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????《財富》雜志（Fortune）獲悉，美國著名科技博客TechCrunch創始人兼聯合主編邁克爾?阿靈頓正在募集一只風險投資基金，主要投資于初創科技公司。與他合作的是美國優點資本投資公司（VantagePoint Venture Partners）的帕特里克?加林格爾，基金投資者將包括硅谷多家知名風險投資公司和科技界名人。 ????有消息稱，該基金計劃募集2,000萬美元資金。美國在線（AOL）將是該基金的有限合伙人之一。去年秋年，美國在線收購了TechCrunch，目前阿靈頓依然留任。該基金的其他有限合伙人包括知名的凱鵬華盈風險投資公司（Kleiner Perkins）、格雷洛克風險投資公司（Greylock ）和紅杉資本投資公司（Sequoia Capital）。 ????阿靈頓與美國在線均未就此事發表意見。在接受電話采訪時，加林格爾的回答是“無可奉告”。 ????這只基金橫空出世，市場作何反應？這一點確實非常值得期待。畢竟，阿靈頓曾因之前的投資活動而引火燒身。 ????阿靈頓曾是硅谷的一名律師，2005年創辦TechCrunch之前，也曾是一名天使投資人。雖然之后他也進行了幾筆投資，但由于外界多次質疑他的報道存在利益沖突，因此他在2009年停止了投資活動。畢竟，涉及到阿靈頓投資對象的文章是否存在利益沖突，TechCrunch的讀者無從判斷。 ????今年年初，阿靈頓宣布，他將重操舊業，繼續進行投資活動——并為初創公司納普斯特（Napster）的創始人肖恩?范寧與掘客網（Digg）創始人凱文?羅斯提供了資助。他還稱，自己已經成為基準投資公司（Benchmark Capital）與風險投資公司SoftTechVC旗下風投基金的有限合伙人。 ????據報道，阿靈頓的這些行為違反了美國在線的員工行為規范，但卻平安無事。之后在接受美國科技博客商業內線（Business Insider）采訪時，當被問及風險投資是否會成為他的下一個職業選擇時，他并未正面回答，而是重申他并沒有離開美國在線的打算（但他并未提及美國在線可能會支持他自己的風投基金——盡管當時這只基金是否正在籌備當中目前依然不明確）。如果他真的投身基金行業，那么隨著美國在線和TechCrunch的不斷發展，他在其中的角色會發生怎樣的變化？且讓我們拭目以待。 ????翻譯：劉進龍/汪皓 |
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????Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, is raising a venture capital fund to invest in early-stage technology companies, Fortune has learned. His partner will be Patrick Gallagher of VantagePoint Venture Partners, while investors will include many of Silicon Valley's top venture capital firms and tech luminaries. ????One source says that the plan is to raise around $20 million. The cornerstone limited partner will be AOL (AOL), which acquired TechCrunch last fall and where Arrington is now an employee. Others will include VC firms like Kleiner Perkins, Greylock and Sequoia Capital. ????Neither Arrington nor AOL responded to requests for comment. Gallagher said "no comment" when reached via phone. ????It should be interesting to watch market reaction to news of this fund, since Arrington's prior investment activities have been something of a lightning rod. ????Arrington, a onetime Silicon Valley attorney, was an occasional angel investor before founding TechCrunch in 2005. He subsequently did a few more deals, but in 2009 stopped investing after being accused one too many times of having a conflict of interest. After all, how were TechCrunch readers to judge the coverage that Arrington's portfolio companies did, or didn't, receive? ????Then, earlier this year, Arrington announced that he was back in the investing game -- backing new start-ups from Napster founder Shawn Fanning and Digg creator Kevin Rose. He also said that he had become a limited partner in VC funds managed by Benchmark Capital and SoftTechVC. ????Such moves reportedly violated AOL's code of employee conduct, but Arrington received an exemption. In a subsequent interview with Business Insider, he side-stepped a question about whether venture capital investing was his next career move -- instead reiterating how he had no plans to leave AOL (without mentioning that AOL might be backing his very own VC fund -- although it's unclear if this fund was yet in the works). It will be interesting to see how, if at all, his role will change with AOL and TechCrunch going forward. |
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