To kick off TechCrunch Disrupt today in New York, Erick Schonfeld took the stage to interview investor Fred Wilson, of Union Square Ventures. For background, Wilson was early investor in Twitter, Zynga, Foursquare, Tumblr, and Etsy and is also a prolific blogger.
Wilson sort of revealed that Union Square Ventures has sold some of its stock in Twitter. When Schonfeld asked if he sold stock in Twitter, he said he didn’t really want to comment on that but he then he added that generally speaking he wouldn’t argue with news reports out there that he has sold Twitter stock.
There have been recent reports that investors such as USV and Kleiner Perkins are selling Twitter stock.
He basically said that you don’t sell 100% of your stock, you sell 5% or 20% of your stock. You wouldn’t be prudent if you dont do that.
Wilson also said that social bookmarking site Delicious was a defining investment for Union Square Ventures, and helped define the investment strategy set forth for the firm’s investment in Foursquare, Twitter and Zynga. As for whether we are in a bubble, Wilson said he doesn’t like that word. “We’re in a frothy investment period,” he explained. As to how that has changed Wilson’s investments, he said that the average valuation of seed or Series A or B round, are up up 25 percent across the board now from three years ago.
“Union Square Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm based in New York City. We invest in young companies that use information technology in innovative ways to create high growth business opportunities in the Media, Marketing, Financial Services, Telecommunications, and Healthcare industries. Our venture capital firm was conceived as a place where a small number of very experienced investment professionals, working collaboratively from a single office, could build a portfolio of promising startup companies and then put our experience...
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