Week 06/26/2006 through 07/02/2006

Prepared by Capital Hunter analysts

Due to the holiday weekend, venture capital investment reporting slipped this period as we were only able to confirm 28 companies receiving capital this period, half the previous period. The 28 companies in question raised $326 million, a decent sum, but miniscule when you compare it to the $714 million companies raised the week before. Biotech investment remained robust, however, with five companies raising a total of $107.1 million, making it the most heavily invested sector for this period. Semiconductor investment also continued its recent surge, garnering 16% of the week’s funding, just slightly below software investment. Expect to see limited numbers this upcoming period as there are only three full time business days.

There were six initial public offerings this week as companies rushed to get in before the Fourth of July weekend. The most notable IPO this period was J Crew, which raised over $400 million considering the fact that the IPO priced at $20 a share but opened trading on its first day near $25 a share. However, Aventine Renewable Energy, which priced higher than J Crew at $43 a share, opened trading just below $42 and sank to $39, where it has hovered ever since. Here are the six companies this period:

Replidyne NASDAQ:RDYN priced at $45 million and is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, in-licensing and commercializing innovative anti-infective products.

PGT NASDAQ:PGTI priced at $123.5 million and is a manufacturer and supplier of residential impact-resistant windows and doors.

Omniture NASDAQ:OMTR priced at $69.6 million and is a provider of online business optimization software, which our customers use to manage and enhance online, offline and multi-channel business initiatives.

J Crew Group NYSE:JCG priced at $376 million and is a retailer of apparel and accessories.

GMarket NASDAQ:GMKT priced at $139 million and is a South Korean retail e-commerce marketplace.

Aventine Renewable Energy NYSE:AVR priced at $389.5 million and is a producer and marketer of ethanol in the United States.

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CapitalHunter.com was able to verify that $326 million of venture capital was invested in 28 U.S.-based companies during the past week. The average deal size was approximately 11.64 million. The amount of venture capital invested this period decreased by 54% compared to last periods $714 million.

California was once again the largest recipient of venture capital funding this week. Thirteen California companies raised $127.1 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 the earlier mentioned DVDPlay. DVDPlay raised $20 million and is a DVD rental service provider.

The biotechnology sector raised the most venture capital this reporting period, with five companies raising $107.1 million in venture financing, which accounted for 33% of the venture capital this period. The largest private venture financing in the biotechnology sector was Tengion. Tengion raised $50 million in Series B funding and is developer of replacement human organs.

Start-ups raising their second stages of financing represented the largest share of the funding pie, as a whopping 53% of all money invested this period went into such companies. The largest such financing was placed into the earlier mentioned Tengion.

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 $107 million:

A total of 59 equity financings of private and public companies occurred during this reporting period. Each of the 59 equity financings are profiled in a weekly (in this case biweekly) report which include venture financings, private placements, secondary offerings, PIPE’s, and IPO’s.

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