2002 Time Line –

January

* Lucent sells 80% of its New Venture Group portfolio to Coller Capital.

* FTVentures closes $423 million second fund.

* Barksdale Group closes after investing $120 million in three years.

* Three partners, including Managing Partner Alan Menkes, leave Thomas Weisel Capital Partners.

* Norwest Venture Partners closes $400 million ninth fund.

* Mohr, Davidow Ventures reduces seventh fund size from $847 to $678 million.

* LPs sue Idealab! for fiscal mismanagement (suit is ongoing).

* Prism Venture Partners closes $429 million fourth fund.

* Catena Networks raises $75 million in fourth round financing, tying for fourth largest deal of the year.

* Synaptics completes first VC-backed IPO of 2002.

February

* Aon Corp. securitizes $450 million of LP interests without an insurance wrap.

* ComVentures reduces management fee on its $550 million fifth fund from 2.5% to 2%.

* James Wickett and Bay Partners settle a lawsuit stemming from the firm’s decision in 1999 to fire Wickett, once a Bay Partners GP.

* Jerusalem Venture Partners asks investors in its $161 million third fund for an additional $15 million.

* Optical networking company Atrica Inc. raises $75 million in 4th-round financing, tying for fourth largest deal of year.

* IRS changes rules on golden parachute payouts after a company has been merged or acquired.

* Connecticut sues buyout firm Forstmann Little & Co. for fiscal mismanagement of pension fund investments.

* Pat Hopf steps down as managing general partner of St. Paul Venture Capital, which he co-founded in 1988.

* Optical switch maker Chiaro Networks raises year’s third largest deal-$80 million in fourth-round financing.

* Optical component maker Caspian Networks raises year’s largest deal-$120 million in a 4th round financing, but suffers 75% valuation cut.

March

* CalPERS says it will stop investing in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

* NextLevel Venture Partners aborts fund-raising efforts and lays off two partners.

* New York Private Placement Exchange buys rival online venture marketplace PrivateTrade.

* Boston Bloodbath: Charles River Ventures and Highland Capital Partners fire investors, while Battery Ventures changes its mind about hiring Mary Coleman.

* Kleiner Perkins tells LPs it will call down 20%-25% less capital than originally expected for its tenth fund.

* Blueprint Ventures lays off half its partnership. One month later it cuts its management fee.

* Accenture announces plans to halt venture capital activities and sell its portfolio.

* MeVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson faces legal pressures from investor Millennium Partners.

* Optical bandwidth services provider Yipes Communications files for bankruptcy, despite having raised $291 million in venture capital.

* Redpoint Ventures reduces its $1.25 billion second fund by 25%.

* Accel Partners asks LPs in its $1.6 billion sixth fund to split their commitments over the life of the existing vehicle and a new one, trying to avoid a straight fund reduction.

* Oil and gas exploration company Bill Barrett Corp. raises $107.5 million in year’s second-largest venture financing.

April

* H&Q Asia Pacific launches $500 million venture fund and plans to dissolve financial ties with parent company Chase H&Q.

* Tucker Anthony Private Equity Capital spins out into an independent entity named Park Street Capital.

* Charles River Ventures floats idea of reducing $1.2 billion tenth fund by $600 million.

* Adams Street Partners closes $900 million fund-of-funds.

* Software switch maker Syndeo raises a $75 million third round, tying for year’s fourth largest deal.

* OVP Venture Partners ends life sciences investment practice.

* Art Marks, Gene Riechers and Hooks Johnston form Valhalla Partners.

* FleetBoston says it will cut its $4.5 billion venture capital portfolio by 45%.

* Warburg Pincus closes $5.3 billion eighth fund.

May

* Accel shelves fund-split plan and reduces sixth fund by 32.1%.

* Crosspoint Venture Partners confirms that it won’t raise another fund.

* Benchmark Capital reduces its European fund from $750 million to $500 million.

* Charles River Ventures reduces $1.2 billion eleventh fund by $750 million.

