Per acabar la setmana m’he estat fixant en els inicis de Moteiv [www.moteiv.com] -start-up WSN USA-, i m’ha xocat que començessin amb 2 VC’s de early-stage (a Espanya mai vistos fins a la data). Copio aquí les 4 coses que m’han semblat més interessants.
Claremont Creek
Early-Stage Companies:
Companies in our portfolio are early in their development cycle – typically after angel funding, but before a traditional first round of venture finance.
Our strategy is to lead the initial round, where our investment typically ranges from $500,000 to $3 million.
Regional Emphasis:
Claremont Creek puts special emphasis on opportunities beyond the traditional confines of Silicon Valley. We believe in helping creative and visionary entrepreneurs flourish throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. With more than $2.5 billion in annual research spending at such leading institutions as UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and the Lawrence Laboratories in Livermore and Berkeley, Claremont Creek’s location gives it unique access to this fertile ground for the development of new technology solutions and compelling investment opportunities.
High-Opportunity Market:
Mobility (voice, data, and converging platforms that facilitate collaboration in non-hierarchical, widely distributed organizations).
Healthcare (research and clinical IT applications, such as instrumentation, patient management systems, and bio-informatics).
Security (which would include both the digital and physical systems that comprise mobile, small business, and enterprise computing environment).
ONSET Ventures
Un dels seus articles interessants…
Funding a Medical Device Start-Up:
Entrepreneurs have to attract a VC’s interest in their company. There are a number of potential questions VCs will ask when they evaluate a company.
How big is the market opportunity? How large is the market for this product, and how compelling is the need? How fast will the market grow? Generally, potential market size must be at least $350 million to $500 million per year—and preferably more than $1 billion—to justify the returns VCs are seeking.
How original is the technology or product?
How solid is the team?
How realistic is the business model?

Figure 1. Start-up companies typically seek increasing amounts of funding as company value increases over time and the risk to investors is reduced.

Figure 2. Entrepreneurs prepare a road map of key milestones over time to determine when to raise funds and how much they need. The above plan shows three rounds of funding prior to an initial public offering (IPO).
En definitiva, jo diria que al 2003 moteiv va rebre una ‘early-stage round’ d’entre $500k-$1M, o més?
Una altre conclusió, és que si aquests dos VC’s van invertir en moteiv, vol dir que el mercat de les WSN a 2003 ja tenia unes expectatives de superar de bon troç el $1billion.