Successful exits bring venture back into the game

DN Capital is one of these. Its sale last year of Endeca to Oracle for $1.1bn retuned nearly two thirds of DN's first fund, or three quarters of total capital committed in dollars. DN isn't a one-trick pony, though: earlier this year, the GP sold Apsmart to Thomson Reuters in a deal that saw the vendor reap a reputed 20x money. And its sale last year of Datanomic generated a three-digit IRR. These are just three of the GP's seven exits in the last 18 months.

Life sciences and technology investor Advent Venture Partner has also had a phenomenal run. Last July, Advent sold Zong to eBay for $240m, giving Advent a 7.7x return and 61% IRR. That deal marked the end of a stellar year for the VC, which saw it sell The Foundry to Carlyle Group for a reported triple-digit IRR. Most recently the firm sold Avila, EUSA and Vitrue, all to trade buyers.

Earlier this year, Sofinnova sold BlueKiwi Atos SA Group. The exit came just weeks after Sofinnova floated DBV Technologies on NYSE Euronext Paris, though all the cash raised in the oversubscribed listing was re-injected into the business. The GP exited six businesses in 2010 and 2011, with notable disposals including Corevalve (9x), Stentys (4.7x) and Preglem (4.5x).

Last summer saw SEP and DFJ Esprit sell Zeus to Riverbed Technology for $140m, corresponding to 10x current year revenues. The vendors each reaped double-digit multiples for the deal, which they backed at different times. In the Nordics, tech investor Creandum sold Nanoradio to Samsung Electronics earlier this year.

This article is an extract from a more in-depth look at European venture. Click here to keep reading

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