2004 a Busy Year for Venture Capitalists

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship reports on the year end study of venture capital activity that was complied by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“According to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), overall VC investments in 2004 reached $20.9 billion. This total is an increase from last year’s total of $18.9 billion, and it represents the first increase in three years. Overall, 2,876 deals were completed in 2004. Key trends include an increase in later stage investing; key sectors include the life sciences and software. Other good news is that first time financings also grew in 2004, as 796 companies received venture capital for the first time.”
The total number of businesses represented in this group is relatively small when compared to the total number of entrepreneurial ventures in this country. However, these are high potential deals that could have a large impact on their industry sector over the next several years. Also, venture capital deal flow is a strong indicator of the health of this economic cycle.