for the number of investments it needs to make each year. The Accelerator received some added runway back in November 2008 when it received an additional $4.5 million investment from PPD, the giant contract research organization. That means it has enough capital on hand to finance at least two more startups without seeking any new capital until 2011, Weissman says.
But before I left, Weissman assured me that he’s bullish about Accelerator’s outlook for 2010. It’s likely Accelerator will make two or three more investments in startups this year, compared with just one in 2009. He also made some cryptic comments about how the new investments might represent a shift toward slightly later, or earlier, stages of investment than Accelerator has traditionally focused on. He wasn’t more specific than that.
Weissman also wanted to address some of the rumors he’s heard from people who wonder if he’s ready to walk away from Accelerator, now that’s he’s a full-time managing director with Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners. His current arrangement calls for him to spend 60 percent of his time at Accelerator, which is a natural overlap with his OVP duties, because OVP is one of the venture firms that backs Accelerator, he says.
David Schubert, the president and chief business officer at Accelerator, has shouldered some more day-to-day management responsibility when Weissman is away, and there’s no plan to change that arrangement, Weissman says.
“I’m here for the long-term,” at both Accelerator and OVP, Weissman says.
