Venture capitalists today look far and wide for start-ups
By: Edward Iwata
Aug. 28, 2008
(excerpt from article)
Increasingly, Silicon Valley venture firms such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Capital are looking beyond U.S. tech hotspots and investing from Dubai to Dublin. Since 2001, U.S. venture firms have raised $230 billion in venture capital worldwide — with $40 billion coming last year, according to Ernst & Young.
Of course, U.S. companies have long dominated IPOs. But in the first half of this year, only one — Visa — made the Top 10 IPOs in the world. The rest are based in China, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and other countries, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.
"Entrepreneurship and innovative technology has gone global," says DFJ managing director Raj Atluru. "Back in the early 2000s, a software engineer in India was maybe two years behind us. In 2005, he was six months behind us. Now, I don't think there's any difference."
At DFJ, one-fourth of its core venture fund invests in foreign-based start-ups, including thriving search-engine firm Baidu, often called "the Google of China."
DFJ also oversees a widening network of 20 foreign "partner funds" run by venture capitalists and investors from Asia to Europe. Managing director Don Wood says the DFJ-branded funds manage $6 billion in investments and are seeing "strong deal flow and a steady flow of exits" via IPOs and acquisitions.
