Earlier this month my post “Zombie VCs” raised hackles throughout the industry by naming firms who appeared to be inactive based on a lack of new investment data available in Crunchbase,
If today’s article byDan Primack of Fortune “Fewer than 100 tech VCs left?” is anything to go by, my active investors list may be far too inclusive, and the zombie VC list should probably be quite a bit longer.
According to Fortune:
New data suggests the decline has been more severe than previously thought, finding fewer than 100 active U.S. VC firms in the technology sector.
In fact, in a presentation made by venture capitalist Mark Suster to FLAG Capital it appears active investors (defined as those who have invested 1M per quarter for 4 consecutive quarters) has dropped to just 86 firms:
Fortune.com
ONLY 100 TECH VCS LEFT? @msuster SAY SO. NO LOOK AT ME, GRIMLOCK, ME ONLY ATE SOME OF THEM. buff.ly/15JXjqS
— FAKEGRIMLOCK (@FAKEGRIMLOCK) April 24, 2013
Or another headline over “less then 100 left” would be “VC numbers increased by 15% since 2010”