Press Releases
June 20, 2000 |
Council for Entrepreneurial Development |
CED Releases First Quarter Venture Survey Results
38 Triangle Area Companies Raise a Total of $324.8 million
June 20, 2000, Research Triangle Park, N.C. - In the first quarter of 2000, a total of $324.8 million was invested in 38 companies located in the Research Triangle area, according to the quarterly Research Triangle Venture Investment Survey compiled and released by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED).
"More than ever Triangle entrepreneurs appear to be seeking a variety of funding mechanisms for building and growing their companies, and they continue to perform well in their pursuit of investment dollars," said Monica Doss, executive director for CED. "In addition to the continued strong showing by companies seeking traditional venture investments, the first quarter of 2000 saw an unprecedented increase in M&A activity."
According to various sources, Triangle-area companies participated in at least 10 mergers and acquisitions worth greater than $1.06 billion in the first quarter. (The actual total is likely significantly higher as the majority of deals did not offer public details on the transaction amounts.) Merger and acquisition activity was so strong for the quarter ending in March that CED included statistics about mergers and acquisitions in its survey results for the first time.
The following are summary statistics of CED's Q1 2000 research survey
findings:
(NOTE: Cary-based SpectraSite Communications completed a single venture round
worth $231.4 million in Q1 of 1999. Therefore, readers should take special note
of any direct year-over-year comparisons as results will likely be skewed.)
- With 39 investments made in 38 companies, the number of first quarter deals increased by 85.7% year over year, up from 21 in Q1 1999.
- The average Q1 investment was $8.33 million (vs. $16.39 million in Q1 1999).
- The median Q1 investment was $5.0 million (vs. $1.87 million in Q1 1999).
- Last quarter, individual investments ranged from a total of $28 million to $500,000.
- Twenty of the 38 Triangle fundraisers last quarter were previous CED Venture Conference presenters, including Venture 2000 presenters ArgoMed, Inc.; Blue292; MERIX Bioscience, Inc.; Pinpoint.com, Inc.; Porivo Technologies; Saffron Technology; TekSell.com; and ViOs, Inc.
- The region recorded five investments at greater than $20 million for 38% of the total dollars raised, and 20 companies raised at least $5 million for more than 90% of the total dollars invested.
- The Computer Software sector was the big industry winner last quarter, garnering 40.5% of the total dollars invested and 38.5% of the deals. Second was the Life Science sector with 35.4% of the dollars and 38.5% of the deals.
- Last quarter, early stage companies accounted for almost half (45.4%) of all the dollars invested. The expansion stage category finished second with 35.8% of the total.
BioStratum |
$28.0 million |
Approximately 45 investment firms invested in Triangle companies in the first quarter of this year. Among those funds investing include:
A.M. Pappas & Associates |
Idanta Partners |
CED's survey figures differ from other organizations that report venture investments nation-wide due to a different reporting methodology. CED collects and verifies investment information for publication from a variety of published sources such as NVCA reports, PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree© reports, and other business publications; and by directly surveying regional venture capitalists and local entrepreneurs. Vigorous efforts are made to reconcile discrepancies in all information; however, where differences occur, CED relies on direct information from the company and/or its investors about the specific amounts and closing details.
About CED
The Council for Entrepreneurial Development was founded in 1984 to stimulate the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research Triangle region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high growth entrepreneurs. CED sponsors annual conferences, seminars, workshops and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED is a non-profit organization and is the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 3,000 members representing 1,000 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms.