Thursday, February 3, 2005

Venture Capital Fundraising On the Upswing

According to a recent report by the National Venture Capital Association, venture funds have had their most active year since 2001, raising $17.6B for 170 new venture funds. The amount of funding was $3.4B more than the previous two years combined. The upswing by VCs included not only early stage funds but also buyout and mezzanine funds, which recorded 103 funds with $45.8B in committed capital. According to the study, early and seed-stage funds dominated fourth quarter fundraising, and included 31 funds raising $4.2B. The biggest fund was Oak Investment Partners XI which raised a record $1.5B in committments, followed by Interwest Partners IX and U.S. Venture Partners with $600M each. The study was run by Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.