YoungStartup Ventures kicked off the second day of its New York Venture Summit Wednesday morning with a panel dubbed "Trend Spotting: What VCs Are Investing in Now." Early-stage investing is the healthiest it's been since 2000, agreed the panelists, including Fred Aslan of Venrock Associates, Daniel Ciporin of Canaan Partners, Charles Scott of Intel Capital and Todd Pietri of Milestone Venture Partners. 

According to the VCs, lessons have been learned from the bursting of the tech bubble, and more companies with good ideas are coming to venture firms with clear plans for how to turn their ideas into products that can make money.

The panelists commented on the amounts of ready money available to early-stage companies from angel investors. With entrepreneurs — particularly those from consumer/new media companies — able to get capital from angels on very favorable terms, some startups are able to eschew venture firms.

Also driving investment in tech startups is disintermediation — the "cutting out of the middleman" — as the Internet changes traditional distribution channels, allowing providers to deal directly with consumers. While the trend shows up most explicitly in the media and entertainment space, the VCs said that its effects are moving fast, reaching into other industries such as banking. —George White

See story in TheDeal.com
See story in TheDeal.com