DISQUS

VentureBeat: Roundup: Option scandal spreads, Vonage’s success, and more

  • Andrew Fife · 3 years ago
    Matt:
    Successful IPOs are priced accurately and don't have major swings in either direction over the first couple of weeks. Major swings up in price hurt the company because they could have raised money at a higher valuation and major down swings hurt investors because they could have bought at a lower valuation. Its clearly better to have an IPO skyrocket than plummet but somebody isn't happy with the investment bankers either way.

    I think what you meant was that Vonage was a successful venture investment, which clearly it was. According to Dan Primack (via Paul Kedrosky):

    "When Vonage priced at $17 per share, it had a market cap of around $2.65 billion. As of market close yesterday, that figure had dropped to around $1.81 billion (although it was up to $1.85 billion in early trading today). Not so good for those who paid $17, but the VCs obviously bought in much lower. What follows is Vonage's institutional VC funding history, including post-money valuations:

    * Series B: $15m at $67.69m (2003)
    New Enterprise Associates

    * Series C: $40m at $125m (2004)
    Meritech Capital Partners, NEA, 3i Group

    * Series D: $105m at $405m (2004)
    Institutional Venture Partners, NEA, 3i, Meritech

    * Series E: $200m at $915m (2005)
    Bain Capital Ventures, NEA, 3i, Meritech, IVP"

    -Andrew