The incredible shrinking venture capital industry
The venture capital industry is still shrinking, and not just in terms of the amount of money it’s investing or raising — there are fewer firms in the business, according to new data compiled by Dow Jones VentureSource and published in the Wall Street Journal.
In 2008, the number of active firms (those that made at least one investment in the United States) fell 5.6 percent to 868. And that number has been declining steadily since… Continue Reading
Venture capital report: Investments are flat, but good luck with those first-time deals
Despite the dreary economic climate, venture investments held relatively steady in the second quarter of 2008. But more of that money is going to later-stage deals, not funding young startups.
Venture firms invested a total of $7.4 billion in 990 deals during April, May and June of this year, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Although that’s well below the peak of $8.1 billion invested in Q4 2007,… Continue Reading
Venture capital: Still white, still male, but getting better (maybe)
Even though well-educated women and minorities have been entering the workforce for years, the venture capital industry is still dominated by white men. But there are a few signs that things are changing.
In a new study from the National Venture Capital Association and Dow Jones VentureWire, men outnumbered women three-to-one among the more than 500 venture capital professionals who responded. The imbalance is even worse among the VCs actually doing the investing — namely, those… Continue Reading
Dry times in venture-land: IPOs drop to zero in Q2
If you’re wondering why we haven’t been covering much IPO news recently, it’s because there hasn’t been any — there were literally zero venture-backed IPOs in the second quarter of 2008.
This is the first quarter since 1978 that has gone by without a single venture-backed IPO, according to a new report from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters. The figures are also down quite a bit from the high times of 2007, including… Continue Reading
Hobnobbing and politics with the National Venture Capital Association
I just got home from the annual meeting of the National Venture Capital Association, which was a fun experience. This may sound a little weird (especially since I’m not looking to get funding for a startup anytime soon), but it was actually kind of exciting to be in a conference room full of venture capitalists. They are, after all, the heart of what we cover at VentureBeat, but until now I’ve only been able to… Continue Reading
It’s official: Venture investment declined in Q1
Updated
Venture investment fell 8.5 percent during the first three months of 2008 compared to the final quarter of 2007, according to the new MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. The report is a big, comprehensive study that reinforces what everyone already kind-of knew, or at least suspected. It tracked a total of 922 venture deals worth $7.1 billion — in terms of dollars, that’s an 8.5 percent drop.
In a conference call… Continue Reading