Prepared by Capital Hunter analysts:
Venture capital investment increased slightly to $573 million this period, up from the $557 million raised by companies last period, though the amount allotted to each company dipped 9% to 13.98 million. Biotech companies continued to attract the most money, with $187.2 million going to such concerns, but software had a nice comeback after being practically AWOL the past couple of weeks, with over $110 million flowing into the sector. The largest funding this period was FX Solutions, which provides online currency trading services to retail investors. The company raised $100 million in recap funding from Francisco Partners and plans to use the new capital to improve and expand their trading services. Other major financings this period include Radius Pharmaceuticals, which is currently developing next-generation drugs targeting osteoporosis and raised $57.5 million from a variety of prominent health investors, including The Wellcome Trust, BB Biotech, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Healthcare Ventures, MPM Capital and others. Another biotech company, Sangart, raised $50 million in late-stage funding from Leucadia National, which is somewhat surprising because Leucadia is known for investing in companies that have low obsolescence risk, for which blood substitutes, which Sangart is currently developing, seem an unlikely match. Other notable financings include Syndax Pharmaceuticals, which raised $40 million from a bevy of investors and Xoft MicroTube, which develops electronic brachytherapeutic devices used in radiation oncology and raised $33.2 million from Easton Capital, New Science Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Mosaic Capital and others. We expect venture funding to drop off somewhat for the next newsletter, so don’t be alarmed if the numbers are disappointing.
The IPO market lagged this period, with only two companies going public, down from the seven that listed at the end of the month. Veraz Networks, a provider of IP products for the telecommunications industry, was the only venture backed company to list this period, as the company had received backing from Kleiner Perkins, Battery Ventures and Levensohn Venture Partners. The company raised close to $72 million in its IPO but has since fallen about 20% to $6.46 a share. Without further ado, here are the seven companies that went public this period:
Essa Bancorp
NASDAQ:ESSA priced at $138 million and is a provider of savings and loan services to residents in Pennsylvania.
Veraz Networks
NASDAQ:VRAZ priced at $72 million and is a provider of IP softswitches, media gateways and digital compression products to communications service providers.
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