Week 11/15/2005 through 11/21/2005

Prepared by Capital Hunter analysts

Venture capital exceeded $300 million for the eighth straight week, as $369.6 million was invested into forty different companies. The majority of this new funding was placed into early stage companies and software in particular, which accounted for more than a quarter of total sector funding for this reporting period. Biotechnology had a surprisingly dormant week, with just a paltry $14.7 million, or 4% of this week’s total invested capital. On the whole, however, funding was surprisingly spread out between many different sectors, with ten sectors receiving at least $10 million, the first time that has happened in many months.

With the improving conditions in the stock market (at least short-term), companies are becoming a bit more willing to float offerings to the public. Six companies had initial public offerings this week, which is the same number of companies that floated last week. The six companies that listed are as follows:

Vimicro International priced at $86.97 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a Beijing-based fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and markets chips for multimedia-enabled consumer electronic applications.

InterContinentalExchange priced at $416 million on the New York Stock Exchange and is an Atlanta-based electronic global futures and over-the-counter marketplace for energy products.

SunPower Corporation priced at $138.6 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a Sunnyvale-based designer and manufacturer of solar electric power products.

Under Armour priced at $157.6 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a Baltimore-based developer and distributor of athletic performance products.

Dover Saddlery priced at $27.5 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a specialty retailer and direct marketer of equestrian products.

Amerisafe priced at $72 million on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and is a specialty provider of worker’s compensation insurance for small to mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries.

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Note: We will not be publishing a newsletter next Tuesday (11/29) due to the fact that activity during Thanksgiving week tends to be very low. We will publish 11/21-11/27 results with the 11/28-12/4 newsletter on December 6th.

CapitalHunter.com was able to verify that $369.6 million of venture capital was invested in 40 U.S.-based companies during this week’s reporting period. The average deal size was approximately 9.25 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period decreased by 9% compared to last periods $408 million.

California was the most popular destination for venture capital, as sixteen California companies raised $141.35 million in new equity financing, which accounted for 38% of the total venture capital invested this reporting period. The largest private venture financing in California was placed into Hansen Medical. Hansen Medical raised $30 million in Series C funding and is a Mountain View-based medical device company that develops robotic technology for the three-dimensional control of catheter movement during cardiac procedures.

The software sector regained its crown this week, with twelve software companies raising $96.3 million in venture financing, which accounted for 27% of all venture capital this period. The largest private venture financing in the software sector this period was placed into Perfect Commerce. Perfect Commerce raised $30 million in Series C funding and is a Kansas City-based provider of on-demand supplier relationship management solutions.

Startup companies raising their first institutional rounds of financing represented the largest share of the funding pie, as one-third of all money invested this period went into companies raising either a seed or Series A round of funding. The largest private venture financing in the Series A round was placed into Pittsburgh-based Millennium Pharmacy System. Millennium Pharmacy System raised $14.5 million and is a provider of contract pharmacy services to the long-term care industry.

The three largest venture deals this period are as follows:

The following sixteen companies and other unnamed investors funded the above mentioned top three venture capital investments for $80 million:

A total of 72 equity financings of private and public companies occurred during this reporting period. Each of the 72 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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