Venture capital investment in the U.S. grew 22% to $28.4 billion in deals last year, the third-highest annual amount of capital invested in the past 10 years, according to the MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.
In 2011, the number of venture capital deals also grew, with 3,673 transactions up 4% from the year before.
In the fourth quarter alone, the MoneyTree report indicates that venture capital firms invested $6.6 billion in 844 deals, which was down 10% in the amount of money invested and down 11% in the number of deals from the third quarter.
Software companies attracted the most investment, increasing 38% to $6.7 billion invested in 1,004 deals, which was 7% more in the number of transactions than in 2010, MoneyTree reported. Biotechnology was the second-largest sector, with the capital invested up 22% to $4.7 billion in 446 transactions — 9% fewer deals than in 2010.
Clean technology, the third-place sector in the MoneyTree report, attracted the most venture capital investment ever recorded for that sector, with investment dollars increasing by 13.2% to $4.3 billion in 323 deals, up from $3.8 billion in 289 deals in 2010.
In a separate report, Dow Jones VentureSource data put venture capital investment in the U.S. in 2011 at $32.6 billion for the year in 3,209 transactions, a 10% increase in capital invested and a 6% increase in the number of deals from 2010.
According to Dow Jones VentureSource, venture capital firms invested $7.4 billion in 803 deals in the fourth quarter; investments were down 12% from the third quarter, and the number of deals was down 5%.
