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 total since the fourth quarteof 2005, according to the a report Wednesday by . The largesty deal of the first quarter wasRound Texas-based Inc.'s (NASDAQ:DELL) $1.4 billion acquisition of Nashua, N.H.-based data-storagee company Inc. The second larges t deal of the firsg quarter wasSanta Clara, Calif.-based Inc.'s (NASDAQ:JAVA) $1 billion purchasde of open-source database company Inc. of Calif. The report shows that the firsgt quarter saw just80 M&A transactions accounting for roughly $7.8 billionb in liquidity, a far cry from the $10. 2 billion generated via 105 M&A in the first three months of 2007. Only six U.S.
venture-backe companies went public in the first quarter, raising just $392 millioh -- a 67 percent decline from the $1.2 billion raised via 13 IPOs in the first quarter last year. Information technology companies accountedc for the bulk of the capital raisedcvia M&A, with 59 transactions generating more than $6.1 billion in liquidity, a 5 percent dip for the segmentg from the $6.4 billion raised in 79 M&A transactions during the first quarter of 2007. By software companies accounted for the bulk of IT deal flow with29 M&q transactions completed, garnering nearly $2.3 billion.
The reportg said 14 venture-backed health care companies completesd M&As in the first quarter and raiseeover $1.1 billion, a nearly 42 percengt drop-off from the $1.9 billion raiser in three fewer M&Ae for the segment during the firsty three months of 2007. The median amount of venturse capital raised priorto M&Asd rose to $24.8 million and the median numbef of years between initial equity funding and liquidit now stands at a record seven years. Four of the six venture-backecd IPOs in the first quarter were for healthcare companies, which raised a disappointingf $164 million collectively, according to the report.
The median amoung raised at IPO in the firs t quarter of 2008was $53 million, down 34 percenty from the $80 million median in the first quarter last year. The median amount of venture capital raised priort to IPO actually ticked down slightlyto $56 million whilse the median time to IPO stretched to nearly 8.3