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Saints Capital: a Snapshot [PE HUB]
read moreAllConnie LoizosFri, 20 Jun 2008 01:08:37 -0500
Yesterday, Saints Capital, a San Francisco-based secondary investor, announced that it’s paying cash-strapped medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp. about $100 million for stakes in 54 private holdings. Saints announced a similar-size transaction last month, when it agreed to pay a little more than $100 million for the stakes in five companies that Safeguard Scientifics, a publicly traded life-sciences holding company, had accumulated. (Safeguard says it’s reinvesting the capital in newer companies.)
To put these amounts of money into perspective: Saints Capital closed its first, $11 million fund, in 2000. By 2006, the firm had around $450 million under management. Today, Saints is managing more than $1 billion.
I phoned Saints’ founder and managing partner Ken Sawyer last night to chat about the transactions. Because I caught him leaving a hedge fund conference in Monaco and heading toward London — where Saints, which now employs 25 people, has opened a second office — he couldn’t speak for long. What he shared is that healthcare is, right now, more interesting to Saints than information technology. “We think telecom infrastructure, mobile, those types of things are very attractive, but the demand dynamics keep changing,” said Sawyer. Sounding less than saintly, he added: “Healthcare companies are simply less susceptible to slowdowns in spending. People are always getting sick.”
Saints has long had a healthcare partner, Lilian Shackelford Murray. But as Murray slips into retirement as an investor, Sawyer has brought several new people aboard to manage Saints’ growing portfolio of healthcare-related assets, including Mike Callaghan, formerly a healthcare VC at Toronto-based MDS Capital; Robert Simon, previously a director at Alta Partners and a venture partner at Sierra Ventures; and, as of yesterday, Scott Halsted, formerly a healthcare partner at Morgan Stanley Venture Partners.
Saints isn’t alone in its growth. Secondary funding sources have been mushrooming. Roughly 30 dedicated secondary private equity funds have sprung up over the last 10 years, and their assets have grown in a straight line toward the sky. In 1998, they collectively raised $1.3 billion, but this year they’ll raise nearly $19 billion, predicts NYPPEX, a private equity trading and banking firm that tracks the secondaries industry.
The venture piece of the overall picture is much smaller, but it’s also ballooning. Saints estimates that assets for secondary direct transactions in the venture industry stood at $1.25 billion in 2006 and will grow to roughly twice that amount by the end of this year. And Saints isn’t the onl y one to doubled its platform over the last two years. Industry Ventures, another San Francisco-based secondaries firm, just closed its newest fund at $200 million, nearly as much as the $250 million it raised across seven previous funds since its 2000 inception. Lake Street Capital, Pantheon Ventures and Paul Capital have venture-oriented secondary funds that are seeing more action these days, too.
“With LP concerns about a recessionary environment that’s expected to add approximately two years to exit dates, and lower IRRs, we’re seeing a significant increase in LPs planning to sell venture fund interests this year,” said Larry Allen, a managing member at NYPPEX.
Yesterday, Saints Capital, a San Francisco-based secondary investor, announced that it’s paying cash-strapped medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp. about $100 million for stakes in 54 private holdings. Saints announced a similar-size transaction last month, when it agreed to pay a little more than $100 million for the stakes in five companies that Safeguard Scientifics, [...]
http://www.pehub.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=2595
18 Forever [VCinJerusalem]
read morefamilyJacob Ner-DavidFri, 20 Jun 2008 00:45:55 -0500
This past week Haviva and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. Mazel Tov. After four cities, two countries, and six children, our love and commitment is 18 times as strong as it was way back when -- and even then I thought, wow, how could it get any better?!
What is our secret, in a world where half [at least] of first marriages don't last? Well, I think it's a combination of many things, but for me the most important thing is that we are still 18. Wait, how is that possible -- did we marry at birth? In the kabbalistic [mystical] realm maybe, but no, what I mean is that we have preserved our enthusiasm for life and living it together no different than we were 18, just a little smarter and more experienced (it helps that Haviva still looks 18!).
Haviva and I met when we were 18, and it took us almost three years to officially "marry" (at age 21), but I still look at her like the day we met -- just much more in love. I hate to sound so sappy, but its true and I am thrilled to share with the world.
What is it mean to look at life from the eyes of an 18 year old? To believe anything is possible, anything is achievable. That there is an essential goodness to the other, and to be always optimistic, even when recognizing the challenges.
18 has become a magical number in many parts of the world, in Jewish numerology has long been a "lucky" number, as the letter for the hebrew word Chai [life] add up to 18. Oh, and our initials spell out Chai....
18 is the point at which the Western world deems you and adult--able to vote, fight, and yes, marry.
At the 18 point in our marriage, I am ready to [re]dedicate myself to a life together with Haviva and our expanding family...may we enjoy many more "18" moments together. Mazel Tov.
This past week Haviva and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. Mazel Tov. After four cities, two countries, and six children, our love and commitment is 18 times as strong as it was way back when -- and even then...
