Prepared by Capital Hunter analysts
Venture capital investment slipped to $409 million this period, while although still a healthy amount, it fell short of our expectations. Medical device and software companies received the most funding, with each sector garnering 22% (medical device investment slightly outpaced software investment) of the funding pie. In particular, medical device investment recovered from past weeks of neglect, as the sector received $92 million, up from the $40 million or so it has received the past month, led by EnteroMedics, which received $45.2 million from InterWest Partners, Pacific Asset Partners, Onset Ventures and a consortium of return backers, and BarRx Medical, which received $27.8 million from a bevy of venture capital and private equity firms including Montagu Newhall Associates, Delphi Ventures, Alloy Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures. Biotechnology companies continued to receive attention from venture capitalists as well, receiving over $74 million in new capital, with $44 million going to Seattle-based Omeros, which develops receptor and enzyme-based therapeutics. Other industries received decent, albeit not eye-popping, quantities of capital, including media & entertainment, business services, semiconductors, telecommunications and consumer services. Though we do not forecast any major spikes in investment activity in the near term, it is likely we will continue to see weekly financing in the $350-$400 million range for the next few months.
There were four initial public offerings this period, but unlike last period, where we had two large financial companies and an alternative energy company list, two of the companies are blank check entities looking to acquire assets in specific niches and another is a thinly capitalized biotech start-up, all of which are mentioned below. Another initial public offering, iShares GSCI Commodity Indexed Trust, which we will not include in our list below, raised nearly $700 million and is a Goldman Sachs production-weighted index of the prices of a diversified group of futures contracts on physical commodities, including six energy products, five industrial metals, eight agricultural products, three livestock products and two precious metals. There will likely be more IPOs next week as it nears the end of the month. Without further ado, here are the four companies that listed last week:
Energy Infrastructure Acquisition Corporation
AMEX:EIIU priced at $202.5 million and is blank check company looking to acquire assets that are involved in bringing energy to market.
Millennium India Acquisition priced at $58 million and is a blank check company looking to acquire assets with operations in India.
Cleveland Biolabs
NASDAQ:CBLI priced at $10.2 million and is a development-stage drug company currently developing therapeutics to protect human tissue from radiation.
Atlas Pipeline Holdings LP
NYSE:AHD priced at $82.8 million and is a midstream energy service provider engaged in the transmission, gathering and processing of natural gas in the Mid-Continent and Appalachian regions.
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