Trends in Seed and Series A Investing

Ann Winblad, Hummer Winblad Ventures

Winblad explains that very few Series A investments were done in 2002. However, a lot more were done in 2003 and will be done in 2004, she says. The reasons for the decline since 2000 include: restart dollars were competing with the A round dollars; corporate investors disappeared (excpet Intel); and individual investing declined. Additionally, during this era, VCs were doing deals individually, creating twice as many A round deals and putting only one person on the board. Now, A round deals are syndicated to provide more coaching, she adds.