Duh! Boston VC has a Pulse

Remember all that chatter earlier this month over how Boston VC is dead?

Talk of this came about because Greylock Partners, after operating in the Boston area for more than four decades, announced it plans to relocate its HQ to Silicon Valley and that Partner Don Sullivan will also pack up and move to California. The firm plans to staff up its California office in the coming years.

Many of the stories I read online, including a post from the Boston Globe, suggested Greylock’s move is a big blow to Boston’s rep as a tech and startup hub. Bijan Sabet, a partner at Boston-based Spark Capital, commented on the Globe’s website that he was “concerned about our local market.”

As much as I’d like to kick Boston in the teeth when they’re down–since I’m a Bay Area sports guy and we haven’t had a championship for one of our sports franchises since long before the dot-com bust–Boston is doing fine, everybody, so relax.

I think the furor that the Greylock move caused was partly a result of how slow VC activity is these days, and it was something to grab onto for a few days. Truthfully, this is nothing new for Greylock, which has been doing more and more action in Silicon Valley over the last several years. Keep in mind that GPs Bill Helman and Bill Kaiser are remaining in Boston. Greylock is not abandoning Beantown.

Apparently, Matrix Partners didn’t get the memo that Boston VC is dead.

The firm is renewing its lease in Waltham, Mass., according to this post in the Boston Business Journal.

I looked up MoneyTree data and although the amount of dollars invested in Massachusetts fell last year, the state garnered about 10.5% percent of all dollars invested nationwide, just as it has done the previous three years.