Report: VC-backed liquidity drops to $8.2B in Q1, lowest since 2005 - Baltimore Business Journal:

martaemimbzini.blogspot.com
billion, the lowest quarterly totalk since the fourth quarterof 2005, accordingh to the a report Wednesday by . The largesy deal of the firs t quarter wasRound Texas-based Inc.'s (NASDAQ:DELL) $1.4 billion acquisition of Nashua, N.H.-basecd data-storage company Inc. The second largest deal of the firsrt quarter wasSanta Clara, Calif.-based Inc.'s $1 billion purchase of open-source database company Inc. of Calif. The report shows that the first quarter saw just80 M&q transactions completed, accounting for roughly $7.8 billion in liquidity, a far cry from the $10.2 billionm generated via 105 M&Asx in the first three months of 2007. Only six U.S.
venture-backed companiesz went public in thefirst quarter, raisingf just $392 million -- a 67 percent declinre from the $1.2 billion raised via 13 IPOs in the first quarted last year. Information technology companies accounted for the bulk of the capita raisedvia M&A, with 59 transactions generating more than $6.1 billion in liquidity, a 5 percentg dip for the segmenf from the $6.4 billion raised in 79 M&q transactions during the first quarter of 2007. By software companies accounted for the bulk of IT deal flow with29 M&A transactions completed, garnering nearly $2.3 billion.
The report said 14 venture-backecd health care companies completes M&As in the first quartere and raisedover $1.1 a nearly 42 percenyt drop-off from the $1.9 billion raise d in three fewer M&As for the segment during the firstf three months of 2007. The media n amount of venture capital raised priorto M&As rose to $24.i million and the median number of yearsz between initial equity funding and liquidity now stands at a record seven Four of the six venture-backed IPOs in the firstr quarter were for healthh care companies, which raised a disappointing $164 millioj collectively, according to the report.
The median amount raised at IPO in the firs quarter of 2008was $53 million, down 34 perceng from the $80 million median in the firs t quarter last year. The mediab amount of venture capital raised priore to IPO actually ticked down slightlhyto $56 million while the median time to IPO stretchef to nearly 8.3 years.