谷歌風險資本主管 初創企業IPO太磨蹭
Tech start-ups are waiting “way too long to go public”, the head of Google’s venture capital arm has warned, highlighting a widening rift in Silicon Valley over the fate of the latest generation of fast-growing start-ups.
谷歌(Google)的風險資本子公司的主管警告稱，科技初創企業“在上市前等待的時間太長了”。此言凸顯硅谷對最新一代快速增長的初創企業的命運的分歧日益擴大。
Many of the companies leading the technology boom, including Uber and Airbnb, have sought to stay private as long as possible, raising ever-larger amounts of money from successive rounds of private investment. But the mood is changing and investors are growing skittish.
包括優步(Uber)和Airbnb在內，很多引領科技熱的公司一直尋求儘可能長地保持私有狀態，在一輪接一輪的私募投資中籌集越來越多的資金。但市場情緒開始發生變化，投資人開始變得緊張。
Bill Maris, head of Google Ventures, one of California’s most active VC firms, warned some start-ups might rue deciding to exploit the private markets to push for high headline valuations, rather than selling shares to the public.
加利福尼亞最活躍的風險資本公司之一Google Ventures的掌舵人比爾氠里斯(Bill Maris)警告稱，部分初創企業到頭來可能對不向公開發售股票、而是利用私募市場追求高整體估值的決定感到後悔。
“They’re setting the bar so inordinately high they’re making life difficult for themselves,” Mr Maris said in an interview with the Financial Times. “There’s going to be some fallout: some of them will lose a lot of money.”
“他們把標杆設得高不可攀，結果使自己的日子不好過，”馬里斯在接受英國《金融時報》採訪時表示。“這將帶來一些衝擊波：有些人將蒙受很大虧損。”
Next year, many will be unable to raise more cash in the private markets or will be forced to accept lower valuations, he said. Google Ventures, which is changing its name to GV, has backed more than 300 companies since its creation six years ago.
他表示，明年，許多公司要麼將無法從私募市場籌到更多資金，要麼將被迫接受更低估值。即將改名爲“GV”的Google Ventures自6年前創立以來，已投資了300多家公司。
Investors who had stampeded into the private markets for a chance to back companies such as Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat have become far more risk-averse in recent weeks, especially after questions were raised about the validity of claims made by blood-testing start-up Theranos.
爭相涌入私募市場、以便找機會入股優步、Airbnb和Snapchat之類企業的投資人，在近幾周已變得更加厭惡風險，尤其是在血液檢測初創企業Theranos的說法的可信性引發質疑之後。
“There’s less money, more fear, more caution,” Mr Maris said.
“錢更少了，人們的擔心和謹慎更多了，”馬里斯表示。
The prospect of interest rate rises in the US will make the private markets even more hostile for start-ups, he said. “Suddenly, being a public company is going to look a whole lot more exciting”.
美國加息的前景將導致私募市場甚至更加敵視初創企業，他表示。“突然間，成爲一家公開上市公司看起來將更爲振奮人心”。
The warnings signal a reversal of what has become received wisdom during the tech boom, as venture capitalists courted entrepreneurs with promises of leaving them free to stay private rather than pushing them to cash out.
這些警告表明，科技熱期間形成的公認智慧發生了逆轉，此前風險投資家向創業者獻殷勤，承諾讓他們保持私有狀態，而不會推動他們去變現。
