Investor Avoids 'Web 2.0' to Avoid Bust?

VC firm Kleiner looking for 'more fundamental innovations'

By Laila Weir

Posted Nov 5, 2007 2:55 PM CST

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Investor Avoids 'Web 2.0' to Avoid Bust? — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer raises his arm as he talks about companies who want to talk to Microsoft, at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Associated Press)

Today's launch of Web 2.0 Expo Berlin notwithstanding, there are hints that "second-generation" Web companies are losing appeal in the venture capital community -- or at least with prestigious Silicon Valley firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Digital Daily cites a KPCB partner who recently told a Silicon Valley journalist that he has "no interest in funding" such companies.

"If by Web 2.0, you mean companies that build an audience to be monetized by Google, I am not actively pursuing them," that same partner said earlier this year. But apparently the collaborative Web still looks good to at least some other VCs, who gave Web 2.0 companies almost $1 billion worldwide during the first half of 2007. (More internet stories.)

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