Great coverage of Daylife in BusinessWeek [localglo.be]
read moreTAGdaylifeportfolioMedianoreply@blogger.com (Saul)Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:20:38 -0500
Congrats to Upe and the team at Daylife on this great article by Jon Fine in BusinessWeek - it just goes to show that persistence and patience really pays off.
Finally mainstream media is starting to really understand how influential the Daylife inventory machine can be not just for traditional media players who want to grow relevant page views without layering on significant editorial cost, but also for any company looking to fold in timely, newsworthy content into their websites.
read moreNewsGatorNewsGatorWidgetsJeffThu, 19 Jun 2008 23:01:48 -0500
We released a new version of our popular Editor’s Desk widget service today. Featuring a dramatically updated interface and some cool new tools for creating and managing widgets, this is a big upgrade to something that already works really well. I particularly like the Facebook app creator that converts any widget into a full blown Facebook application.
We played around with the new version of Editor’s Desk and were impressed with how easy the whole creation process really was. To create a widget, you can either add your own RSS feeds or choose a collection of feeds from categories provided by NewsGator. The free version of the service only provides minimal customization options for your widgets, you can select from a set a templates and then modify some of the colors, but if you pay for the premium version of the service, you can customize the CSS and HTML of the widgets. Some companies like USA Today and The Discovery Channel have already done that with spectacular results.
There is a lot to check out here and this goes well beyond any other widget service’s ability to handle content feeds in a widget. Not only do we allow for the aggregation of multiple feeds but also the manipulation of feed content, the creation of keyword driven persistent search feeds that grab content from blogs and feeds, Twitter, LinkedIn messages, and much more. We also give you the option of adding feed “bundles” as sources from a comprehensive catalog of feeds. Cool stuff.
We updated the default widget templates and added multiple user profile management.
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We released a new version of our popular Editor’s Desk widget service today. Featuring a dramatically updated interface and some cool new tools for creating and managing widgets, this is a big upgrade to something that already works really well. I particularly like the Facebook app creator that converts any widget into a full blown [...]
This "I quit" letter by my friend Stewart Butterfield is making the rounds. Stewart., the co-founder of Flickr, is -- how shall I say? -- smart, unusual and a tireless ironist. With that context in mind, his letter to Brad Garlinghouse at Yahoo telling him that he was leaving is really just par for the course. Nevertheless, it is the most drily amusing "I quit!" letter I have seen.
Dear Brad.
As you know, tin is in my blood. For generations my family has worked this most useful of metals. When I joined Yahoo! back in '21, it was a sheet-tin concern of great momentum, growth and innovation. I knew it was the place for me.
Over the decades as the company grew and expanded, first into dyes and punches, into copper, corrugated steel, synthesized rubber, piping, milling equipment, engines, instruments, weaponry, and so on. I still felt at home, because tin was the core of the business.
read moreHenry BlodgetThu, 19 Jun 2008 21:52:00 -0500
In the past week, more than half a dozen high-profile senior executives have suddenly and unexpectedly left Yahoo. The company desperately needs strong, frank leadership and communications, both internally and externally. Instead, when the New York Times asks Yahoo about the executive exodus, it gets this:
'We have a deep and talented management team across all areas of the company.' [We are experiencing] 'the attrition that's to be expected in the Internet industry.'
Yahoo executives are discussing a plan to centralize numerous product groups, such as its mail, search and homepage divisions, into a global product organization, according to people familiar with the matter. The plan is being pushed by Yahoo President Susan Decker, who has been looking to improve communication between Yahoo's product teams and overseas sales groups, according to these people...
Some details could be announced as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the plan. Who will lead the group remains in-flux, as do other details. Hilary Schneider, executive vice president for global partner solutions, is likely to oversee revenue and sales, according to these people, and possibly some products that fall outside the global group, such as Yahoo's media properties.
Jerry was on the east coast this week, trying to sell Washington on the Google deal, and Sue may always have more direct control over the company's operations. But given the level of turmoil at Yahoo these days, it's still interesting that, in a company-leaked article on a big reorganization, Jerry's name didn't even appear.
Yahoo needs strong, tough, and decisive leadership immediately. Specifically, it needs to clean house of every executive that isn't committed to a multi-year turnaround, bring in new talent, and then hunker down and execute. This sort of leadership isn't always popular, especially at the beginning. It's also not the sort of leadership that one immediately associates with Jerry.
It's critical, though. If it doesn't happen, Yahoo will disintegrate.
Accepting of the "New New Thing"? Not Just Yet. [punctuative! by Matt Winn]
read moreEntrepreneurshipForesightScience and TechMattThu, 19 Jun 2008 20:42:38 -0500
Controversy walks hand-in-hand with innovation.
It seems, after all, that conversation focused on what’s to be raises hairs. Never mind that we can’t agree on the forecasting. It’s that even when we agree, the outlook may be distasteful.
In the past week, more than half a dozen high-profile senior executives have suddenly and unexpectedly left Yahoo. The company desperately needs strong, frank leadership and communications, both internally and externally. Instead, when the 
Yahoo's
