Posts Tagged ‘Charles River Ventures’

Twitter: Charles River Ventures’ 40X mistake?

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Charles River Ventures passed on the recent $100 million round of funding in Twitter, after participating in the company’s earlier rounds.

According to VentureBeat, CRV says it sat out as a function of its strategy. It funds early stage startups, and that kind of deal would eat up too much of its $325 million fund. VentureBeat also notes CRV’s investment in Twitter would produce a 40X return based on the microblogging company’s valuation.

That valuation, of course, might mean a lot, and might not mean anything.

PEHub’s Dan Primack notes CRV’s absence from Twitter’s Series C and D rounds, and offers another possible reason the venture firm skipped the latest round: “CRV made a giant mistake and is now trying to justify it.”

For helpful, $1 billion context, you can turn to Twitter itself, to see the VentureBeat headline and link retweeted into oblivion.

WSJ Q&A with Philip Kaplan of F—–Company.com

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Philip Kaplan, the founder of ad network AdBrite Inc. and dot-com obit site F—–Company.com, joined Waltham- and Menlo Park-based Charles River Ventures recently.  

The Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch has a Q&A with the entrepreneur-turned-VC. Kaplan, who recently developed a Twitter dating application, explains why F—–Company itself remains dead. 

With (for example) General Motors, that’s not funny. I don’t think anyone thinks that’s funny. Back in 2000, people thought it was funny when these companies like a furniture site would spend more on shipping furniture than buying the original furniture. People thought that was funny. People have asked me to bring (F—edCompany) back, but I’ve moved on. Somebody put it best to me and said, ‘You know, at F—edCompany your job was evaluating companies and if you thought they were f—ed you wrote about it on the Internet.’ But now I’m doing that as a venture capitalist, I’m doing it more professionally.

After the jump, Kaplan stars in the YouTube video, “Death Metal Office Drumming.”

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MHT Finance Roundup: BAE Systems lands $38M, Zygo sells assets

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Click to view the New England Tech Stock Index

Click to view the New England Tech Stock Index

BAE makes goggles and missile counter measures, Zygo sells its semiconductor business, and Charles River Ventures injects $5.3 million into stealthy telecommunications startup Beaumaris Networks.

Click the image to the right for MHT and Bentley University’s New England Tech Stock Index.

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