2008 lousy year for VC investments. 2009 may not improve.

Nationally the VC funding was off 8% from 2007, reversing a four-year trend of growth. That's the conclusion of one national investment survey. One analyst of VC funding said he expects 2009 to see continued support of existing ventures, but a very tough atmosphere for any new ventures seeking first-round dough. One reason: VCs can't expect to profit on their investments via public offerings as long as the stock market is suffering the heeby-jeebies and the global economy is both shaken and stirred. The National Venture Capital Association and Price Waterhouse do a quarterly VC report. Q4, 2008, saw VCs raise less than $4 billion compared to nearly $12 billion in the same quarter of '07 and less than half of what was raised in Q3 of '08 as the world gradually became aware of how badly the financial corporations has misled investors, governments and themselves. This means private funding for start-ups, greentech or otherwise, is going to be sparse in 2009. A lot may depend on funding via governments from Beijing to Berlin.