Thursday, July 2, 2009

Venture Exits At Six Year Low

Texas was one of the few bright spots in the M&A and IPO exit market so far this year, according to a report released yesterday on the liquidity market for venture-backed firms. According to the report, released yesterday by Dow Jones VentureSource, Texas saw the largest--and one of the few--IPOs in the market so far this year, with the $113M IPO of Austin-based SolarWinds in May. However, the overall market looks to be one of the worst ever for exits of venture-capital backed firms. The Dow Jones report found that there was only $2.8 billion in mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs in the quarter, a six year low, and a 57% drop from exits in Q2 of last year. 67 companies were involved in mergers and acquisitions this year, versus 89 transactions last year.