Venture Capital Investments Fall Substantially Across the Country
Martin O'Donnell pointed out that The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that venture capital investments in Washington State have fallen to 1997 levels. That's about a 78 percent drop from the same period last year. The article says, in part, "The Pacific Northwest {region as a whole}... also was hit hard as venture investments tumbled 71 percent. Only the New York metropolitan area, which reported a 72 percent drop, and the Alaska/Hawaii/Puerto Rico region, a minor venture capital market with no deals in the first quarter, fared worse. Just five states posted bigger quarterly declines than Washington."
In our view, this is exactly the kind of purge that was necessary in order to cause a fundimental re-evaluation of the businesses that get funded. This will be good for the technology industries over the intermediate term, but try telling that to the entrepreneurs looking for capital today.