The market for venture-backed IPOs has been pretty dead so far this year. But based on new filing activity, it looks like there’s some optimism things will improve. At least six venture-backed companies have filed to go public since the start of the year, in sectors ranging from enterprise software to semiconductors to car rentals. [...]

The University of California has seen cash distributions from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers decline over the past eight years, as dot-com era investments apparently haven’t been able to match the spectacular returns from earlier funds, according to peHUB’s analysis of data provided by the university system. PeHUB sought performance data for [...]

Time to catch up on the stories your colleagues found most compelling on peHUB this week. Here are the top 10 posts that garnered the most pageviews from regular readers from Sept. 12 to this morning, Sept. 16.

ONE Sequoia’s Doug Leone to Mike Arrington: Why You Want to Be a VC is Beyond Me — by Connie Loizos
TWO Top 10 IRRs from University of California’s Mid-Decade Venture Binge (Slideshow) — by Mark Boslet
THREE Slideshow: Dealt a Bad Hand? — by Jonathan Marino
FOUR Vinod Khosla: ‘I Don’t Much Like the Venture Profession’ — by Connie Loizos
FIVE VC Icon Tom Perkins Takes Swipe at Kleiner Perkins’ Big Bets on Cleantech — by Sarah McBride, Reuters
SIX Slideshow: Venture Capital’s Biggest Flops — by Joanna Glasner
SEVEN AOL Makes It Official: Arrington Is Out (slideshow) — by Lawrence Aragon
EIGHT Slideshow: 16 Alleged CalPERS Gift-Violators Face Fines — by Gregory Roth
NINE Study: Need a Fast Flip? Don’t Change the Management Team — by Connie Loizos
TEN Thiel and Levchin Offer ‘Blueprint’ for Solving Innovation Crisis — by Joanna Glasner

(Reuters) – Tom Perkins, co-founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the backer of companies ranging from Genentech to Google, believes much of the venture capital industry has set itself up for failure.

“Mathematically, there’s no way that all venture capital in America will make 10 to 1,” or $10 for every dollar invested — a fairly typical return in past years — Perkins told Reuters.

There is too much money chasing too few companies, he said, and the increasingly large sums invested mean failures will hurt more. Firms hit by outsized failures will find it hard to …

RedBrick Health, a five-year-old, 100-person, Minneapolis-based health and wellness services company, has hired Daniel Ryan as CEO. Ryan was most recently president and CEO at Secure Computing, an enterprise software company. Secure Computing was acquired by McAfee, where Ryan served as an executive VP and general manager in its network security business. RedBrick has raised more [...]

When we heard Larry Summers was jumping into the VC game, we just assumed Kleiner Perkins was adding another celebrity to its roster. But it turned out that newbie venture firm Andreessen Horowitz brought on the former U.S. Treasury Secretary as a “part-time special advisor.”

We’re still trying to figure out what a part-time special advisor does, but the more pressing question we have is whether big shots like Summers do anything for a venture firm other than get it mentioned in the press.

Before we start calling these firms to ask our annoying questions, we’d like to know what you, dear reader, have to say.

For example, do you think that U2 lead singer Bono has added value to Elevation Partners, the technology-focused PE firm he co-founded in 2005? It’s not clear to us what Elevation has gotten out of the relationship – besides the fact that Elevation co-founder Roger McNamee’s band, Moonalice, got to open for U2 in Oakland, Calif., earlier this month.

We’re also curious about how Kleiner Perkins has benefitted from its alliances with

(Reuters) – Moda Operandi, a fashion e-commerce site, is raising its second round of venture capital funding as investor interest in online luxury retailers grows. The company, founded in February during New York Fashion Week, operates designer “trunk shows” online. It lets members pre-order designer clothes straight off the runway rather than have to wait [...]

Jive Software, backed by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has acquired OffiSync Corp. Financial terms were not announced. OffiSync, a startup, provides social solutions for the Microsoft environment.

If you need more evidence funding green energy and infrastructure companies has become an insular business, look at the top 10 most active U.S.-based cleantech investors for the first quarter. As a group, the 10 most active U.S. VCs funded 47 companies — or 40 percent — of the 118 cleantech companies that received backing [...]

Want to catch up on the slideshows that your colleagues found most interesting on peHUB last week? Here are the top 5 that garnered the most pageviews from our regular readers from April 18 to April 22.
No. 1 Slideshow: Inside Look at Kleiner’s 30 Deals for Q1
No. 2 Slideshow: Top Ten Most Active VCs for Q1; Brand Names Boost Deal Making

No. 3 Slideshow: Legends Of PE Share Greatest Misses

No. 4 Slideshow: Top 10 VC-Backed Acquisitions for Q1
No. 5 Slideshow: Old School Semiconductor Investing Sees Big Rise in First Quarter