Latest Venture Capital Update

Private equity fundraising had another very strong showing in the first quarter of the year with ninety-three funds raising a combined $31.4 billion, according to Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Fifty-one venture funds accounted for $6.5 billion of the total while forty-two buyout vehicles raised $24.9 billion. While these figures show a decline from the fourth quarter, they are a significant increase over the first quarter of 2005.

Venture dollars raised in the first quarter declined by 13.1% over the fourth quarter when sixty-three funds attracted $7.5 billion, but gained by 21.2% over the first quarter of last year when fifty-nine funds took in $5.4 billion. On the buyout side the respective differences were more pronounced. This quarter’s $24.9 billion represents a 22.1% fall off from last quarter’s $31.9 billion, the largest amount of money ever raised by buyout funds in a quarter. However, this quarter outpaced by 76.8% the first quarter of 2005 when forty-nine funds raised $14 billion.

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