Week 10/03/2005 through 10/09/2005

Prepared by Capital Hunter analysts

Though the number of deals slipped considerably this week, the total amount of venture money remained roughly the same. This phenomenon was mainly due to the fact that there were five deals over $26 million this week as opposed to only one such deal last week. The biggest funding was placed into the US Renewables Group, which received an $80 million investment from Rustic Canyon Partners and other assorted angel investors. Three other companies, Optiscan Biomedical, The Mforma Group and Serenex received $30 million or more and semiconductor startup Ageia Technologies raised $27 million in new equity financing. Overall it was a decent week for new venture deals.

There were only four initial public offerings this week, down from twelve last week. The four companies that went public are as follows:

Centennial Bank Holdings priced at $633.0 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a Denver based holding company with banking branches throughout Colorado.

Wauwatosa Holdings priced at $88.0 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is the mid-tier stock holding company for Wauwatosa Savings Bank, a savings bank with branches in Wisconsin.

StealthGas priced at $116 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a provider of international seaborne petroleum and petrochemical transportation services to LPG producers and users.

American Commercial Lines priced at $173.3 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a provider of diversified marine transportation services and is a manufacturer of barges and towboats.

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CapitalHunter.com was able to verify that $389 million of venture capital was invested in 28 U.S.-based companies during this week’s reporting period. The average deal size was approximately 13.89 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period decreased by 3% compared to last periods $402 million.

Once again, California was the most popular destination for venture capital. Fourteen California companies raised $266.87 million in new equity financing which was 68% of the total venture capital invested this reporting period. The largest private venture financing in California this period was invested into US Renewables Group. The US Renewables Group raised $80 million and is a Santa Monica, California based holding company that buys and operates renewable energy assets.

The software sector raised 30% of the venture capital this period. Eleven software companies raised $118.9 million in venture financing. The largest private venture financing in the software sector this period went into The Mforma Group. The Mforma Group raised $30 million and is a San Francisco based producer and distributor of mobile entertainment products.

Companies raising their Series C financing round led this week’s venture capital activity. These financings represented 47% of the total venture capital deployed this period. The largest private venture financing was placed into Optiscan Biomedical. Optiscan Biomedical raised $36 million is an Alameda, California based developer of continuous glucose monitoring devices.

The three largest venture deals this period are as follows:

The following fourteen companies and other unnamed investors funded the above mentioned top three venture capital investments for $116 million:

A total of 65 equity financings of private and public companies occurred during this reporting period. Each of the 65 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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