Venture Capital Fundraising Fell 55 percent in 2009

According to The San Francisco Business Times, U.S. venture capital fundraising dropped nearly 55 percent in 2009 reflecting a decline across the U.S. private equity spectrum.

According to Dow Jones’s VentureWire, the drop equals out to a total of just $13 billion across 120 funds, the smallest amount since 2003. In 2008, the total amount of venture capital raised was $28.7 billion, collected by 204 funds. The decline in the U.S. private equity spectrum over the last year saw 331 funds raising $95.8 billion, down 68.1 percent from the $299.9 billion raised by 508 funds in 2008, according to Dow Jones.

VentureWire notes that venture capital firms “have been impacted by a lack of liquidity and increasing bad 10-year track records.”

In Europe, things were even worse, with overall fundraising dropping 75 percent to $30.4 billion from $123.5 billion.

Source