Sex-related – but legal – businesses used to get the high hat from venture capitalists, no matter how lucrative. Those days of stuffiness are over. Adult Friendfinder, anyone?

Except for the sexual twist, Friendfinder Inc. sounds like the quintessential investment prospect for venture capitalists. The company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., operates social networking sites that boast 140,000 new registrants a day, and $200 million in annual revenue.

But the company’s main site, Adult Friendfinder, helps people meet for purposes of having sexual liaisons. The content, including explicit photographs and language, has put off mainstream investors.

"Over the last 10 years, we’ve met with a dozen venture capitalists," said the company’s founder, Andrew Conru, who holds a Ph.D. in engineering from Stanford. "The conversations end fairly quickly."

Times and investment tastes may be changing. Mr. Conru said that in recent months he had received more sustained interest, and follow-up calls, from potential investors. More generally, mainstream venture capitalists and private equity funds are starting to show interest in companies that make and distribute pornographic entertainment and sexually related products and services.

Several former Wall Street investors are now specializing in marrying mainstream money with companies that offer such content or products. Separately, a handful of venture capitalists have already financed start-ups that receive a big chunk of revenue from making or distributing sexual content or products, and others are considering such investments.

(Continue reading this story on New York Times)

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