Venture Capital Good With Cloud, Software, Social
July 17, 2012
Grazed from InvestorsDaily. Author: Brian Deagon.
Venture capital firms feel positive about investing in cloud computing, software, and social networking, but have the least confidence in the chips and telecom sector, according to a new survey.
The 2012 Global Venture Capital Confidence Survey from Deloitte and the National Venture Capital Association also showed venture capital firms are more confident about investing in the U.S. than offshore. The exceptions to that are Brazil, Germany and Israel. The lowest confidence levels were for investing in the U.K., Taiwan and Japan.
On a 1-to-5 scale, with 5 being most confident, investor confidence in the U.S. was 3.26, compared with 2.72 internationally, the survey said. The poll had more than 440 respondents among venture capital and private equity groups in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and Israel…
Overall, respondents expressed average to low confidence levels regarding external forces affecting business, such as the economy, capital markets, public policy making activities and fundraising environments. But overall confidence levels are above average.
"By their very nature venture capitalists are an optimistic group," Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA, said in the press release. "Despite the ongoing market concerns, venture capitalists are nimble and can quickly move to where the most promising entrepreneurs, policies and innovations exist."
Said Jim Atwell, national managing partner of the Emerging Growth Company Practice of Deloitte & Touche, "We are starting to see some positive signs that the global economy is beginning to rebound from where it was two years ago."
Their confidence could rise or fall depending on the performance of two venture-back firms planning initial public offerings this week.
They are Palo Alto Networks, under the ticker PANW, and Kayak Software, under the ticker KYAK. Both IPOs are expected to price late Thursday for their public debut on Friday.