Start-up valuations are based on (inter alia):

• Exit potential and time-scale
• Benchmarking with other similar companies at a similar stage of development
• The level of interest in the company (more investors means more competition to invest, leading to a higher potential valuation)
• The amount of money needing to be raised now and over the life of the company
• The skill of the company and VCs in negotiating
• In some sector-specific cases you can attach a value to each active customer or user (eg of the company's software), similar to the ARPU concept for telecoms companies

Don't forget that the headline valuation of a company at investment can be pretty meaningless when you factor in liquidation preference, ratchets, dilution protection, base-line IRRs, and other elements that go into the investment agreement that protect investors.

Do venture capitalists use DCF analyses to evaluate valuations for early/seed stage startups?

The analysis also shows that in any region about 90% of the active life science investors only make 1 investment or less per year in any region.  That figure includes follow-on investments in their existing portfolio, so they make even fewer investments in new companies.  If you are looking for investment it would not be wise to only approach a short list of top investors.

You can see the analysis of top 25 investors in each region in this presentation: http://thisweekinventurecapital….

Who are the top venture capital firms in the biotech industry?

Click here to download presentation

VM Index subscribers see full details of all 60 IT Venture Capital deals from the past week plus profiles and analysis of thousands of investors and venture-backed companies.

May 9th, 2012 – Brooklyn, NY

Etsy Raises $40M To Fuel International Expansion

Etsy, the popular online marketplace for all things handmade, just announced that it has raised $40 million in a new funding round led by Index Ventures with participation by Burda, Union Square Ventures, Accel Partners. All of the investors in this round also participated in the company’s $20 million Series E round in August 2010. Including today’s round, Etsy has now raised about $92 million.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/09/etsy-raises-40m-to-fuel-international-expansion/

May 11th, 2012 – Venice, CA

Viddy gets $30 million funding

Viddy Inc.–a Los Angeles start-up that helps video makers of every skill level create and share 15-second clips throughout their social networks–has raised $30 million in a Series B investment the company confirmed Friday. New Enterprise Ventures led the round, joined by Khosla Ventures, Goldman Sachs and Viddy’s earliest institutional investors, Battery Ventures. All Things Digital earlier reported the financing.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/11/us-viddy-funding-idUKBRE84A0NV20120511

May 5th, 2012 – New York, NY

Ensequence Raises $26M Round To Tap Mobile, Connected TVs

Ensequence, a developer of interactive TV software and applications, announced that it has secured commitments for $25.99 million in funding — led by a venture fund affiliated with a family that made a fortune in pet food — to expand into mobile and connected TV markets. The funding round was led by Myrian Capital, a venture and capital management firm chaired by Mike Mathile and affiliated with the Mathile family, which owned The Iams Co., a pet-food company purchased by Proctor & Gamble in 1999 for $2.3 billion.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/484372 Ensequence_Raises_26M_Round_To_Tap_Mobile_Connected_TVs.php

May 7th, 2012 – San Francisco, CA

RichRelevance raises $20M for Continued Market Expansion

RichRelevance®, the leading provider of dynamic personalization for the world’s largest retailers and brands, today announced that it has received $20 million in venture capital financing from Crosslink Capital, Greylock Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Tugboat Ventures. New investor, Crosslink Capital, led the round and Partner, David Silverman, will join RichRelevance’s Board of Directors.  The round will be used to accelerate growth with expansion into new markets, introduction of new product innovations and research and development.

http://www.richrelevance.com/blog/2012/05/richrelevance-raises-20-million-for-continued-market-expansion/

May 8th, 2012 – Portland, OR

Elemental Secures $13M to Ignite Business Expansion

Elemental Technologies, the leading supplier of video solutions for multiscreen content delivery, today announced that it raised $13 million in Series C financing led by Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). NVP joins existing investors General Catalyst, Voyager Capital and Steamboat Ventures, who also participated in the round. The new funding comes as Elemental invests aggressively to extend its leadership in the multiscreen content delivery market.

http://www.elementaltechnologies.com/newsroom/press-releases/elemental-secures-series-c-to-ignite-business-expansion

May 9th, 2012 – San Francisco, CA

Leap Motion Raises $12.75 Million

Leap Motion, a San Francisco-based motion-control software company changing the future of human/computer interaction, today announced a $12.75 million Series A funding round led by Highland Capital Partners with participation from existing investors. Leap Motion has been operating in stealth mode as OcuSpec since 2010.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/leap-motion-announces-1275-million-series-a-funding-round-led-by-highland-capital-partners-2012-05-09

