I've been asked to talk about the current state of the venture capital market in the United States and here in Europe. I will start with a little background about how the market got where it is, then talk about what VCs today are doing, and finish up with some thoughts about where we might be going. This has become a popular topic. They have made big investments and when a big investment goes down, it makes a big noise. On the other hand, if you believe what you read, there are a lot of VCs who think the opportunity for new investments is tremendous.
Valuations are much lower.
Certain markets have had a lot of bad players washed out. Rather than overwhelm you with statistics, I'm going to give you my opinion. It is a different opinion from that voiced by many of our colleagues. Lyric Capital, is a small venture capital firm with offices in Southern California and Florida. We plan to set up operations here in Germany later this year.