn, Digg and Workday. But it has also invested up to $25 million in growing companies, as it did with Pandora, Zipcar and OutlookSoft."
"Over the past forty-four years we have partnered with entrepreneurs to build hundreds of successful businesses, 150 of which have gone on to IPOs and another 100 of which have gone on to profitable M&A events," says Greylock Partner Aneel Bhusri. In other words, expect plenty of entrepreneurs to be knocking on Greylock's doors in the coming months, hoping to grab a piece of the new funding pie.
Flickr image courtesy of Andyrob.
Posted at 12:34PM Nov 06, 2009
by Joann Yates in Sun
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