May 9th, 2012 – New York, NY

Social Ad Startup Adaptly Raises $10.5M From Valhalla And Time Warner

Adaptly, a startup that manages ad campaigns across multiple social networks, just announced that it has raised $10.5 million in a Series B round of funding. At the same time, it’s launching a new product called Evergreen to help advertisers promote their social network content. The round was led by Valhalla Partners, with participation from Time Warner Investments and Vivi Nevo — all three are investing in Adaptly for the first time. The company previously raised a $2.7 million round from First Round Capital, Charles River Ventures, Lerer Ventures, and others. Adaptly says all of its previous backers invested in the new round.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/09/adaptly-series-b/

May 10th, 2012 – San Francisco, CA

Mixpanel raises $10m in bid to dominate data geekery

Riding a new wave of growth, analytics startup Mixpanel today announced that it had raised $10 million in new funding. Led by Andreesen Horowitz (a new investor), the round also included PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff and Yammer Chairman and CEO David O. Sacks. The company said it will use the new funding to accelerate growth in a bid to overtake incumbents in the mobile and Web analytics market.

http://gigaom.com/2012/05/10/mixpanel-raises-10m-in-bid-to-dominate-data-geekery/

Europe

Secondary Venture Round

May 11th, 2012 – London, UK

MedicAnimal.com inks £10m Series C funding from Balderton

UK venture firm Balderton Capital has led a £10m Series C financing round for MedicAnimal.com, Britain’s largest online pet health retailer. The fundraising also included an investment from Iris Capital, which led a previous round in October 2010, as well as existing angel investors from Europe, the US and Asia.

http://www.altassets.net/private-equity-news/by-news-type/deal-news/medicanimal-com-inks-10m-series-c-funding-from-balderton.html

VM Index subscribers see full details of all 13 Health Care, Life Science & Biotech Venture Capital deals from the past week plus profiles and analysis of thousands of investors and venture-backed companies.

May 8th, 2012 – Cambridge, MA

Eleven Biotherapeutics Secures $20 Million and Expands Series A Financing

Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company designing and engineering novel and differentiated protein-based biotherapeutics, announced today that it has secured $20 million dollars in Series A equity financing, expanding the total Series A investment to $45M.   New investor, JAFCO Co., Ltd. joined the Series A financing with a $10 million investment and $10 million was received from commitments from existing investors, Third Rock Ventures and Flagship Ventures.

http://www.elevenbio.com/pdf/JAFCOEleven_Financing_Release.pdf

May 8th, 2012 – San Francisco, CA

Sutro Closes $16.5 Million Second Tranche of Series C Financing

Sutro Biopharma today announced the closing of the $16.5 million second tranche of its Series C financing. This financing was led by Skyline Ventures and included participation of Lilly Ventures, Amgen Ventures, SV Life Sciences and Alta Partners. With the Series C funding, Sutro has raised almost $60 million since its founding in 2003.

http://www.sutrobio.com/news/120508pr.html

May 8th, 2012 – Kalamazoo, MI

Vestaron Raises $10.2 Million From Series B Preferred Stock Financing

Vestaron Corporation is pleased to announce that it has completed a Series B Preferred Stock financing, totaling approximately $10.2 million, with participation by major new investors and existing investors. New investors in the Series B financing include Pangaea Ventures, Michigan Accelerator Fund, and two private investment organizations. Existing investors include Open Prairie Ventures and Southwest Michigan First, in addition to private investors.

http://www.vestaron.com/press-releases.html

May 7th, 2012 – San Diego, CA

Celladon Corporation Completes Second Close of Recent Venture Financing

Celladon Corp., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative treatments for cardiovascular diseases, announced the receipt of additional capital proceeds from a second close of its recent venture financing to advance the Company’s lead investigational product candidate MYDICAR® for the treatment of advanced heart failure. This financing was executed as an extension of its recent venture financing, which closed on February, 2012 and included new investors MPM Capital and LSP Life Sciences Partners. With this second close, total capital proceeds from the recent investment round is now $53 million. MPM Capital and LSP Life Sciences Partners join existing Celladon investors Pfizer Venture Investors, Lundbeckfond Ventures, Novartis Venture Funds, Hambrecht and Quist Capital Management, GBS Venture Partners, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., and Venrock.

