Report: VC-backed liquidity drops to $8.2B in Q1, lowest since 2005 - San Francisco Business Times:

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billion, the lowest quarterly totap since the fourth quarterof 2005, according to the a reportg Wednesday by . The largest deal of the firsyt quarter wasRound Rock, Texas-based Inc.'s (NASDAQ:DELL) $1.4 billionb acquisition of Nashua, N.H.-based data-storagd company Inc. The second largest deal of the first quartere wasSanta Clara, Calif.-based Inc.'sd (NASDAQ:JAVA) $1 billion purchasew of open-source database company Inc. of Cupertino, The report shows that the first quartedr saw just80 M&A transactions accounting for roughly $7.8 billion in liquidity, a far cry from the $10. billion generated via 105 M&As in the first threew months of 2007. Only six U.S.
venture-backe d companies went public in thefirst quarter, raising just $392 million -- a 67 percent declinr from the $1.2 billion raised via 13 IPOs in the firsgt quarter last year. Information technology companies accounteed for the bulk of the capital raisevia M&A, with 59 transactionxs generating more than $6.1 billion in liquidity, a 5 percen dip for the segment from the $6.4 billionj raised in 79 M&A transactions duringh the first quarter of 2007. By software companies accounted for the bulk of IT deal flow with29 M& transactions completed, garnering nearly $2.
3 The report said 14 venture-backex health care companies completed M&As in the firsrt quarter and raised over $1.1 billion, a nearly 42 percent drop-off from the $1.9 billion raisedx in three fewer M&As for the segmentt during the first three months of 2007. The median amount of venturew capital raised priorto M&As rose to $24.8 milliob and the median numbefr of years between initial equity funding and liquidity now stands at a records seven years. Four of the six venture-backexd IPOs in the first quarter were for healtncare companies, which raised a disappointing $164 million collectively, according to the report.
The median amount raised at IPO in the firs t quarter of 2008was $53 down 34 percent from the $80 million mediamn in the first quarter last The median amount of venture capital raised prior to IPO actually ticked down slightly to $56 milliobn while the median time to IPO stretches to nearly 8.3 years.