We’d previously speculated that Seed VC was the New Series A, but the more recent trend from the Q3 Venture Capital Activity Report suggests that Seed and Series A venture capital deals are actually combining to take share away from mid- and later-stage deals. And Seed VC deals which still remain a largely internet sector phenomena have started to grow in other other areas including green and healthcare investments.
Below is the trend of venture capital deals and dollars by series of investment.
Continue reading “Early Stage VC – Seed and Series A Venture Capital Deals Tag-Team To Take Share from Mid- and Late-Stage Deals” »
In Q2 2010, the Big Three States for VC (Cali, Mass and NY) represented 65% of venture deals and 70% of funding. Venture capital activity in Q3 2010 saw the Big Three retain their dominance of deals and dollars, but their overall share of venture deals and dollars declined versus the prior quarter.
Washington and Texas gained marginally on a deals and dollars basis. Washington has seen a steady increase in funding and a more dramatic increase in dealflow. Texas saw dealflow levels stay consistent but funding dollars up on strength in Energy & Utilities and Healthcare.
The five quarter trend by state on a deals and dollars basis is given below.
Continue reading “California, Massachusetts and New York See Share of Venture Capital Decrease” »
As our Q3 2010 Venture Capital Activity Report detailed, the quarter saw $5.4 billion invested across 715 deals. The dichotomy in the quarter was stark as venture funding was down at a five quarter low while deal activity was at its 2nd highest level in eight quarters.
The trend over the last eight quarters can be seen below.
Continue reading “Q3 2010 Venture Capital Activity – Good or Bad? It Depends” »
At $5.4B of venture capital funding over 715 deals, Q3 2010 was a mixed bag. A superficial examination of the funding total through a “glass half empty” lens will suggest that venture capital remains in the doldrums given the quarter’s fairly anemic funding levels. The other take on the data would suggest optimism given the quarter’s dealflow strength.
If we had to choose, we’d opt for optimism. The quarter’s funding was most impacted by a relative absence of VC mega-deals, i.e., deals over $100 million which typically serve to drive the funding total up. The primary reason for optimism is the quarter’s deal strength indicating venture investors are opening their proverbial wallets. The emergence of seed VC deals across a variety of sectors, not just internet, also indicate a healthy early-stage investment environment.
Continue reading “Q3 2010 Venture Capital Activity – $5.4 Billion into 715 Deals” »
Earlier this year, CB Insights examined venture capital investment in the Semiconductor industry back to 1998, and asked whether Apple’s vertical foray into Semis with their acquisition of Intrinsity would spur further investment in the industry.
The early investment numbers are in for 2010, and barring an incredible bounce back in Q4, the outlook isn’t encouraging for semiconductor venture capital investment. Although venture investment dollars have already surpassed those of 2009, 2010 could be the slowest year for Semiconductor VC deal flow in the US since 1999. At present, the funding levels for 2010 are similar to 2009 VC funding levels which as you may recall was a historically bad year for venture capital all around. While other sectors and industries have bounced back in 2010, semiconductors do not appear to be following a similar trend.
Continue reading “Semiconductor Venture Capital Deal Flow – 2010 Could Be Slowest Year Since 1999” »
Last week, we detailed the year-to-date technology M&A activity of the technology giants with Google leading the acquisition lead tables. This week, we wanted to look at the composition of those acquisitions and the breakdown between public and private companies acquired.
With the exception of HP acquisitions, technology M&A was predominantly of private companies with the breakdown as given in the below graphs. This may portend good things for venture capitalists and angel investors. The first graph is of the total acquisitions by each tech giant with the second being each of their breakdowns between public and private.
Continue reading “85% of Technology Acquisitions by Tech Giants are Private Companies” »
Last week’s technology M&A roundup in which we revealed Microsoft had announced zero acquisitions in 2010 resulted in some questions by our friend John Cook at TechFlash who got Microsoft to reveal that they’ve done 15 unannounced acquisitions in the last 12 months – 5 in 2009 and 10 in 2010. Although Microsoft didn’t name names, subsequent research by our team has uncovered that one of those unannounced deals was Vivaty – a virtual world developer backed by Mohr Davidow and Kleiner Perkins. The deal appears to have been an asset/IP purchase by Microsoft.
Last week’s rally in funding activity was short lived, as private company financing fell to $232 million with only 88 deals recorded in the past week (versus $499 million and 126 deals in the prior week). California retained the top position taking in over 50% of the total funding for the week. Even though it wasn’t a strong week of funding for Massachusetts, the state regained the second spot just edging out North Carolina. The Top 5 funding league table was rounded out by Maryland and Oregon. This is the third time in four weeks that North Carolina has made the funding list. This recent surge in activity has lifted North Carolina to sixth overall in funding for the third quarter to-date. The funding list continues to introduce new players as Maryland joins for the first time this year. This past week was also only the second time in the past six months that Oregon has made the list. Finally with only a week to go in the quarter, it looks to be a close race between Washington and New York for the third most funded location for the quarter. Our Q3 venture capital activity report will determine who won out in the quarter ultimately. Interactive charts on the past week’s dealflow are below (they may take a second to load). To see profiles on the private companies receiving funding in the last week, logon to CB Insights.
Continue reading “Q3 Ending on a Whimper – Private Company Financings Drop” »