http://www.celladon.net/media-center/96-press-release-may07-2012.html

May 7th, 2012 – Kalamazoo, MI

Monteris Medical, Inc. Secures $9 Million Financing

Monteris Medical Inc., a privately held medical device company dedicated to the development of innovative MRI guided, laser-based cancer treatments announced today it has secured $9 million in financing to support the continued commercialization of the company’s NeuroBlate™ System (formerly AutoLITT®) within the North American neurosurgery market. Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) led the round. Other investors included the SWMF Life Science Fund, a group assembled by Richardson GMP and a number of independent parties.

http://www.financialpost.com/markets/news/Monteris+Medical+Secures+Million+Financing/6578274/story.html

Europe

Secondary Venture Round

May 7th, 2012 – Værløse , Denmark

Egalet Raises $14.3M in Series B Financing

Egalet Ltd., a Værløse , Denmark-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing abuse-resistant medications, has raised $14.3m in a Series B financing. Backers included CLS Capital and existing investors Atlas Venture, Omega Funds, Sunstone Capital and Index Ventures.

http://www.finsmes.com/2012/05/egalet-raises-14-3m-series-financing.html

This Week In Venture Capital is brought to you by VM Index from Venture Market Intelligence – Venture Capital made easier

VM Index is an online Life Science, Med Tech & Biotech venture capital funding tool with expert data that enables companies to raise more money, faster and at a better valuation than they could otherwise.

This Week In Venture Capital is brought to you by VM Index – Venture Capital made easier

VM Index is an online IT, Life Science, Biotech & Med Tech venture capital funding tool with expert data that enables companies to raise more money, faster and at a better valuation than they could otherwise.

May 02, 2012 – Chicago, IL

Total Attorneys Secures $15 Million Growth Capital Investment Led by Bain Capital Ventures

Total Attorneys, the legal industry’s leading customer acquisition and practice management platform, today announced the closing of a $15 million growth capital investment. The investment was led by Bain Capital Ventures with BIA Digital Partners participating.

http://www.vcaonline.com/news/news.asp?ID=2012050209

May 03, 2012 – Palo Alto, CA

WePay Closes $10M Financing

WePay, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of solutions to accept payments online, has closed a $10m financing. The round was led by Ignition Partners, with participation from existing investors Highland Capital Partners and August Capital. This investment brings the total amount raised by the company to date to $20m.

http://www.finsmes.com/2012/05/wepay-closes-10m-financing.html

April 30, 2012 – Santa Clara, CA

CrestaTech Secures $13M to Develop Smart Tuners for TV and Mobile Devices

CrestaTech today announced it has secured a $13 million round of funding. The investment will be used to accelerate development of Smart Tuner™ ICs for the fast-growing market of Smart TV devices. The investment was led by Bechtolsheim Ventures, Benhamou Global Ventures, Sofinnova Ventures and AVM Capital LP.

http://www.crestatech.com/news/pr/pr_2012_04_30.html

April 23, 2012 – Newark, CA

Tegile Systems Taps $10M For Hybrid Storage

Tegile Systems Inc., a maker of hybrid storage systems, has secured $10 million in its second round of funding. Existing investor August Capital led the round.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2012/04/23/the-funded-tegile-systems-raises-10m.html

May 02, 2012 – Littleton, CO

Infinite Power Solutions Raises $10M in Series D Financing

Infinite Power Solutions, Inc. (IPS) today announced that it has successfully completed a $10M Series D financing. The funds will be used to expand IPS’ manufacturing capacity in response to growing customer demand, to complete the build out of its global sales channels and to further support advanced research and development of its eco-friendly THINERGY® solid-state rechargeable Micro-Energy Cell (MEC) products. Existing financial investors Generation Investment Management, D. E. Shaw Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners and Core Capital Partners co-led the financing, which also included participation by Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc., In-Q-Tel and two additional strategic investors.

http://www.infinitepowersolutions.com/press-room/177-ips-raises-10m-in-seriesd.html

May 03, 2012 – Palo Alto, CA

WePay Closes $10M Financing

WePay, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of solutions to accept payments online, has closed a $10m financing. The round was led by Ignition Partners, with participation from existing investors Highland Capital Partners and August Capital. This investment brings the total amount raised by the company to date to $20m.

