2007-02-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

East Coast Venture Firms by Q4 Deal Activity

Highland Capital Partners Leads the Pack

According to the latest MoneyTree Report compiled by the National Venture Capital Association, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Thomson Financial, fourth quarter venture investing remained steady nationwide at $5 to $6 billion, helping venture capital investing reach an all time high in 2006.

The most active funds in the east include the following (Q4 results):

New England -------------Number of Deals
Highland Capital Partners, MA------------16
Village Ventures, MA ------------------------15
Polaris Venture Partners, MA---------------13
Battery Ventures, MA ------------------------13
Flagship Ventures, MA ----------------------10
General Catalysts Partners, MA------------10
Oxford Bioscience Partners, MA -----------10

New York area
(includes CT, NY, NJ)

Venrock Associates, NY----------------------15

Bessemer Venture Partners, NY----------- 11
Canaan Partners, CT------------------------ 11
Pequot Capital Management, CT -----------9
Oak Investment Partners, CT----------------7

Philly Metro area:
Edison Venture Funds, NJ ------------------8
First Round Capital, PA ---------------------6
Domain Associates, NJ ----------------------4
NewSpring Capital, PA ----------------------4
TL Ventures, PA -------------------------------4

Southeast:
Aurora Funds, NC----------------------------5
Intersouth Partners, NC---------------------5
Crossbow Ventures, FL----------------------4
HIG Capital Management, FL--------------4
Accuitive Medical Ventures, GA-------------3
Imlay Investments, GA-----------------------3

2007-02-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

Venture Investing on the East Coast Increases

PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ seminal MoneyTree Report arrived in my mailbox this week, giving me the impetus I needed to get off my duff and launch this long-planned blog on venture investing on the east coast. Route 128 aside, venture investing really only came of age with the .com boom. It’s in its infancy as is the era of technology itself.

When I launched my magazine, AlleyCat News in 1996, only three venture firms were investing in the New York area—Prospect Venture’s Discovery Fund, Flatiron Partners and Scripps Ventures (both of which had also just launched).

The bust was painful, but the boom did do one thing for the east coast. It put venture capital into the vernacular. It gave would-be tech entrepreneurs confidence that they could access necessary capital to grow a company without having to re-locate to Silicon Valley, or the Boston area, of course.

Over the years I’ve had the privilege of meeting many entrepreneurs and venture capitalist. In this blog I hope to share with you insights into the market and venture firms by introducing you to east coast venture capitalists one-by-one and tracking the market as it grows.

To begin, according to the PWC report which is done in conjunction with the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Financial, venture investing nationwide is at the highest level in five years, with strength in Life Sciences and Expansion Stage Companies. VC invested $25.5 billion in 3,416 deals in 2006.

Here’s how different regions on the east coast fared:

Rankings:

Second: New England: $578M

Fifth: NY Metro area: $390M

Sixth: Southeast: $358M

Seventh: DC/Metroplex: $332

Tenth: Philadelphia: $213

Fifteenth: Upstate NY: $31M

Venture Capital East