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Prof. Raffi Amit Helms Wharton West Panel on VC Trends
Venture capital is thriving
at the moment — top firms
are flush with money, and
they’re moving ahead smartly
with investments. But in
some ways, the sector and
the technology firms that
it funds are still haunted
by the bursting of the tech
bubble in 2001.
So said a panel of experts
who gathered before reporters
in February as part
of the Wharton Seminars
for Business Journalists
at Wharton West, the
Wharton School’s campus
in downtown San Francisco.
“Last year was very good
in North America,” said
Raffi Amit, academic
director of Wharton’s
Goergen Entrepreneurial
Management Program
and an expert in entrepreneurship
and venture capital.
“There was $30 billion
invested — the highest
amount since the bursting
of the bubble. About half
of that was invested in information
technology and a
third in health care.”
Money is gushing into
start-ups because venture
capitalists are sitting on a
trove of cash at the moment
— more than $80 billion,
Amit pointed out, and
a wealth of IPOs and mergers
has created a virtuous
circle, encouraging even
more venture investments.
In other words, psychology
matters in venture capital,
as it matters in any market.
When people feel good
about the prospects for their
industry, they invest more.
For more of Amit’s comments
on venture capital,
see Get it Started!, the online
newsletter of Wharton
Entrepreneurial Programs,
at http://wep.wharton.upenn.edu/gis/.
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