Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Bberg: VC Funds lost 21% 2008

"Venture-capital funds lost 21 percent of their value last year as a closed market for initial public offerings kept young companies from delivering returns for early investors.

Almost the entire decline came in the fourth quarter, after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. roiled financial markets, the National Venture Capital Association said yesterday. The association's performance index fell 19 percent from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.

Falling stock prices made it more difficult for start-ups to sell shares or merge with larger competitors. Last year, the number of IPOs by start-ups fell to the lowest level since 1977, as the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 38 percent."

2 comments:

James said...

That's still quite better than most other asset classes beyond a CD.

Steven said...

Lot of people are playing catchup right now.

My 401k is rocking.