Venture Firms Narrow Sights in Tough Times
Venture-capital firms are taking stiff measures to survive a tough fundraising environment and lackluster returns, including gutting their partnerships, slashing their fund sizes and refocusing their investment areas.
Take Ignition Partners, for example, formed amid the tech boom in 2000 by several former Microsoft Corp. and McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. executives. While the Seattle venture-capital firm raised around $1.2 billion over the past 12 years, it didn’t produce a consistent string of startup hits. So when it asked investors last year for money for another venture fund, the firm got the cold shoulder.
