VentureBeat - Latest Comments in 20 worst VC investments of all time

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Barbara Brown — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:57:03 -0000

Nice thought..
Eileen
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foreclosure auctions

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

dbiz — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:43:03 -0000

PowerAgent, and less for the sheer $ raised but instead for the intensity and velocity of the flameout: huge PR hype packed into an incredibly short timeframe ... black star-like in its density and smallness. Vapor at its best. Not even listed on Carlick's LinkedIn profile!

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

RJ — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:13:21 -0000

General Magic :)?

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Mark Wendman — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:38:45 -0000

This dates me a bit - it far precedes the net mania, but Amdahl's Trilogy Systems ~1984 had accumulated ~$250m in investor funding and closed due to wafer yield problems and heat dissipation?, but mostly due to low yield from a nickel based wiring interconnect metallurgy - cracking and delaminating.... I only saw the prospectus from a distance....

I am guessing ~$250m in 1984 dollars is considerably more in circa 2000 dollars of most of the net firms cited...

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

James Currier — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:26:34 -0000

Matt, yes, you may be right. I am really only certain about Highland's investment, because I was in VC at the time in Boston, and our Monday meeting after that investment was announced, the firm I was at - which generally competed with Highland -- stopped investing in anything with the word "Internet" in it because the valuations were getting crazy and the business models didn't seem to work. That was 1996. :-) We had looked at the eToys deal and declined because, specifically, their cost of customer acquisition was $107 and the lifetime projected profit was about $10. I was in my mid twenties at the time, and I remember following that deal and learning that these bubbles go longer than you think, and if you get in early enough, you can get out a make a lot of money.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Patti — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:45:33 -0000

Quokka Sports was yet another truly spectacular flameout. One of the most memorable moments of the dot-bust was walking through their office space during the viewing before the bankruptcy auction. It was a veritable temple of overspending.

The problem with a list like this is that 20 isn't nearly enough.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

leec — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:18:43 -0000

Would be interesting to see this list with list of funding rounds, (estimated) valuations and participants over time.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

David Hamilton — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:11:06 -0000

There are plenty of good life-science examples beyond Xoma. One that just crossed my transom is Vascular Architects, a medical-device firm that raised more than $42 million and just sold itself for $2.8 million.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Matt Marshall — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:04:05 -0000

Thanks Mark, will note that. That seemed to be the weakest link on the list anyway.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Bob — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:37:11 -0000

Candescent should be on the list they went through over 200mm before the internet bubble.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Mark P. — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:22:56 -0000

Information on at least one of these companies is incorrect and outdated.

XOMA turned a profit in Q3 of this year

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

founder — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:13:53 -0000

It shows how visionary most of the VCs are!

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Jin — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:01:44 -0000

Where is F*cked company these days? And where is Pud's ad network?

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

recoveringvc — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:17:26 -0000

What about Pluris? Had to have gone thru $150 million...did a $100 million Series D round. Not as bad as Caspian and Procket...glad we passed on those :)

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

ArgleBargle — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:12:23 -0000

"eToys was actually a great investment for venture firms like Highland and Sequoia. They got in and got out before the bust came and made $100’s of millions."

I can tell you for a fact that Highland lost all of the money it invested in eToys. They rode it all the way up and all the way back down.

So many memories... Calient, Asera, Photuris, Brience, Corvis, StorageNetworks, Cierra Photonics, CoreExpress, Ensemble Communications. And we haven't even listed any CLECs yet!

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Matt Marshall — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:02:20 -0000

James, are you sure about Sequoia. I recall they came in very late on eToys -- right before it went public -- and with lock-up they may not have gotten out before it crumbled. I don't know, but would prefer to be certain before updating.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Miles Mellough — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:35:49 -0000

That top 20 covers most of the greatest hits of the era, but there were other notable flame-outs. Don't forget the $35 million bomb called Greatentertaining.com. Who would have thought that the world would not go crazy over themed party supplies? (If only there was a place today to overpay for Hannah Montana party cups!) Classic case of a bad idea poorly executed, and backed by blue-chip firm Benchmark among others.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Deva Hazarika — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:11:51 -0000

If only this were accurate. Unfortunately, there are countless other flameouts out there that took tens of millions (or more) of dollars in financing and then crashed before a liquidity event. I have been keeping a list for sometime, maybe I'll toss them up on the blog soon.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

tom — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:03:49 -0000

What about OmniSky? $240M in private and public funding, then bankrupt, assets sold in firesale to EarthLink.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

James Currier — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:03:20 -0000

eToys was actually a great investment for venture firms like Highland and Sequoia. They got in and got out before the bust came and made $100's of millions.

Re: 20 worst VC investments of all time

Jason — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:45:23 -0000

Who every came up with this list did a great job. All the main players are listed here. The fact that Procket, Alladvantage and Boo are all listed just shows how good the list is.