Nevertheless, reps from and the took away positives from the overall numbers, which included $5.9 billion in funding of 736 companies . After all, seven of the 17 MoneyTree sectors experienced double-digit increases in dollars in the first quarter, including Semiconductors , Industrial/Energy, and Financial Services.
"The first quarter investment total is setting us on a path for a solid level of investing in 2011. While we did see a drop in deal volume, the dollars invested remains strong," noted Tracy Lefteroff, global managing partner of the venture capital practice at PwC US. "Accordingly, we're seeing an uptick in average deal size, which hit $8 million in Q1for the first time since the first quarter of 2007. And, in the first quarter, 14 companies received funding rounds of $50 million or more, with four of those deals worth more than $100 million. We haven't seen this many deals worth $50 million or more in a single quarter since the third quarter of 2001. This is a clear indicator that VCs are seeing innovative companies walk through their doors and that the entrepreneurial spirit of America is alive and well and thriving."
Half of the big money winners are in the industrial/energy category, though cracked the top 10 courtesy of a .
Speaking of start-ups, we’re compiling our annual list of 2011 network companies to watch – a list of enterprise IT focused startups that have emerged since September 2010 or will emerge soon (as in, have announced their first product or come out of stealth mode or announced initial funding during that time). For this list, we are not looking for more established firms and those that have already gotten plenty of ink and awards. The idea here is to introduce our readers to new companies. The overall list will be divvied up into categories depending upon how many companies we select and which categories they fall into. Exactly when stories will run is to be determined. Please send candidates to Bob Brown at bbrown@nww.com with a subject line beginning with CTW:
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