As banks saw increased competition for commercial & industrial lending, credit standards began to ease in the second quarter, according to the Federal Reserve. Of the senior loan officers surveyed in July, 12.5% indicated a relative easing of credit on large and middle-market borrowers (revenues in excess of $50 million), and 14.5% indicated a relative easing of credit for smaller firms, the first time credit standards have eased for small firms since 2006.
The venture capital industry rode high up to and during the dot-com boom but has suffered a vicious cycle of losses since the bubble burst. U.S. venture-capital funds raised each year from 1999 to 2007 have posted median annualized returns ranging from a 0.3% gain to a 7.7% loss, says research firm Preqin. Not surprisingly, fund raising has now come to a near halt.
Wall Street Journal article by Tom Barkley. Declaring small businesses as "central" to tackling unemployment, the Fed chief said not enough is being done to ensure that financially sound companies can obtain loans.
On the heels of a considerable contraction in investment dollars in 2008, the 2009 angel investor market exhibited a modest decrease in investment dollars but little change in the number of investments
Forget the improving economy. Entrepreneurs still find it hard to get loans. Here's why we're in this mess—and how we may get out of it.
By EMILY MALTBY of the Wall Street Journal
On June 9th, my partners and I met with more than twenty private equity firms at the ACG Boston Dealsource event. The program gave us a unique opportunity to talk in depth about the leveraged buy-outs that are getting done, the debt financing available for these transactions, and the impact of liquidity – or a lack thereof, on financial sponsors.
“Overall, the results suggest that the bundle of inputs that angel investors provide have a large and significant impact on the success and survival of start-up ventures,” the study says.
The study examined the performance of 130 firms that received interest from Tech Coast Angels and CommonAngels between 2001 and 2006. The samples include companies that ultimately won funding or were turned down.
A recent survey from the Angel Capital Association and Silicon Valley Bank points to an increased appetite for new investments among angel networks in 2010.
There were 90 venture capital fundings in New England in Q1 2010, according to the PwC/NVCA MoneyTree™ Report based on data from Thomson Reuters. That represents a 23% increase over the same quarter in 2009. The recently published report details venture capital activity nationally for Q1 2010, as well as 2009 and prior years.
Most banks in the U.S. didn’t tighten lending standards during the first quarter, according to a Federal Reserve survey that signals a possible thaw in bank credit.
August 17, 2010
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