Recently, Awarepoint raised $13.3 million, of which $5.9 million came from Venrock. Clearly, despite the downturn, investors are putting money to work. In this interview, Venrock partner Brian Ascher, who also sits on the board of Awarepoint, talks about the rationale behind that investment.

"It's a real ROI story," he said.

Awarepoint makes small battery-powered tags that can be placed on equipment and patients, so hospital staffers can quickly find them, should they get lost. Hospitals can have the system up and running in a week (vs six months for some competitors), and they pay on a monthly basis.

Ascher also talked about the rationale behind investing in ShopFlick, which he calls a "QVC meets YouTube" destination site. Essentially, Shopflick produces low-cost video for merchants who want the video presentations to augment the shopping experience. Venrock led a $7 million round with Panorama Capital, this past summer.

Finally, Ascher explained why Venrock recently invested in Martini Media, an ad network for the affluent demogrpahic, comprised of 70 publishing sites. Despite the slowdown in consumer spending across the board, Ascher is betting that high-net-worth individuals will still buy expensive cigars, fancy cars and watches. 

(See more interviews and segments with Ascher below.)