Monday, July 12, 2010

Venture Capitalists Not Finding Funding, Either

The latest numbers released by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Thomson Reuters shows that not only are startups finding fundraising tough--so are the venture capital firms who support those startups. According to Thomson Reuters and the NVCA today, thirty-eight U.S. venture capital firms raised $1.9 billion in the second quarter of 2010, down 49 percent compared to Q1 this year, when 38 funds raised $3.7 billion. Thomson Reuters and the NVCA said that the quarter is the lowest--based on dollar commitments--since the third quarter of 2003. In a statement, Mark Heesen of the NVCA attributed the drop in fundraising to "ongoing economic uncertainty" saying that the group expects the conditions to continue for the rest of the year. The biggest funds raised in the quarter were $325M for Venrock Associates VI, L.P., and Polaris Venture Partners VI, L.P., which raised $213.8M in commitments.