From Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp to Google’s purchase of Nest Labs, large US technology companies are increasingly using the ample cash on their balance sheets for M&A. Jessica Archibald, managing director at Top Tier Capital Partners, examines how this trend is likely to continue. The motivation is largely defensive, eliminating perceived competition while diversifying into…
Will the golden years get eclipsed by smog? Introduction What do air and water quality have to do with venture capital investments? Quite a bit, actually! Untitled18Many assume that investment decisions hinge solely on manager quality and historic performance, but other macro-factors can have an enormous effect on investment decisions, particularly international investment decisions. In…
Einstein once said not everything that counts can be counted. At Top Tier Capital Partners, we often look towards the horizon to understand the long-term and peer at spreadsheets to analyze the short-term. And often, we find an interesting pattern that makes us wonder, what should be counted? The Delta: According to the National Venture…
Will 2014 bring sustained momentum for venture-backed IPOs? Introduction Initial public offerings continued their rapid rise in 2013, aided by the strong performance of the U.S. public equity markets. Last year, 222 companies successfully completed their IPOs. Those IPOs included 82 venture-backed companies, such as the blockbuster debut of Twitter in November, and comprised the…
Venture Performance in the Era of Lean Startups and Continuing Innovation Introduction With the convergence of rapid innovation, right-sized amounts of capital, and improved liquidity, the venture industry has reverted to positive cash flow over the past two years. Returns are trending towards the mean of greater than 15% IRR (Internal Rate of Return) for…
David York interviews Stephen Pagliuca of Bain Capital at SuperInvestor U.S. 2013 in San Francisco. Stephen Pagliuca (Managing Director, Bain Capital) interviewed by David A. York (CEO and Managing Director, Top Tier Capital Partners) at SuperInvestor U.S. 2013 in San Francisco. The U.S. is just coming out of a recession and but bright spots are…
Introduction You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know that investing in healthcare startups has been tough lately. Returns in healthcare investing have not been stellar for the past several years, particularly compared to returns for high-tech companies, some of which (Facebook, Splunk, LinkedIn) are finally going public and generating sizeable profits for…
Top Tier Capital Partners is a proud sponsor of Something Ventured, a documentary film investigating the emergence of the venture capital industry. Something Ventured is a documentary film about the original venture capitalists and the companies they helped to start and grow–like Apple, Intel, Genentech, Cisco, Tandem and Atari.
This article first featured in Preqin’s Private Equity Spotlight – March 2012 The days of the dot-com boom are now a distant memory to venture capitalists and the industry has been forced to evolve in the face of reduced performance. David York, CEO and Managing Director of Top Tier Capital Partners, looks at the current…
Introduction The headlines today are full of stories about small investors—variously called angels, super angels, or micro-cap VCs—participating in sought-after deals, particularly in the consumer internet space. These small, seed stage investors have backed heavyweights ranging from Facebook to Zynga to Dropbox, often at more attractive prices than traditional VCs paid when they invested in…