Monday, July 12, 2010

Venture Firms Find Funding Hard To Get, Too

In a report today, National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Thomson Reuters said that fundraising dropped for venture capital firms, to the slowest quarter since the third quarter of 2003. According to a report released today, thirty-eight U.S. venture capital firms raised $1.9 billion in the second quarter of 2010, down 49 percent compared to Q1 this year, when 38 funds raised $3.7 billion. In a statement, Mark Heesen of the NVCA attributed the drop in fundraising to "ongoing economic uncertainty" saying that the group expects the conditions to continue for the rest of the year. Venture capital funds tap pension funds, large financial institutions, banks, and wealthy individuals for their funds. The report did not break down local efforts by venture firms to raise capital, however, local VC DFJ Mercury recently said it had closed a second fund at $70M. The largest funds raised in Q2 in the U.S. were Venrock Associates VI, L.P. which raised $325M, and Polaris Venture Partners VI, L.P., which raised $213.8M.