DisplayLink®, a provider of solutions that simplify the connection between monitors and computing devices, has closed $10.4 million of growth financing. The financing was led by Clydesdale Bank’s Growth Finance team. Existing investors Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital, Cipio Partners, DAG Ventures, and DFJ Esprit also contributed to the equity funding. The Palo Alto-headquartered company will [...]

Bid farewell to the Venture investment “J-curve,” the notion that a venture fund has to suffer through negative returns in the early years before progressively yielding positive returns and generating liquidity in the outlying years. These days, VC funds and their investors have to deal with an even more challenging reality: a “W-curve.”

DisplayLink Inc. has raised $15 million in Series D financing. New investor Cipio Partners led the round with existing investor DFJ Esprit. Previous investors Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital and DAG Ventures also contributed. DisplayLink is based in Palo Alto, Calif. The company develops integrated circuits and software that connect monitors to laptops and PCs using standard interfaces such as USB, WiFi and Ethernet, either directly or via docking stations, adapters, and local area networks.

I had the pleasure of moderating a venture capital discussion for boutique investment bank Iron Capital Partners recently.

It was a lively debate, since each of the participants came from a different aspect of the venture business (see video after the jump). There was one VC, two secondaries buyers, an I-banker and the head of an online exchange where accredited investors can buy or sell shares in private companies.

One of the principal questions I asked was: If someone wants to get into VC today, where’s the best place to put his or her money? Should he invest in a primary VC fund or go with a secondary fund? Or should he avoid funds altogether and buy shares of Facebook on an online exchange such as Sharespost? This led to a very interesting discussion about the poor performance of venture as an asset class over the past 10 years and some interesting perspective about where it will go in the next decade.

Cipio Partners has promoted Diana Meyel has joined to the position of partner, within the firm’s international secondary direct investment team.

Cipio Partners has held a €61 million first close on its sixth direct secondaries fund, which is targeting €200 million.

3i Group has sold its stakes in ten portfolio companies to Cipio Partners, a direct secondaries firm. No financial terms were disclosed for the sale, which involved companies from 3i’s European venture capital portfolio.