VC Numbers Look Good in Q2

PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association are the leaders in surveying venture capital investment deals and statistics. And the State Science & Technology Institute is the best at putting the numbers in perspective.

Below is part of the analysis from a strong second quarter of this year. Also, SSTI has a spreadsheet that breaks down investments by quarter over the past six years.

In the second quarter (Q2) of 2013, venture investment totaled $6.7 billion over 913 deals, according to the quarterly survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Compared to the first quarter of 2013, the amount of venture capital investment increased 12 percent and the number of deals increased 2 percent. Although still well below venture capital investment highs in 2007, Q2 2013 had the largest total amount of investment in a year.

In total, $12.6 billion in venture investments has been made in the first half of 2013 in 1,776 deals. This represents a 3.8 percent decrease in the investment amount compared to the first half of 2012, but a slight uptick, 4 percent, in the number of deals completed.

The software and biotechnology sectors were the largest two recipients of venture capital investments. The software industry received $2.1 billion in investments, although this was a 7 percent drop from the previous quarter. Biotechnology rose 41 percent in investments to $1.3 billion in 103 deals. Other sectors receiving large totals of investments were IT ($654 million) and medical devices ($543 million).

Clean technology, which includes a range of activities across sectors, captured $364 million in 43 deals. This is a 6 percent investment decline and 31 percent deal decline, and is the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2006.

Breaking investments down into company stage, seed and early stage companies together accounted for 57 percent of deals made, while expansion stage companies had 23 percent and later stage companies had the remaining 20 percent. Early stage companies closed on $137 million in 37 deals in Q2, while early stage companies had their highest levels of investments in six quarters.

First-time financings were also up in Q2, raising 24 percent to $1.1 billion, a 10 percent increase from Q1. The first-time financings were 17 percent of total investment amounts and 33 percent of total investment deals in the quarter.

Compared to the rather pessimistic survey from the first quarter of this year, and despite a decline in clean technology investments, this Q2 report appears to offer some optimism, with more than half of the sectors surveyed increasing in investment dollars.  In addition, a 39 percent rise to $1.9 billion was invested in “internet-specific companies” in Q2, with five of the 10 largest rounds in the quarter in the internet-specific sector. This suggests venture capitalists are looking for investment possibilities in more flexible and nimble companies with less overhead and low-capital-intensive operations.

 

 

In the second quarter (Q2) of 2013, venture investment totaled $6.7 billion over 913 deals, according to the quarterly survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Compared to the first quarter of 2013, the amount of venture capital investment increased 12 percent and the number of deals increased 2 percent. Although still well below venture capital investment highs in 2007, Q2 2013 had the largest total amount of investment in a year.

In total, $12.6 billion in venture investments has been made in the first half of 2013 in 1,776 deals. This represents a 3.8 percent decrease in the investment amount compared to the first half of 2012, but a slight uptick, 4 percent, in the number of deals completed.

The software and biotechnology sectors were the largest two recipients of venture capital investments. The software industry received $2.1 billion in investments, although this was a 7 percent drop from the previous quarter. Biotechnology rose 41 percent in investments to $1.3 billion in 103 deals. Other sectors receiving large totals of investments were IT ($654 million) and medical devices ($543 million).

Clean technology, which includes a range of activities across sectors, captured $364 million in 43 deals. This is a 6 percent investment decline and 31 percent deal decline, and is the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2006.

Breaking investments down into company stage, seed and early stage companies together accounted for 57 percent of deals made, while expansion stage companies had 23 percent and later stage companies had the remaining 20 percent. Early stage companies closed on $137 million in 37 deals in Q2, while early stage companies had their highest levels of investments in six quarters.

First-time financings were also up in Q2, raising 24 percent to $1.1 billion, a 10 percent increase from Q1. The first-time financings were 17 percent of total investment amounts and 33 percent of total investment deals in the quarter.

Compared to the rather pessimistic survey from the first quarter of this year, and despite a decline in clean technology investments, this Q2 report appears to offer some optimism, with more than half of the sectors surveyed increasing in investment dollars.  In addition, a 39 percent rise to $1.9 billion was invested in “internet-specific companies” in Q2, with five of the 10 largest rounds in the quarter in the internet-specific sector. This suggests venture capitalists are looking for investment possibilities in more flexible and nimble companies with less overhead and low-capital-intensive operations.

 

Venture Dollars Up for Quarter, Down for Year

The optimist points to increased venture capital deals and dollar amounts in the second quarter of 2012 compared to the first three months of the year. The pessimist notes that both the second-quarter and first-half numbers for 2012 are lower than those figures in 2011.

The brief recap: January through June 2012 saw 1,707 deals worth $13.1 billion; for the same time period in 2011, it was 1,942 deals with a value of $14.7 billion.

Further numbers and analysis from one of the longest names/reports on record: The MoneyTree™ Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.

The number of Early stage deals reached the highest quarterly total since Q1 2001, with $2.1 billion going into 410 deals, an 18 percent increase in dollars and a 28 percent increase in deals from the prior quarter. The Internet-specific sector also saw increases during the second quarter, rising 22 percent in dollars and 31 percent in deals from the prior quarter to $1.8 billion going into 261 deals in Q2.  The Life Sciences sector (Biotechnology and Medical Devices), however, experienced a decline in funding in the second quarter, dropping 9 percent in dollars and 6 percent in deals from the prior quarter to $1.4 billion going into 174 deals in Q2.

“The concentration of venture capital dollars in the hands of fewer firms will increasingly dictate the flow of investment,” said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. “Currently, this translates into more funding for IT start-ups and less capital available for life sciences and clean technology.  We hope to see this investment mix rebalance over time as the start-up ecosystem is better served with more diversity, not less.  Additionally, we continue to watch the early stage and first time financing numbers as they are critical to the U.S. innovation pipeline.  We are encouraged that these numbers were stronger this quarter and hope that this signals an ongoing commitment on behalf of venture firms to make these longer term, breakthrough investments.”

“If funding levels in the second half of the year remain consistent with the first half of the year, VC investing in 2012 will fall short of the nearly $30 billion invested in 2011 but will exceed the $23 billion invested in 2010,” remarked Tracy T. Lefteroff, global managing partner of the venture capital practice at PwC US.  “Software and Internet companies continue to be attractive industries for VCs since most of these companies tend to be capital efficient and don’t require large amounts of capital to operate.  VCs also find the potential for profitable liquidity events to be attractive for these companies.  On the contrary, given the regulatory challenges currently impacting the Life Sciences industry and the amount of capital required to fund these companies, it’s no surprise that investments in this industry have declined for the fourth consecutive quarter.”

The Software industry received the highest level of funding for all industries with $2.3 billion invested during the second quarter of 2012, which is the highest investment total for the sector since the second quarter of 2001.  This level of investment represents a 38 percent increase in dollars, compared to $1.7 billion invested in the first quarter.  The Software industry also had the most deals completed in Q2 with 290 rounds, which represents a 16 percent increase from the 251 rounds completed in the first quarter of 2012.

Life Sciences investing declined for the fourth consecutive quarter, most notably in the Biotechnology sector where $697 million went into 90 deals, representing the lowest quarterly total for the industry since the first quarter of 2003. 

Seed stage investments rose 33 percent in dollars and 15 percent in deals with $199 million invested into 63 deals in the second quarter. Early stage investments also rose, climbing 18 percent in dollars and 28 percent in deals with $2.1 billion going into 410 deals, the largest quarterly deal total since the first quarter of 2001.  

First-time financing (companies receiving venture capital for the first time) dollars increased 24 percent to $1.1 billion in Q2, and the number of deals rose 27 percent to 282 deals in the second quarter.   

Venture Capital Update: It’s Up

What’s going on in the venture capital world and where does Indiana rank compared to other states? We’ll let the experts provide the analysis (below). As far as Indiana’s status, the 14 deals in 2011 (ranking 26th among the states) were similar to previous years; the nearly $178 million invested (20th ranking), however, exceeded recent trends. In other words, we had bigger deals in 2011.

The State Science &Technology Institute offers the following on a national level:

U.S. venture capital activity continued to rebound in 2011, with total investment dollars reaching levels similar to venture capital activity before the late-2008 drop, according to the latest data from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Moneytree survey. Venture capitalists invested $28.4 billion last year in the U.S., up 30.3 percent over 2010. The NVCA/PWC announcement ranks 2011 the third highest year for investment in the past decade. Venture deals, however, grew by only 12.1 percent, stemming from higher valuations and continued support for portfolio companies.

Early stage investment activity grew substantially last year, while seed stage investment declined. VCs invested $8.3 billion in 1,414 early stage companies, an increase of 47 percent in terms of dollars and a 16 percent increase in deals over the previous year. Early stage investments represented about 29 percent of all venture dollars and 38 percent of deals, a modest increase over 2010. Seed stage investments, however, declined by 48 percent in terms of dollars to $919 million. Seed stage deals remained steady at 396. These numbers indicate that even though the overall trend in 2011 suggest a preference for larger deals, seed stage deals experienced a decline in average size.

Most states shared in the increase in venture activity last year. Among 2010’s top ten states for venture dollars, only North Carolina and Washington had decreases in activity in 2011. The decline caused North Carolina to drop out of the top ten for the year, replaced by Virginia where venture dollars increased by 61.8 percent to $607.6 million. California, which was the recipient of 51 percent of all venture dollars last year, experienced a 32.1 percent increase in investment.

View SSTI charts on dollars invested and deals.

Putting a Price Tag on Health Care Proposal

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to pass its version of health care reform legislation today. But a new report — titled Potential Impact of Health Reform on the Cost of Private Health Insurance Coverage — warns about the likely impacts on individuals, families and businesses.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers study looks at four key provisions:

  • Insurance market reforms coupled with a weak coverage requirement
  • A new tax on high-cost health care plans
  • Cost-shiftng as a result of cuts to Medicare
  • New taxes on health care sectors

Health care costs are going to go up absent any reforms. With this combination of provisions, the increases are projected to be significantly higher. How high? According to the study, the cost of private health insurance coverage will increase:

  • 26 percent between 2009 and 2013 under the current system and by 40 percent
    during this same period if these four provisions are implemented
  • 50 percent between 2009 and 2016 under the current system and by 73 percent
    during this same period if these four provisions are implemented
  • 79 percent between 2009 and 2019 under the current system and by 111 percent

The authors wrote: "Market reform enacted in the absence of universal coverage will increase costs dramatically for many who are currently insured by creating a powerful incentive for people to wait until they are sick to purchase coverage."

Additional analysis and numbers are expected from the Congressional Budget Office after committee approval and before floor debate. This report certainly gives all involved something to consider.

Venture Funding Sees a Shift

A quarterly analysis best known as the MoneyTree Report dishes out the latest on venture capital investment and the like. The good news from the second quarter review is that funding remained virtually the same (990 deals and $7.4 billion) as the first three months of 2008 (977 deals and $7.5 billion); the potentially ominous sign was less investment in early-stage companies and more in companies that are closer to commercialization and a payback.

Venture capitalists, like many others, are concerned about the economy. Fewer initial public offerings offer fewer opportunities for a return on that riskier early-stage investment. Money invested in companies seeking their first round of venture funds decreased 12%. Later-stage deals increased 14%.

Software and biotech led the way in number of deals. The big winner among industries, however, was clean technology with an all-time quarterly high of more than $883 million invested, including the top two deals of the quarter at $132 million and $115 million.

The National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers analyze the numbers and distribute the report. It will be worth watching closely in the next few quarters.