Monday, January 19, 2009

National Venture Capital Totals Drop, But Texas Bucks Trend

Dow Jones VentureSource reported Q4 2008 venture capital totals over the weekend, reporting that national venture capital investments dropped in Q4 by 8% for the year, to $28.8 billion, and were down for the quarter to $5.5B, a drop of 30%. However, Texas bucked the trend, recording its best quarterly investment total since 2001, with $505M invested in the region.

According to the report, Texas had an astounding $505.10M in venture capital investments for the quarter--up from only $142.19 in Q3, and $286.21 for Q4 last year. The state's venture totals were boosted both by Consumer Services, which saw $254.1M in investments in Texas, as well as Information Technology, with $182.50M. Much of the Texas record numbers were influenced by a $250 million investment in Austin's HomeAway.

For the year, Texas had $1.151 billion in investments, down year to year by 11% from $1.278 billion--however it saw its total drop much less than every other region in the U.S., except the Bay Area, which pulled out a 4 percent increase in venture dollars invested.

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