Venture capital’s not doing so well

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Steve Chiotakis: The numbers’ not so good for venture capital.
A new survey out today confirms the investor bank rolling has slowed big time. From the Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio, here’s Marketplace’s Janet Babin.

Janet Babin: The National Venture Capital Association collected opinions from 700 industry leaders. It found that more than half of them will invest in fewer start-ups this year.

VCs get their money from pension funds and other big investors and right now, they’re reluctant to take risks.

NVCA president Mark Heesen says venture capitalists will only part with their cash if a company has a proven track record:

Mike Heesen: We are in a very Darwinian environment right now. The venture capital industry as a whole is going to contract, but simultaneously, it’s going to become just more global.

To counter competition from countries like China and India, Heesen says the Obama administration should institute more open trade and immigration policies. Heesen says we’ll need that edge to tap into venture capital’s only growth area right now: clean technology.

I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.