Groupon IPO and the Bay Area Startup Ecosystem

San Francisco-based VentureLoop reports that job openings at venture-backed startups in the Bay Area have more than doubled to 3,609, compared with 1,739 before the financial crisis, in 2008. That compares with a 69 percent increase to 3,311 from 1,961 over the same period nationwide.

The index relies on data from 13 top venture-capital firms, including Benchmark Capital, Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund and illustrates the rapid buildup of demand for talent in the region.

New IPOs by Groupon, Linkedin and the sale of Skype and the private placement of Facebook are providing rich cashouts for Venture backed companies.

the LinkedIn IPO put to rest any lingering belief that the IPO window is still slammed shut. There was a malaise in Silicon valley that the IPO market was dead.

Zynga, Twitter and Groupon, shares of Facebook have been trading on private markets, where exchanges are restricted to employees, qualified institutions and high-net worth individual backers. The SEC has launched an inquiry into private markets like SharesPost and SecondMarket, which are largely unregulated but are growing significantly as employees and early investors seek to participate in the success of Facebook and other social media superstars. On SharesPost, Facebook is the most heavily traded company with an implied value of more than $70 billion. Facebook’s ad revenue is estimated at approximately $4.05 billion in 2011

Investment in U.S. venture-backed companies rose 35 percent in the first quarter, according to a report by Dow Jones VentureSource. Venture firms invested $6.4 billion into 661 deals in the U.S. during the quarter.

Tim Draper, managing director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, said in March, 2011 there isn’t a bubble yet and that a recovery that could last five years is just getting started.

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