Prepared by Capital Hunter analysts:
Venture capital investment sank this period to $281 million, the lowest amount since late February and the third lowest amount this year. A big reason for the drop was the lack of big biotech investments, which is generally a mainstay of our weekly investment newsletter. In addition, other sectors, such as alternative energy, semiconductors, and networking equipment were completely absent from this period’s funding numbers. The one bright spot this period was software investment, which managed to pull down more capital than any other sector, the first time that has happened in many weeks. The largest software investment was placed in Xactly, which provides online sales compensation applications for mid-market companies. The company raised $15 million in Series C funding from Bay Area based firms including Alloy Ventures, Bay Partners, Rembrandt Ventures, Outlook Ventures and Spinner Asset Management and plans to use the new capital to expand production. Medical device companies continued to do well, taking in close to $60 million, or 21% of the period’s total capital. Two of the three biggest investments this period, Acclarent and Heartscape Technologies, came from the medical device sector. Acclarent, which develops technology used in ear, nose and throat diagnostics, raised $35 million, while Heartscape, which as the name implies creates diagnostic equipment for early cardiac disease, raised $17 million. We expect venture capital to be better next period than this one simply due to mean reversion, but it is difficult to say how venture capital will turn out the next few months. Stay tuned.
The IPO market had a strong week, with seven companies listing, the strongest week for public offerings in April by far. While no company managed to make quite the splash MetroPCS made last period with its billion dollar plus IPO, there were still quite a few companies that managed large hauls. The largest IPO of the period was TSL Financial, a financial holding company that holds assets to Third Federal Savings & Loan, which provides banking services to Ohio residents. The company raised over $870 million, making it the second largest IPO of the month. Cinemark Holdings, which operates a chain of movie theaters, raised close to $500 million, while Greek shipping company Oceanfreight raised in excess of $200 million. Two biotech companies, Orexigen Therapeutics and Pharmasset, also listed this period, managing to take in close to $130 million between them. You can read the synopses of these companies through Yahoo! Finance below. Without further ado, here are the seven companies that went public this period:
TFS Financial
NASDAQ:TFSL priced at $871.3 million and is a holding company with 100% ownership of Third Federal Savings & Loan, which provides banking services to residents of Ohio.
Cinemark Holdings
NYSE:CNK priced at $532 million and is an operator of movie theaters in the United States and Latin America.
Oceanfreight
NASDAQ:OCNF priced at $204 million and provides dry bulk shipping services.
Ocean Power Technologies
NASDAQ:OPTT priced at $100 million and is currently developing technology to harness electricity from ocean waves.
Orexigen Therapeutics
NASDAQ:OREX priced at $84 million and develops therapeutics for the treatment of obesity and CNS disorders.
Edenor
NYSE:EDN priced at $257.8 million and is provider of electricity to citizens in Argentina.
Pharmasset
NASDAQ:VRUS priced at $45 million and develops therapeutics for the treatment of viral infections.
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