The money ain t flowing like it s 2014.
A new report for the first quarter of 2015 shows that venture capital fundraising — the amount of money VC firms raise from their LPs — is way down over the same period a year ago, signaling that investors are pulling the purse strings tighter after giving VC firms record-levels of funding in 2014.
Venture capital firms raised a total $7.03 billion for 61 different funds during the first three months of the year, which is down from $10 billion raised for 71 funds during the first quarter of 2014, according to a report by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters. That marks a 17.5 percent drop in dollar amount and 14.1 percent dip in number of deals.
However, venture firms raised slightly more money — 21.2 percent — in the first quarter of 2015 over the fourth quarter last year, although the deal number dropped from 80 to 61.
The largest venture fund of the first quarter was raised by Bessemer Venture Partners, which has offices in Menlo Park and pulled in $1.6 billion.
Last year, venture firms raised $29.8 billion, the largest sum since 2007. If venture fundraising for the remainder of the year stays consistent with the first quarter, the industry could come close to matching that number; however, traditionally fundraising slows after the first quarter, so a similar record seems unlikely.
Last year was also the best for U.S. IPOs in a decade. In the first quarter of 2014, there were more IPOs in the U.S. than during any other first quarter since 2000, with 64 companies raising $10.6 billion. That was more than double the number of IPOs in the first quarter of 2013. This year has been a very different story: The first quarter saw 34 IPOs that raised $5.4 billion, about half the amount in 2014.
