Venture Capital Activity is Up 44% - Venture Capitalists Keep Charging as California Based Software Companies Receive the Bulk of the Investments

With increasing inflation figures, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is expected to raise the discount rate sooner and at a sharper pace than originally anticipated. While this has caused Wall Street investors to be cautious, venture capitalists have charged the hill with a 44% increase in investment activity over the previous week.

SAN DIEGO, CA May 25, 2004 -- www.capitalhunter.com identified that over $468 million of venture capital was invested in 44 U.S.-based companies during this reporting period of May 17, 2004 through May 21, 2004. The average deal size was approximately $10.64 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period is up by 44% from last weeks $326 million.

Venture Capital Investments by Region

Geographically, 12 California companies raised $141.2 million in venture financings. The largest venture financing in California this period was into Good Technology, Inc. (www.good.com) for $45 million. Good Technology, Inc. is a Sunnyvale based company that provides a wireless enterprise e-mail and data system that includes software, services, and handhelds for mobile workers.

Venture Capital Investments by Sector

The software sector raised 35% of the venture capital this period. 20 software companies raised over $172 million in venture financing. The largest venture financing was by Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc. (www.greenwaymedical.com) for $20 million. Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Carrollton, GA and is a provider of a Web Browser-based integrated ambulatory software solution for physicians' practices - including integrated practice management, electronic medical records (EMR) and managed care functionality.    

Venture Capital Investments by Round

Companies raising their Series C round led this weeks venture capital activity. Series C companies represented 32% of the total venture capital deployed this period. The largest Series C financing was into Last Mile Connections, Inc. (www.lastmileconnections.com) for $28 million. Last Mile Connections, Inc. which is a developer of business-to-business exchange and online auction operation that aims to make connections easier for providers of last-mile with metro access in 40 cities nationwide.

Top Three Venture Capital Investments

Airpax Corp. (www.airpax.net) was probably the largest financing this week with $78.5 million raised from William Blair Capital Partners (www.wbcapitalpartners.com), Norwest Equity Partners (www.nep.com), and the round was supported by a line of credit. As we were unable to confirm what percentage of the total raised was equity so we did not include the financing in our calculations. We will update you next week on the details. The three largest venture deals this period are as follows:

1.    Good Technology
2.    Last Mile Connection
3.    iVivity

Venture Capitalists funding the Top Three Deals

The following thirteen investors funded the above mentioned top three venture capital investments in excess of $99 million: BA Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Cordova Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Grotech Capital Group, H.I.G. Ventures, JK&B Capital, Kinetic Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mellon Ventures, One Equity Partners, Versant Ventures

About www.capitalhunter.com

www.capitalhunter.com is a financial information service company that collects and disseminates data on investors and their corresponding equity financings. Obtain access to the details of the companies and investors included in this press release and over 30,000 historic financings at www.capitalhunter.com. Subscribers can now perform unlimited investor searches at www.capitalhunter.com.

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