June

* Tying for year’s fourth largest deal, optical switch Mahi Networks raises a $75 million fourth round at a pre-money valuation of just $1 million, washing out Benchmark, Sequoia and other early investors.

* Veridian raises $216 million in year’s largest VC-backed IPO.

* Atlas Venture reduces $967 million sixth fund by 12% and restructures LP agreements on two earlier funds.

* Meritech Capital reduces $1 billion second fund by 25%.

* Austin Ventures cuts $1.5 billion eighth fund by 45%.

* VantagePoint Venture Partners alters management fee.

July

* Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. raises $70 million in the year’s largest life sciences funding.

* Yipes Communications emerges from Chapter 11 with a new name and $40 million in new capital.

* Viventures, Walden International and Worldview Technology Partners cut their funds by 21%, 25% and 25%, respectively. Total capital returned hits $4.3 billion.

* Carlyle Europe Venture Partners and Israel’s BRM Capital reduce funds by 40% and 11%, respectively.

* Optical networking company Pluris goes out of business, despite having raised $188 million in venture funding.

* Benchmark Capital sues Canadian International Bank of Commerce (CIBC) over an investment in Juniper Financial that could wash it out.

* WorldCom Ventures confirms it is no longer making new investments.

August

* Kleiner Perkins and general partner John Doerr named as defendants in class action lawsuit against Martha Stewart Omnimedia.

* Abbot Capital Management closes $730 million fourth fund-of-funds.

* Spectrum Equity Investors defers management fees to offset potential clawback liability on a fund. Other firms, including TA Associates,later follow suit.

* Apax Partners merges U.S. and European operations.

September

* Weil Gotshal & Manges launches Boston PE practice staffed by former Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar attorneys.

* Four VC firms go bust: iVentennial Ventures, Incepta, StartingPoint Venture Partners and Metropolis Venture Partners.

* Advent International CEO Doug Brown steps down as private equity firm shifts to partnership model.

* Goldman Sachs reduces $1.5 billion Peptech fund-of-funds by $150 million.

* St. Paul VC exits fund-of-funds business by selling remaining portfolio to Lexington Partners.

* Mary Ann Gray, former executive director of Mid-Atlantic Venture Capital Association, agrees to repay $175,000 in missing MAVA funds. Group names new director.

* Pair of VCs-Wycliffe “Wyc” Grousbeck, a GP at Highland Capital, and Stephen Pagliuca, a managing director at Bain Capital-agree to buy the Boston Celtics.

October

* The Carlyle Group closes second venture fund with $600 million.

* UTIMCO discloses confidential performance information from its $1.8 billion private equity portfolio.

* NeSBIC reduces $256.6 million venture fund by $166.3 million.

* San Jose Mercury News sues CalPERS to force it to release private equity performance data.

* JPMorgan Partners records $299 million Q3 loss, the group’s biggest quarterly loss ever.

* General Electric starts winding down $3 billion GE Equity.

* Enterprise software developer Exigen Group raises $62 million in year’s largest Series A deal.

November

* Horsley Bridge Partners reduces $2.1 billion fund-of-funds by 25%.

* Of the 177 candidates supported by VenturePAC, 163 (92%) win on election night.

* Tentative judgement in CalPERS case: IRRs are not protected by trade secret but underlying valuations are protected.

* Yale University employee union asks school to release investment portfolio data.

December

* Battery Ventures lays off nine employees and forgoes $51.4 million in management fees to offset future clawback liabilities.

* JPMorgan Partners raises $7.1 billion fund, the largest private equity fund ever, but it’s far short of $13 billion target.

* MPM Capital closes largest pure VC fund of year with $900 million.

* CalSTRS releases private equity performance data on about half of its portfolio.

* Atlas Venture cuts sixth fund again, this time from $850 million to $600 million. Firm closes West Coast offices and lays off six principals.

* CalPERS settles with Mercury News, releases data on all direct private equity investments.

* Internet switch maker Celox Networks Inc. goes out of business, despite raising $155 million of venture capital.

* Court rules that lawsuit against Idealab! can proceed.

* Yale reduces private equity allocation by 33%.

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