CB Insights released data last week on venture capital investments in private companies, reporting a total of $6.5 billion of venture capital funding over 735 deals in the quarter that ended December 31, 2010.
The CB Insights Venture Capital Activity Report shows that Q4 2010 saw the highest number of venture capital deals and funding total in the last eight quarters. On a year-over-year basis, Internet funding was up 21%, cleantech funding was up 7% and healthcare investments were up 2%.
Overall, $23.7 billion of venture capital was invested in 2,792 deals in 2010, representing 14% growth in dollars and 13% growth in deals over 2009.
Other highlights of the report:
New York’s share of high-tech investment dollars has risen over the last five quarters (Q4 2009 through Q4 2010) while Massachusetts’s share has fallen. New York has seen 208 high-tech deals vs. 207 for Massachusetts, and funding for New York high-tech companies was $1.22 billion vs. $1.21 billion for Massachusetts. CB Insights defines high-tech to include Internet, mobile, software, computer hardware and electronics.
The Internet sector accounted for 37% of the total deals for the quarter, and Internet funding is up strongly on a year-over-year basis, with $2.54 billion invested in 272 deals in Q4 2010 vs. $1.49 billion invested in 224 deals in Q4 2009.
Deals in the healthcare sector were up slightly to 172 deals in Q4 2010 from 169 deals in Q4 2009, but funding was down to $1.54 billion in Q4 2010 from $1.8 billion in Q4 2009. The share of Seed and Series A healthcare deals grew to 45% of total deals, a five-quarter high.
After two quarters of declines in the cleantech sector, the sector held steady with $790 million invested in 59 deals in Q4 2010 vs. $790 million invested in 61 deals in Q3 2010. On a year-over-year basis, the $790 million invested in Q4 2010 was up 40% from the $565 million invested in Q4 2009.
This post was authored by Jonathan Shapira.