The driving (
financial) force behind the 90's explosion of
startups all over the world. Basically, a
VC is a person or a group with a lot of money. They either seek out, or are approached by individuals with some
idea that they need cash for. These ideas can range from new designs of a
tuning fork to a new
dot.com company.
The name come from the fact that the VC is risking (read: venturing) his money (read: capital) on the proposed idea.