Friday, February 13, 2015

Dow Jones VentureSource 4Q’14 U.S. Venture Capital Report


The following report presents Dow Jones VentureSource’s quarterly findings for U.S. venture capital fundraising, investment, valuation, and liquidity. Charts and graphs available here offer a comprehensive view of the trends currently affecting the venture capital market. 

Highlights for 4Q 2014 include: 

U.S. venture capital fundraising rose both in number of funds and amount invested;
Venture capital investment into U.S. companies experienced a quarter-over-quarter increase; Median pre-money valuation increased 30% from 3Q 2014 and more than doubled the 2013 value;

Amounts raised through both Initial public offerings (IPOs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) experienced an increase from the previous quarter.

FUNDRAISING 

Venture Fundraising Increases in U.S. during 4Q 2014 

85 funds garnered $8.1 billion in 4Q 2014, a 25% increase in the amount raised and also a 4% rise in number of funds from the prior quarter.
Venture capital funds have raised a total of almost $33 billion across 332 funds in 2014, up 62% from the total amount raised in 2013 and 27% in number of funds.
Tiger Global Private Investment Partners IX LP was the largest U.S. venture capital fund of 4Q 2014 raising $2.5 billion and accounting for 31% of the total amount raised during the quarter.
Median U.S. fund size was $110 million in 2014.
 
FINANCING 

U.S. Venture Investment on the Rise in 4Q 2014 

U.S.-based companies raised $13.8 billion from 814 venture capital deals in 4Q 2014, an increase in capital (24%) despite deal flow dropping 12% from the previous quarter.
Compared to the same period in 2013, number of deals decreased 20%, while amount invested registered a 44% increase.
In 2014, 3682 deals have been completed raising $52 billion, a respective 4% decrease and 47% increase on figures posted in 2013. 


Equity Financings into U.S.-based, VC-backed Companies, by Industry Group (4Q 2014) 

Consumer Services saw the largest investment allocation, with 159 deals garnering almost $3.8 billion and accounting for 27% of total equity investment.
Information Technology (IT) raised the second highest proportion of investment for 4Q’14. IT companies drew $3.3 billion across 245 deals, up 52% and 13% from respective 3Q’14 figures.
Business and Financial Services placed third with $3.2 billion in 206 deals, increasing 4% from the $3.1 billion accumulated in the previous quarter, despite a 23% drop in number of deals.
$2.5 billion were raised by the Healthcare sector in 143 deals, down both in capital invested and deal flow (8% and 23%, respectively).
In 2014 as a whole, Business and Financial Services took a 26% share of investment ($13.7 billion), IT a 24% ($12.3 billion), Consumer Services a 23% ($11.9 billion), and Healthcare a 21% ($11 billion).


LIQUIDITY 

Venture M&A and IPO Market Activity in the U.S. during 4Q 2014 

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of venture-backed companies increased by 60% from 3Q 2014, with 102 deals garnering $32 billion.
Initial public offering (IPO) activity increased in 4Q 2014 raising $3 billion, up 134% from the previous quarter.


U.S. VC-backed M&As (2011-2014) 

102 M&As raised $32 billion during 4Q 2014, a 60% increase in M&A valuations despite the number of deals decreasing 23% compared to the previous quarter, when 132 M&As garnered $20 billion.
The largest M&A of the quarter was WhatsApp Inc., which was acquired by Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) for $19 billion.
483 M&As were completed for venture-backed companies in the U.S. during 2014, up 8% from the 449 completed during 2013 and 2% from the 473 seen during 2012.


U.S. VC-backed IPOs (2011-2014) 

21 venture-backed companies raised $3 billion through public offerings in 4Q 2014. Number of listings decreased by 5%, while capital raised more than doubled the amount from the previous quarter.
The largest IPO of the quarter was LendingClub Corp. (NYSE: LC), which completed a $870 million IPO.
2014 saw the highest number of US VC-backed IPOs since 2000, when 210 were completed. During 2014,105 companies garnered a total of $9.2 billion, an increase of 42% and 12% from respective 2013 figures.

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