S
tartup companies call it the Valley of Death—the arduous terrain between proof of concept and the beginning of mass production and significant sales. In good times, just 40 percent of companies go public or get acquired, according to John Taylor, head of research at the National Venture Capital Assn. in Arlington, Va.
Now the Valley is even deadlier. Hundreds of U.S. cleantech startups find themselves stuck on the road to serious revenues because of the toxic combination of a stalled economy, scarce funding, and Washington's failure to enact comprehensive climate and energy legislation. The market for initial public offerings is frozen and venture capital is drying up because of uncertainty. Faysal Sohail, a managing director at CMEA Capital, a San Francisco fund that helps oversee $1.2 billion in venture capital investments, says that at the start of the year he had six profitable companies that were ready to go public but couldn't. "It's a sour mood," he adds.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Green Startups: Trapped In the 'Valley of Death' - BusinessWeek
Author: Christopher Martin
