New Fund Raises More While Fundraising Than It Wanted To Raise In Funds

Morning Report: Here’s a quick illustration of 2017.

The major tech companies, each worth north of $500 billion, are all within 2 percent of their 52-week highs today. That puts all of the biggest American tech shops within 2 percent of their all-time highs. It’s a rich time to be an incumbent tech company.

Follow Crunchbase News on Twitter & Facebook

But, as we have seen, there is significant strength in the lower-end of the market as well. To wit, the following paragraph from Dan Primack’s excellent Pro Rata newsletter caught our eye this morning:

A few thoughts about that. First, that there already was something called Bedrock Capital, which, according to Crunchbase, was acquired by United Capital. That deal, as it turns out, went down in 2016.

Second, the firm raised $18 million more for its first fund than it initially wanted to. That’s by itself not too surprising. Shit happens. Perhaps the founding duo were more effective salespeople than they expected. But to close a subsequent fund right after is slightly funny.

So just how much money is left out there to push into exotic allocations like venture capital? Apparently, the answer is a lot.

For founders, all this can’t be but good news. More funds chasing to lead or participate in deals will only lead to more founder-friendly terms.

But I can’t help but wonder how long the good times are going to stay good. And what’s even worse is that no one knows, either.

From the Crunchbase Daily:

Tax change would hurt US startups

• The U.S. Senate is weighing a tax change that would charge people as their startup equity vests instead of when they cash it out. Tech industry leaders are lobbying to block it, saying such a move could deal a devastating blow to startups that use options to attract top talent.

Jurvetson leaves DFJ

• Steve Jurvetson, co-founder of Silicon Valley venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), is stepping down as a partner in the wake of harassment allegations. He is also reportedly on a leave of absence from the boards of Tesla and SpaceX. Jurvetson said he plans to focus on personal matters including potential legal action for defamation.

Lyft could profit by 2019

• A recent publication of Lyft performance figures provides an intriguing look at the No. 2 U.S. ride-hailing player. The short and predictable version is that Lyft is growing quickly and loses money. It lost about $600 million in 2017 and expects to do so again in 2017, even with revenue doubling. But current projections call for operating profits by 2019, Crunchbase News reports.