WSJ : As Cash Stops Flowing, Venture Capitalists Get Creative

"For some venture investors, the cash crunch is an opportunity to buy into start-ups at a big discount. Bryan Roberts, a managing general partner at venture-capital firm Venrock in Palo Alto, Calif., says he recently purchased a stake in a health-care-related start-up for just 40 cents on the dollar, based on the company's last round of financing, from a cash-strapped investor he declined to name.
"The dislocations in the markets have created such losses and constraints in liquidity that investors lacking sufficient cash are being forced into uneconomic decisions to satisfy short-term problems," Mr. Roberts says."