The cash was flowing in 2014 to privately-held companies, but it was a case of the “rich getting richer.”
While global venture capital dollars increased a whopping 40 percent last year to $88 billion, the number of deals actually dropped significantly, according to a report out from PitchBook.
That means one thing: Heavily-funded and well-established venture-backed companies — such as Airbnb, DocuSign, Redfin and Uber — took a bigger chunk of the venture pie. In fact, transportation upstart Uber raised $2.4 billion in series D and E rounds in 2014 — meaning it alone accounted for more than two percent of the global totals.
Meanwhile, the number of deals fell from 9,454 in 2013 to 7,731 last year.
Even so, the market remains strong, buoyed in part by a hot market for IPOs and acquisitions. PitchBook’s report found that the number of exits climbed slightly, though the aggregate deal value of those exits accelerated to $95.4 billion, up from $56 billion in 2013.
Facebook’s buy of WhatsApp for $22 billion led the way on that front, while Google bought Nest and Amazon gobbled up Twitch.
Yes, it is a hot market to sell a company.
“This year, the global venture industry hit its stride, reaching numbers we haven’t seen in over a decade,” reports John Gabbert, CEO and Founder of PitchBook Data, Inc. “And we expect 2015 to pick up right where it left off.”
In the Pacific Northwest, things also heated up as just over $2 billion was raised across 217 deals. That accounted for 2.3 percent of the global total. There were 100 investments in the information technology sector, and healthcare deals nearly quadrupled to 30.
The biggest beneficiary of capital was Juno Therapeutics, a biotech company that went public in December. Others that scored big rounds included Puppet Labs of Portland; Avvo of Seattle; and ExtraHop Networks of Seattle. Madrona Venture Group was the top venture firm, investing in 21 deals. They were followed by Portland Seed Fund (11 deals); WRF Capital (9 deals); Founder’s Co-op (8 deals) and Maveron (8 deals).
