Weekly Venture Capital Activity Week Jan. 30 through Feb. 5

CapitalHunter.com was able to verify that $486 million of venture capital was invested in 42 U.S.-based companies during the past two weeks. The average deal size was approximately 11.57 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period increased by 23% compared to last periods $396 million.

(PRWEB) February 12, 2006 -- Venture capital remained strong last week, as $486 million was invested in 42 companies, a 23% week-over-week increase. While software investment remained strong, life science investment (biotechnology and medical devices) took a surprising nosedive, as only a mere $9.5 million was placed into such companies, less than 4% of last week’s funding. In normal circumstances, life science investment accounts for over 30% of weekly funding. Other sectors seeing large investment last week include media & entertainment, networks & equipment and semiconductors.

Seventeen companies decided to list shares last, the largest amount of companies to do so in quite some time.

CapitalHunter.com was able to verify that $486 million of venture capital was invested in 42 U.S.-based companies during the past two weeks. The average deal size was approximately 11.57 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period increased by 23% compared to last periods $396 million.

California was the largest recipient of venture capital funding this week. Sixteen California companies raised $245.7 million in new equity financing, which accounted for 51% of the total venture capital invested this reporting period. The largest private venture financing in California was placed into Sling Media. Sling Media raised $46.6 million in Series B financing and is a provider of consumer electronics that allow users to access television programs and music from their laptops and mobile phones.

The software sector raised the most venture capital this reporting period, with twelve companies raising $101.2 million in venture financing, which accounted for 21% of the venture capital this period. The largest private venture financing in the software sector this period was invested into Incipient. Incipient raised $24 million from a consortium of private equity and venture capital firms and is a provider of switch-resident storage software for mid to large enterprises.

Start-ups raising their Series A round of financing represented the largest share of the funding pie, as 34% of all money invested this period went into such companies. The largest Series A financing was placed into Validity Sensors . Validity Sensors raised $35 million and is a provider of biometric fingerprint sensors

The three largest venture deals this period are as follows:
1.Sling Media. Media & Entertainment, $46.6 million
2.RadioFrame Networks, Telecommunications, $40 million
3.Validity Sensors, Semiconductors, $35 million

The following fifteen companies and other unnamed investors funded the above mentioned top three venture capital investments for $122.4 million:
1. COM Investments
2. Craig McCaw
3. Doll Capital Management
4. EchoStar Communications
5. Ericsson Venture Partners
6. Goldman Sachs
7. Hearst Corporation
8. Ignition Partners
9. Innovacom Venture Capital
10. Liberty Media
11. Mobius Venture Capital
12. NexTel Data Investments
13. Samsung
14. TeleSoft Partners
15. VantagePoint Venture Partners

A total of 106 equity financings of private and public companies occurred during this reporting period. Each of the 106 equity financings are profiled in a weekly report which include venture financings, private placements, secondary offerings, PIPE’s, and IPO’s.

About CapitalHunter.com:
CapitalHunter.com is a web-based financial information company that identifies, preserves and electronically disseminates worldwide data on venture capital and other equity financings. Customers utilize the CapitalHunter.com searchable database to research newly and historic financings and to identify active investors.

Please visit www.capitalhunter.com and get immediate access. New subscribers can request a free investor analysis.

# # #