Week 02/14/2005 through 02/20/2005

Prepared by: Dante Fichera, CPA

This reporting period companies based in California operating in the Software industry and that have raised their Series A round of financing led the pack in the amount of venture financing raised. Also, there were eight IPO’s this reporting period.

CapitalHunter.com was able to verify that $320 million of venture capital was invested in 26 U.S.-based companies during this week’s reporting period. The average deal size was approximately $10.32 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period remained flat compared to last periods $320 million.

Geographically,14 California companies raised $124.55 million in venture financings which represents 39% of the total venture capital invested this reporting period. The largest private venture financing in California this period was into eSilicon. eSilicon raised $15 million and is a Sunnyvale based fabless semiconductor custom chip firm provides outsourcing services and application specific integrated circuits for electronics companies.

The software sector raised 28% of the venture capital this period. Twelve software companies raised $90.85 million in venture financing. The largest private venture financing in software sector this period was into Solidcore Systems. Solidcore raised $14 million and is a Palo Alto based software company focused on providing solutions that assure the availability and integrity of mission critical systems and data in the event of a security failure.

Companies raising their Series A round of financing led this week’s venture capital activity. Series A financings represented 51% of the total venture capital deployed this period. The largest private venture financing in Series A stage financing this period was into Art.com. Art.com raised $30 million and is a Raleigh, NC based online retailer of original artwork, posters and prints.

The three largest venture deals this period are as follows:

The following Twelve and other unnamed investors funded the above mentioned top three venture capital investments for $81 Million:

A total of 84 equity financings of private and public companies occurred during this reporting period. Each of the 84 equity financings are profiled in a weekly report which include venture financings, private placements, secondary offerings, PIPE’s, and IPO’s.

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