Global venture capital investments highest in six years
Venture capital investments in the U.S., Europe, China and Israel in 2007 are on pace to hit their highest levels in six years.
It’s a good news, because it means there’s lots of money available for entrepreneurs with good ideas.
More than $40 billion is expected to be invested this year, according to Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young, one of the most respected research teams on the topic of venture capital. Already, more than $30 billion was invested during the first three quarters.
Clean-tech and medical device companies are seeing the most increases in investments from VCs. Worldwide investment in medical device companies surpassed $3.40 billion during the first three quarters, already an annual record. For the first half, global cleantech investment reached $1.1 billion, up 44 percent from the $764.3 million invested in the same period last year.
A relatively healthy market for IPOs and mergers and acquisitions are helping drive the growth. Notably, VCs are investing more capital because its needed for companies to establish themselves quickly in the new global marketplace, according to the study. Of course, that flies in the face of accepted thinking about capital needs for the internet sector: There, the consensus is that companies need less money because of the plunge in costs for things like bandwidth, servers, and storage.
Next Story: Foreign investors leave Russia after bizarre interview — may return
Previous Story: Here comes another bubble
About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
