Ebb & Flow

What happened to all of the window-wishers; those who would run around even in the worst of bear markets predicting that a robust IPO window is just around the corner? Even with a slate of solid IPO candidates presenting at last week's Future Leaders in the Biotech Industry conference in New York, there was hardly a peep about the "IPO window" returning.

While a curmudgeon may say it is a sign of how bad things really are on the public equity front, perhaps it's an indicator that private companies are finding the venture taps open, and thus are less concerned about an immediate opening of the window. Venture money is getting deployed at a record pace this year, even ahead even of the bubble year of 2000. In the first quarter alone, private biotech companies raised $840 million worldwide, more than the $731 million raised in the first quarter of 2000, and the $773 million raised in the first quarter of 2001...