U.S. venture capital firms invested $9.5 billion in 951 transactions in the first quarter, with more money in fewer deals than in the fourth quarter of 2013 when venture capital firms spent $8.4 billion in 1,112 deals, according to the MoneyTree Report from the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Venture capital firms in the first quarter of 2014 also invested more capital in more deals than the year-earlier period when they invested $6 billion in 916 deals.
Software companies received the most capital, up 39% to $4 billion from the fourth quarter. The number of software-company transactions was up 1% to 414 transactions from the fourth quarter.
The largest deal in the first quarter was the $325 million investment in Dropbox Inc., a San Francisco-based IT company, by Sequoia Capital. The second-largest transaction was the $200 million investment in AirBnb Inc., a San Francisco-based consumer products and services company, by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
