News Briefs

DFJ Is Latest Victim of Droopy Fund-Raising Environment

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Everyone knows the fund-raising market has gotten more difficult, but a table I put together for a webinar I’m hosting tomorrow shows just how bad it is. Take a look below. Just skimming through a couple of months of coverage in Venture Capital Journal and PE Week, I was able to identify at least 16 firms that came up short of their goals. In one case, a firm abandoned fund-raising altogether and in another the firm postponed it till the market improves.

I don’t think we’re going to see any improvement any time soon—for GPs, anyway. In fact, Private Equity Insider just reported today that Draper Fisher Jurvetson has cut the target of its 10th fund from $600 million to $400 million and it’s offering better terms for LPs, including carried interest that starts at 20% instead of 25% and is based on performance benchmarks.

Given the sorry state of VC returns, I believe prospective LPs are going to start seeing even more favorable terms. I’ll report back on what I hear at our webinar tomorrow.

The panelists for “Raising a VC Fund in a Bear Market” are Dulcie Brand of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, who represents LPs such as CalPERS; Keith Spears of Hamilton Lane, who invests money on behalf of CalPERS in emerging managers; John Steuart of Claremont Creek Ventures, one of the few funds of late that came in above target; and David Tegeler of Proskauer Rose LLP, who is co-chairman of Proskauer’s Private Investment Funds Group.

Click HERE to register.

FUND-RAISING WOES
Name Type of firm Target Fund # Notes Source
2X Consumer Products Growth Partners Growth stage VC $30M I Fell short by $10M. In market since summer 2007. Venture Capital Journal, March 2009
Aisling Capital VC and public investments in life sciences $750M III Fell $100M short of goal. Held final close on $650M. Still more than $550M raised for fund II in 2005. Venture Capital Journal, February and May 2009
ArrowPath Venture Partners (fka E*Trade Group) Early stage VC n/a III Abandoned fund-raising plans. Raised $209M for fund II in 2000. Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2009
Atlas Venture Early stage VC $500M VIII Fell short by $217M. Held final close on $283M. Raised $385M for fund VII in 2006. Venture Capital Journal, March 2009
BlueRun Ventures Early stage VC $300M IV Fell short by $60M. Held final close on $240M PE Week, May 4, 2009
DFJ Frontier Seed VC $80M II Fell short by $25M. Held final close on $55.4M PE Week, May 4, 2009
DFJ Gotham Ventures Early stage VC $125M II Has raised only $35M to date. In market since June 2007. Venture Capital Journal, May 2009
Essex Woodlands Health Ventures Early stage VC $1B VIII Fell short by $100M. Held final close on $900M. Venture Capital Journal, May 2009
Gcube Capital Early stage VC targeting gaming n/a I Abandoned fund-raising plans. VentureBeat, April 2009
GrandBanks Capital Early stage VC $200M II Has raised only $85M to date. Been  in market since March 2007. Venture Capital Journal, May 2009
Highland Capital Partners Early stage VC $400M VIII Target is half the size of its 7th fund raised in 2006. Venture Capital Journal, May 2009
Jacobsen Partners Turnarounds $250M V Suspended fund-raising PE Week, May 4, 2009
Labrador Ventures Early stage VC n/a VI Holding off on fund-raising due to climate. Raised $90M for fund V in 2004, short of $150M target. Venture Capital Journal, March 2009
New Atlantic Ventures Early stage VC $200M III Fell $85M short. Held final close on $115. Venture Capital Journal, May 2009
New Enterprise Associates Early and late stage VC $3B XIII Cut target to range of $2B to $2.5B. VentureWire, April 2009
TransLink Capital Early stage VC $100M I Cut target to $75M. Has raised $44M to date. Venture Capital Journal, May 2009
Compiled by Lawrence Aragon, Venture Capital Journal