Wrote last week of the paltry IPO numbers this year … two skinny debuts … and VC funding since 2016, save Dallas-Ft. Worth, weakest of 11 Metro regions …
That was last week.
Dow Jones Venture Capital Report showed record Q2 in VC funding here—23 cos. lured $670 million, and OC now on pace to break Y2K’s $1.3 billion all-time record. “Can’t all go to Silicon Valley, to New York,” Jeff Grabow, Ernst & Young’s U.S venture capital leader, told Insider. “You can’t just go there and generate adequate returns, gives other markets opportunity … Silicon Beach, Orange County.” IT-services unicorn UST Global led the way, $250 million from Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund Temasek …
And with Palmer Luckey’s Anduril Industries moving into new HQ in Irvine, it joins the resurgent ranks of OC’s VC-backed cos. Anduril’s anchor investor is Peter Thiel’s Founder’s Fund. Billionaire Thiel co-founded PayPal …
Luckey started the month recruiting for Anduril’s AR/VR software team, tweeting, “If you want to build cool products that make America safer, please ping me.” Applicants might want to slide a J.R. Tolkien reference into the email. Anduril is the name of Aragorn’s sword, Aragorn one of the heroes of “Lord of the Rings.” Thiel owns his allegiance to Lord of the Rings, too, naming his data-analytics firm Palantir … monolithic politics, not a crystal ball, told Thiel to bolt Silicon Valley earlier this year …
John Russo is a survivor and perhaps a refugee of Bay-area politics … onetime Oakland councilman and elected city attorney starts work today as Irvine’s fifth city manager … national search, unanimous council vote … base salary $303K …
New Home a bargain? Numbers guys asking how low this grower can go. Shares of Larry Webb’s Aliso homebuilder (NYSE: NWHM) off 40% from 2015-2017 levels … sales up 75%, profit 50% over same period. Touts like New Home’s enterprise value, more than twice its $215 million market cap and 0.82 price-to-book ratio.
Millennial moment … chatted up a college senior, business major, after an economic forecast event.
“Worried about your future, all the disruption?”
“Nah, figure everyone knows as little as me. But the tax bill’s impact on real estate worries me.”
“In college?”
“I’ve owned a home for three years.”
“Really?”
“That’s the way things are these days.”
Inspiration Point … my tennis pal Sam DeOpsomer, 80, (Feb. 26 Insider) was at Monterey Country Club in Palm Desert last weekend. 122 degrees.
“They couldn’t find someone to play with me,” Sam said.
“What’d you do?”
“Hit with the ball machine for three hours … then I jogged for 20 minutes.”
Play it again, Sam.
