According to Thomson Reuters and National Venture Capital Association, seventy-one venture capital funds raised $9.1 billion in the second quarter of 2008 in the U.S.

The venture capital investment fell 14 percent this year in the second quarter, as compared to the same period last year. Reportedly, the investment in second quarter of 2007 was the second-highest quarterly totals recorded since the end of the dot-com boom in 2001. 

National Venture Capital Association president Mark Heesen said, “Despite the significant challenges that the venture capital industry is facing in the exit market, this quarter demonstrates the long term perspective of our institutional investors,” he added, “Venture firms and general partners with proven track records will continue to be successful raising new funds as promising investment opportunities remain strong across a diverse set of industries including life sciences, clean technology and information technology. These are ten year funds which often have lives that stretch to 15 years or more. The long term view is the appropriate one to take.”

A total of twenty-two new funds and forty-nine follow on funds were raised in the second quarter. The ratio follow-on to new funds was approximately 2-to-1 in the second quarter of 2008, while it was 4-to-1 during the same period in 2007.

Lightspeed Venture Partners VIII, L.P. posted the largest fundraising (balanced stage; $800 million), followed by Foundation Capital VI, L.P. (early stage; $750 million) and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers XIII  (early stage; $700 million).

About National Venture Capital Association  

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) is the premier trade association that represents the U.S. venture capital industry. It is a member-based organization, consisting of venture capital firms that manage pools of risk equity capital dedicated to be invested in high growth, entrepreneurial companies. It represents approximately 480 venture capital and private equity firms. NVCA’s mission is to foster greater understanding of the importance of venture capital to the U.S. economy and support entrepreneurial activity and innovation. The NVCA represents the public policy interests of the venture capital community, strives to maintain high professional standards, provides reliable industry data, sponsors professional development and facilitates interaction among its members. According to a 2007 Global Insight study, venture-backed companies accounted for 10.4 million jobs and $2.3 trillion in revenue in the United States in 2006.

About Thomas Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. It delivers critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI - News); Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI - News); London Stock Exchange (LSE: TRIL - News) and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: TRIN - News).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under Venture Capital Funding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.