WSJ.com - Silicon Valley Start-Ups See Cash Everywhere

"Greg Gretsch, a managing director with venture firm Sigma Partners, visited Sharpcast after hearing about it from an engineer who worked there. When Mr. Gretsch asked if the company was thinking about fund raising, Sharpcast executives said they had just raised money and weren't looking for more.
'I'd like to do a pre-emptive round,' Mr. Thomas recalls Mr. Gretsch saying. Adds Mr. Thomas, 'I didn't even know what a pre-emptive round meant.'
He does now. Sigma recently signed on as the lead investor in a new $13.5 million funding round for Sharpcast, an investment that valued the company at a price more than three times its valuation in August. Sharpcast says Mr. Gretsch says he was so impressed with Sharpcast that 'I was motivated enough to jump through hoops and do a deal with them fairly quickly' at a rich price."