Venture Financing was up in 2010
Overall, Cooley’s data pointed to a year marked by slow but steady improvement in the financing environment. In 2010, deal volumes reached a level not seen in the last five years. Median pre-money valuations increased across all deal stages and saw a significant increase in “up rounds” versus flat/down rounds. Up rounds represented 60% of all financings in 2010, a level not seen since 2008. Additionally, the percentage of recapitalization transactions fell in 2010, though the number of tranched deals remained flat from prior years.
Companies Cling to Cash
From the Wall Street Journal – Rather than pouring their money into building plants or hiring workers, nonfinancial companies in the U.S. were sitting on $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets at the end of September. Cash accounted for 7.4% of the companies’ total assets—the largest share since 1959.
Small Business and Middle Market Outlook 2010
Forbes Insights, in association with CIT, recently published the report “U.S. Small Business and Middle Market Outlook 2010”.
Credit Standards, Loan Covenants, and Rate Spreads Eased in Q2
As banks saw increased competition for commercial & industrial lending, credit standards began to ease in the second quarter, according to the Federal Reserve. Of the senior loan officers surveyed in July, 12.5% indicated a relative easing of credit on large and middle-market borrowers (revenues in excess of $50 million), and 14.5% indicated a relative easing of credit for smaller firms, the first time credit standards have eased for small firms since 2006.
Bernanke: More Needed To Boost Small-Business Lending
Wall Street Journal article by Tom Barkley. Declaring small businesses as “central” to tackling unemployment, the Fed chief said not enough is being done to ensure that financially sound companies can obtain loans.
Harvard Study Says Angels Add Value to Start-ups
“Overall, the results suggest that the bundle of inputs that angel investors provide have a large and significant impact on the success and survival of start-up ventures,” the study says.
The study examined the performance of 130 firms that received interest from Tech Coast Angels and CommonAngels between 2001 and 2006. The samples include companies that ultimately won funding or were turned down.
Financing Options for Small and Middle-Market Companies
This article gives a brief description of a dozen common solutions for middle-market financing, including revolving credit, factoring, sale-leaseback arrangements, and more. I recommend it as a good starting point to evaluate the options for a small or middle-market business that needs cash (and can’t wait). It also points out the potential drawbacks of each option.
What’s the difference between “Middle Market” and “ABL”?
For most banks and finance companies with more than $1 billion in assets, commercial lending is typically segmented into Large Corporate, Middle Market, and Business Banking. “Middle Market” and these other segments are generally understood to describe a type of borrower, whereas “ABL” (asset based lending) refers to a type of loan.
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