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Demands from local VC increase with demand for investment

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

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Ann Arbor

Expectations for start-ups always go up when the venture capital cash starts to roll in. These days that cash is coming with more and more conditions, according to locals in VC game.

Excerpt:

Startup companies are being forced to jump through more hoops and agree to more concessions to attract the few investors who are dangling dollars in the midst of a funding crunch, experts said this week at the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium in Ypsilanti.

The national economy is gradually recovering from the global financial crisis, but investors who survived the turmoil are scrutinizing potential deals more intensely and embracing caution.

That means that Ann Arbor�s tech startup companies need to consider agreeing to unattractive deal terms to secure private financing.

Lipitor co-discoverer Roger Newton, CEO of Plymouth Township-based Esperion Therapeutics, said investors are no longer willing to provide one major round of funding all at once. Instead, they are choosing to require that startup companies achieve specific milestones that trigger access to additional dollars.

"There's not a lot of wiggle room in how much money they�re going to give you," Newton said.

Read the rest of the story here and more about state of Michigan's venture capital community here.

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