U.S. venture capital firms raised more than $10 billion during the second quarter this year, the largest quarter of fundraising since 2007, signaling the investment boom in tech startups will continue at a strong clip.
The $10.3 billion VC firms raised in the second quarter marks a 39 percent increase over the first quarter this year, and a 27 percent increase over the same three-month period last year, according to the Fundraising Report released on Wednesday by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association.
Fundraising for the year so far surpasses $17.7 billion, trailing the first half of 2014, when fundraising hit more than $18.2 billion. However, NVCA President and CEO Bobby Franklin said he expects, by the time Dec. 31 rolls around, total fundraising for 2015 will exceed last year s.
If this pace continues, we are certainly on track to surpass total fundraising for all of 2014 in what we hope is a more favorable environment across the venture industry, not just isolated at the top among a few marquee firms, Franklin said.
Venture firms raised 75 funds in the second quarter, surpassing the 67 funds last quarter, but still fewer than the average for 2014.
The largest new fund during the second quarter was raised by Palo Alto-based Geodesic Capital, which raised $250 million for the firm s inaugural fund. The biggest fund belonged to New Enterprise Associates, which raised $2.8 billion in the largest all-time early-stage venture capital fund since records began in 1980. That was followed by Institutional Venture Partners, which raised $1.3 billion, and Social Capital Partnership, which raised $600.0 million.
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