Jeff Clavier sees rise in $10M to $50M exits

Top Silicon Valley angel investor Clavier says M&A is clearly in the air

When Google snapped up Aardvark for $50 million at the start of the year, it was just another sign that the big "supertankers" of the Internet were continuing to be acquisitive. This acquisition follows attempts by Google to buy Yelp, and its purchase of Admob for $750 million -- all within the last few months. This is good news for angel and VC investors starved for exits.

"We're starting to see these $10 to $20 to $30 to $50 million exits coming back, said Jeff Clavier, a top angel investor in Silicon Valley, who invested in 21 companies last year, as well as one of his biggest exits out of his portfolio - Mint selling to Intuit for $170 million.

"It’s as though the fourth quarter was unlocked from an M&A perspective," he said, adding that during this period, his early-stage investments were seeing multiple term sheets and later-stage venture capitalists bidding up the prices to get into the deals. This was certainly not the case from November 2008 to the summer of 2009. 

This is my second part of an interview I did with Jeff recently. See the first interview, "How to get super angel Jeff Clavier to invest." 

In this interview, Jeff talks about why he thinks Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter will be acquisitive this year. And, why established Internet and tech giants will continue to go on a buying spree as a way to get into new growth areas.