http://www.finsmes.com/2012/05/wepay-closes-10m-financing.html

May 01, 2012 – San Francisco, CA

Castlight Health Secures $100 Million in Series D Funding

Castlight Health, the leading provider of health care transparency solutions, today announced it has secured $100 million in Series D funding. With this investment, the company will aggressively capitalize on growing customer demand for health care transparency solutions that improve the quality of health care and deliver savings to customers and users. The round brings Castlight Health’s total funding to $181 million and includes participation from two major unnamed mutual funds, as well as T. Rowe Price, Redmile Group and previous investors.

http://www.castlighthealth.com/2012/castlight-health-secures-100-million-in-series-d-funding/

May 04, 2012 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL

OrthoSensor Secures an Additional $15M in Series B Financing

OrthoSensor, Inc., the leader in intelligent orthopedics, announced that the company has closed on an additional $15 million in Series B Preferred Stock financing, bringing the total Series B investment to $36 million. The funds will be used to expand the commercialization of the company’s first product, the OrthoSensor™ Knee Balancer, and to support the launch of OrthoSensor’s line of additional intelligent orthopedic devices.

http://www.orthosensor.com/about-us/news/orthosensor-press-releases/orthosensor-intelligent-orthopedics-leader-secures-an-additional-15-mm-in-series-b-financing

April 30, 2012 – Houston, TX

OrthoAccel Announces $10 Million USD Equity Investment

OrthoAccel Technologies, Inc. (“OrthoAccel” or “the Company”) today announced an investment of $10 million in growth capital to fund the US launch of its AcceleDentTM system and ongoing working capital needs. The investment was led by HealthpointCapital Partners (“HealthpointCapital”), with existing investor S3 Ventures (“S3”) also participating. In conjunction with the financing, HealthpointCapital’s John McCormick will join the company’s board of directors.  Brian R. Smith from S3 Ventures will remain on the board.

http://www.acceledent.co.uk/news/10million_investment

Europe

Secondary Venture Round

May 3, 2012 – Oxford, UK

Oxford Nanopore announces £31.4 million ($50.8 million) fundraising

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd, a privately held company that is developing a disruptive technology for the real-time electronic analysis of single molecules, today announced that it has raised £31.4 million ($50.8 million) in new funding via a private placement of ordinary shares in the Company. This round of funding, nearly all of which comes from existing investors, will support a range of corporate development activities.

http://www.nanoporetech.com/news/press-releases/view/40

This Week In Venture Capital is brought to you by VM Index from Venture Market Intelligence – Venture Capital made easier

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North America

Europe

Breakdown By Sector

Life Sciences

Largest Deals

TMT

Largest Deals

his Week In Venture Capital is brought to you by VM Index – Venture Capital made easier

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WeVideo Secures $19.2M in Funding

Crest Capital Ventures Sees Compelling Advantages in Cloud-Based Collaborative Video Editing

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 24, 2012– WeVideo (www.wevideo.com), creators of the world’s most powerful and easy-to-use online video editing platform, today announced that it has secured $19.2M in a Series A funding round, led by Crest Capital Ventures of Houston, TX. The additional funding will help WeVideo to position the company as a global leader in the online video creation space for both consumers and businesses.

The new funding comes on the heels of a number of recent product and partnership announcements involving WeVideo, including its integration with YouTube, its commercial product launch, its partnership with the Qatar Foundation International (www.qfi.org), its adoption by Startup Idol and the TechZulu news organization, the development and launch of a power video editing app for Android tablets, and “tag & bag” creation of broadcast promos.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wevideo-secures-19-2m-funding-115500527.html

SVR

Moat Raises $12M Series B led by Mayfield Fund

NEW YORK, NY, April 23, 2012– Moat Inc. (www.moat.com), a SaaS company focused on transforming brand advertising online, is announcing a $12 million Series B financing led by Silicon Valley’s Mayfield Fund, with continuing participation from existing investors. Mayfield’s Tim Chang will join the Board.

Moat’s products include:

•Moat Intelligence – Moat’s first intelligence product – the patent-pending Moat Ad Search – has become a very popular ad industry platform used by over 15,000 businesses including thousands of top brands, premium publishers, and ad agencies. The company will be rolling out a premium version of intelligence with enhanced data and insights.

•Moat Analytics – Moat has created a patent-pending analytics platform to enable brand advertisers and publishers to move beyond the “click” as the primary success metric for online ad campaigns. The platform provides actionable insights to advertisers and publishers and helps measure in real-time whether consumers are paying attention and engaging with ads. Moat Analytics has already measured billions of impressions for top advertisers and publishers.

