This is the fourth post of a series about Talend’s recent Round C Fundraising.
Previous Post: Fundraising in October – Leveraging the Market

This was the final dash to the finish line and we were negotiating in what we thought of at the time as the worst of the financial crisis. The investment community was now aware that this wasn’t a short-term problem, but a global issue that wasn’t going to go away in the near-future.

For example, in September we had around 30 VCs interested. In October, that went down to 20. By November, we were talking to a dozen. Think of it as a funnel effect and we were entering the neck. So we were fairly well along in the process and had good traction. We selected a VC and started the final round of negotiations.

Our choice was complex because all the VCs in final consideration were very high-level – really top-tier. The various term sheets were very close and we were able to base our final selection on the quality of the VC. Clearly for me it was a privilege to have negotiated with all these people, but especially 3 or 4. They know who they are.

Globally, things weren’t picking up. U.S. unemployment hit its highest level in 14 years. The Bank of England announced that Britain’s economy would shrink sharply in 2009 and that inflation could be less than 1 percent. The German economy – Europe’s largest – contracted by 0.5% in Q3 putting it in recession for the first time in 5 years. Japan also fell into recession, with France close behind.

Bertrand

Next post: Fundraising in December – Finishing Up