RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The “MoneyTree” will finally shake next week.
Venture funding statistics that were suddenly delayed last week by Thomson Financial and its partners PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association will be released on Tuesday.
Quietly, too.
For what is believed to be the first time in 13 years or so of record keeping, Thomson and its partners delayed the venture update due to problems with the data. Specifics about what went wrong haven’t been disclosed.
However, word from the venture community is that a lot of people are embarrassed as well as angry about what happened. Not only are the statistics important in showing trends and opportunities, they also are released in a competitive environment. VentureOne, which is part of Dow Jones, offers a competing report, and its quarterly update was issued last week as scheduled.
The new “MoneyTree” report rollout will not include its usual conference call during which some VCs discuss trends and implications of the report. And when PwC will have its “Shake the MoneyTree” venture event in the Triangle to discuss the report is not yet known.
“We apologize for the delay this quarter and look forward to returning to our regular schedule in Q3,” a statement issued Tuesday on behalf of PwC, Thomson and the NVCA said.
Thomson issued a short statement July 24 acknowledging a glitch in the release of the report: "The MoneyTree report that was scheduled for July 24th has been delayed due to technical issues at Thomson Financial. We are in the process of validating our data. We expect to complete our verification shortly and you will be informed promptly of the new release date for the MoneyTree report.”
Looks like the “shaking” will start on Tuesday.