Moat will use the funds to expand their team with a continued focus on building innovative products.

http://www.moat.com/pages/press_release_4_23_2012

Terascala Announces $14M Series B Funding Round Led by Strategic Partner Consortium

AVON, Mass., April 24, 2012– Terascala, Inc., the leader in accelerating big data applications through storage I/O optimization, today announced that it has closed a $14 million Series B funding round. Strategic partners close to the company invested approximately fifty percent of the round, with Ascent Venture Partners, an early backer of the company, contributing the remainder. Terascala will use the funding to significantly expand research and development, marketing, customer support, to develop strategic alliances, and to fuel international expansion.

“We’re thrilled to close our Series B round with a significant investment from industry leaders and continued support from Ascent,” said Steve Butler, CEO of Terascala. “Our pioneering work in developing a software stack that delivers optimized, scalable I/O on industry-standard storage appliances enables organizations to accelerate big data applications, and clearly, industry leaders are taking notice.”

http://www.terascala.com/pr-roundb.php

BrightTag Secures $15 Million in New Financing

New Funding Led by Baird Venture Partners to Fuel Triple-Digit Growth for the Tag Management and Real-Time Data Distribution Provider

CHICAGO, Ill., April 25, 2012– BrightTag, a technology platform provider for the digital marketing industry, announced today it has closed $15 million in new financing. Baird Venture Partners led the round with participation from existing investors New World Ventures, TomorrowVentures, EPIC Ventures, I2A and Silicon Valley Bank.

BrightTag achieved 12x year-over-year growth in 2011 and is on pace to reach triple-digit growth in 2012. The company lists 1-800-Flowers.com, JetBlue Airways, Grainger and Chegg among its many enterprise clients. This latest round of financing will be used to accelerate development of BrightTag’s innovative technology platform and expand the company’s sales efforts in the US and overseas.

http://www.brighttag.com/2012/04/25/brighttag-secures-15-million-in-new-financing/

ParAccel Closes Record Q1 Revenues and $20 Million Investment Round

500% YOY Growth Fueled by Market Demand for ParAccel Analytic Platform

CAMPBELL, Calif., April 25, 2012– ParAccel, Inc., a leading enterprise analytic platform provider, today announced record Q1 revenue and the close of $20 million in funding from its existing investors. The company will use the investment to expand and capture the growing demand for ParAccel’s analytic platform, which helps companies gain competitive advantage through unconstrained insights into their data.

“We are off to a great start for 2012, as Q1 was the largest quarter in the history of the company,” said Chuck Berger, chairman and CEO for ParAccel. “The confidence demonstrated by our core investors doubling down on ParAccel underscores the momentum we’re experiencing with customers and the sharp uptick in market demand for ways to harness big data to develop new business insights.”

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/paraccel-closes-record-q1-revenues-and-20-million-investment-round-1648499.htm

IPO

Envivio, Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering of Common Stock

South San Francisco, California – April 24, 2012 – Envivio, Inc. today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 7,755,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $9.00 per share.  The shares are expected to begin trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on April 25, 2012 under the symbol “ENVI.” Of the shares of common stock in the offering, Envivio is offering 6,500,000 shares and selling stockholders are offering 1,255,000 shares. In addition, certain selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,163,250 additional shares of common stock. Envivio will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

http://www.envivio.com/en/newsandevents/press-releases/envivio-announces-pricing-ipo/menu-id-113.html

EUROPE

FVR

SoCloz Raises First Funding

SoCloz, a Asnières-sur-Seine, France-based pre-shopping platform, has raised its first funding round.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Backers include Alven Capital, FaDièse, and business angels Oleg Tscheltzoff, Geoffrey Bragadir and Cèdric Manguard.

The company intends to use the funding to develop new partnerships and add new functionalities to its platform.

Founded in 2010 by Jérémie Herscovic, SoCloz is a shopping assistant that allows users looking for products to identify the physical stores that have them, providing additional info related to pricing, stock levels, distance to the shop and opening times.
The service, which will soon be available on mobile, has already monitored 755,000 products in 6,200 shops from retailers such as Darty, Conforama, Natura & Scoperte, TheKooples, The Lair di Bacco, etc.

http://www.finsmes.com/2012/04/socloz-raises-funding.html

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VM Index is an online IT, Life Science, Biotech & Med Tech venture capital funding tool with expert data that enables companies to raise more money, faster and at a better valuation than they could otherwise.