11/18/2009
Cooley Report Highlights Q3 2009 Venture Capital Financing Trends
Indicators Show Slow, Continued Improvement, but Still Down from 2008 Levels
Palo Alto, Calif. – Nov. 18, 2009 – Cooley Godward Kronish LLP today released its most recent report on venture capital financing market terms. The report analyzes the firm's venture capital transactions nationwide that closed during the third quarter of 2009, with comparisons to earlier periods. The analysis is based on 75 completed deals in the United States totaling approximately $845 million.
Highlights from the third quarter report include:
• Earlier rounds of financing (Series A and B) saw improvements on the median pre-money valuations, while later median pre-money valuations in later rounds (Series C and D) decreased.
• The percentage of up rounds continues to trend upward, an indicator that companies are increasingly seeing step ups in valuations over prior rounds.
"While transaction volumes and valuations during this past quarter and during the first half of this year continue to be significantly below the first three quarters of last year, its great to see the transaction numbers and the deal terms trending in a positive direction." said Jim Fulton, head of Cooley's Emerging Companies practice.
Cooley's Venture Capital Financing Report (formerly called the Private Company Financing Report) is published quarterly and is based on private company transactions in which Cooley served as counsel to either the issuing company or the investors. A complete version of the report is available here.
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