Week 07/25/2005 through 07/31/2005

Prepared by Capital Hunter analysts

This reporting period companies based in California operating in the Software industry and that have raised their Series D, E & Up round of financing led the pack in the amount of venture financing raised. Also, there was five IPOs this reporting period. The five IPOs that listed on American stock exchanges this period were:

Alon USA Energy raised gross proceeds of $163.2 million on the New York Stock Exchange and is an independant Dallas, Texas refiner and marketer of petroleum products, operating primarily in the Southwestern and South Central regions of the United States.

Golf Galaxy raised gross proceeds of $55.3 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is an Eden Prairie, Minnesota based retailer of golf simulators and golf accessories.

ITC Holdings raised gross proceeds of $287.5 million on the New York Stock Exchange and is a Novi, Michigan based owner and operator of 2,700 miles of power transmission lines in southeastern Michigan.

Pike Electric raised gross proceeds of $189 million on the New York Stock Exchange and is a Mount Airy, North Carolina based provider of electrical contracting in the eastern United States.

Superior Well Services raised gross proceeds of $73.1 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a Indiana, Pennsylvania based oil services company providing technical pumping, down-hole surveying and other related solutions.

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CapitalHunter.com was able to verify that $359 million of venture capital was invested in 32 U.S.-based companies during this week’s reporting period. The average deal size was approximately 11.22 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period decreased by 2% compared to last periods $366 million.

California received the most venture funding this period, with a total of $163.3 million, which represented 46% of all capital invested this reporting week. Connecticut was actually the second largest recipient of funding, although all of the funding came via an early-round $63 million investment into Strategic Financial Solutions. The largest investment in California this week was Alien Technology, which received $66 million in late stage funding from SunBridge Partners, Advanced Equities, Digital Bandwidth, Equitek Capital, Lago Ventures and the Miami Valley Venture Fund. Other notable California financings include another semiconductor company, Primarion, which received $22 million in late stage financing and two later stage medical device companies, Labcyte and SurgRx

The software industry reclaimed the top spot in the amount of venture funding, with $110.9 million invested, accounting for 31% of all money invested this reporting period. Semiconductors also did very well, accounting for 30% of total funding, up markedly from past weeks in which the sector fared poorly. The biggest investment in the software industry this period was made into the aforementioned Strategic Financial Solutions, a Stamford, Connecticut based software company that provides solutions for managing and administering financial and investment programs. Identrus, a New York based provider of identity authentication solutions, raised $20 million from Enterprise Partners Venture Capital and Rho Ventures.

While early stage funding continued to do well, late stage financings grabbed the most money, with $136.66 invested into six companies, accounting for 37% of the total funding this week. Alien Technology was the largest late stage funding at $66 million. Early-stage funding did well again this week, and while it is still too early to tell if this is a new trend, it is encouraging to see venture capital and private equity firms investing in younger companies. Though the largest early stage funding in this period was Strategic Financial Solutions, which took half of the total $124.14 million, almost half of this week’s deals were seed or first round financings. Other notable early round financings include iBalance Medical, a Longmont developer of medical products and surgical procedures that raised $8.24 million, and Revenue Cycle Solutions, a Pittsburgh company that provides collection services for hospitals that raised $12 million in new funding.

The three largest venture deals this period are as follows:

The following fifteen and other unnamed investors funded the above mentioned top three venture capital investments for $159 million:

A total of 67 equity financings of private and public companies occurred during this reporting period. Each of the 67 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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