Monday, January 24, 2005

Venture Funding On The Rise

A recently released venture survey shows that venture funding is up nationwide, after several years of declines. The Ernst & Young/VentureOne venture survey, released Friday, showed that U.S. Venture Capital investment increased to $20.4B last year, the first year to year increase since 2000. The survey showed that seed- and first-round deals captured significantly more of the activity this year, making up 37% of all venture capital activity. However, the survey also showed that venture capital investment in U.S. companies dropped 15% versus a year ago, and 8% versus Q3 of 2004. Much of 2004's growth was driven by the biopharmaceutical sector, which commanded both bigger deals as well as number of deals. According to the survey, IT investment deal count was flat but reflected a $1B increase in investment, particularly in electronics and information services.

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