Venture Capital

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

U.S.-based companies raised $6.3 billion through 717 venture capital deals during the first quarter of 2012, an 18% decline in capital and 9% decline in deals compared with the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. "The declines were pretty evenly spread across industries so there weren't any big winners or big losers in the quarter, but there were some surprises. Investment in consumer Internet companies fell after two exceptional investment years, while the IT industry fared well thanks to strong interest in software start-ups," said Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource.

A recent state study concludes that there's a $5.4-billion funding shortfall for fast-growing firms in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Other statistics show Southern California companies playing the bridesmaid quarter after quarter, while Silicon Valley firms attract most of the venture capital flowing into the state.

U.S.-based companies raised $6.3 billion through 717 venture capital deals during the first quarter of 2012, an 18% decline in capital and 9% decline in deals from the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. “The declines were pretty evenly spread across industries so there weren't any big winners or big losers in the quarter, but there were some surprises. Investment in consumer Internet companies fell after two exceptional investment years, while the IT industry fared well thanks to strong interest in software startups,” said Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource.

California last year attracted more venture capital than any other state, pulling in almost five times as much money as No. 2-ranked Massachusetts. A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Assn. said that California received more than half of the country's $28 billion in 2011 venture capital investments. The report was cited Thursday in a blog posted by Dennis Meyers, the principal economist of the California Department of Finance. Nationally, venture capital investments increased 22% last year compared to 2010.

Venture-capital fundraising in the U.S. plummeted 35% in the first quarter of 2012 - but the industry is hoping investors are just taking a breather before they begin pledging more funds in earnest. The total pot at the end of the quarter was $4.9 billion raised by 42 separate funds, including ones from Canaan Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. That's 9% fewer participating funds than the same quarter a year earlier, which raised $7.6 billion. The new data from the National Venture Capital Assn.

Venture capitalists invested 10% more funds in start-ups last year, shelling out $32.6 billion, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. The number of deals by U.S.-based venture companies increased 6% to 3,209, including several transactions involving consumer information service companies such as Twitter, Zynga and LivingSocial. The median amount invested was up 16% to $5 million. That's even as the fourth quarter, usually the most active of the year, saw a decline of nearly 4% year over year and nearly 2% from the month before to 803 deals.

Pasadena-based OpenX Technologies Inc., the online advertising firm whose products are built on largely open-source technology, has raised $20 million in additional venture capital, an infusion it believes will be the last one it needs on the way from being a tiny start-up to a full-fledged digital ad concern. Since its founding in 2007, OpenX has raised $50 million over four investment rounds. OpenX makes and distributes software that allows websites to sell the space on their pages to marketers, much like highway billboard owners look to profit by renting their blank signs to whatever advertiser will pay the highest price.

U.S. venture capitalists began to dip back into their pockets in 2010 after sitting tight the year before, but the number of deals made and the amount invested still trailed pre-recession levels, according to the Dow Jones VentureSource report. Companies around the country scored $26.2 billion in 2,799 venture capital deals ? an 11% increase in funds from the year before and a 6% increase in deals ? according to the report released Monday. Even with the lift, investment is still lagging behind the period from 2006 to 2008, when venture capitalists stuffed more money into more agreements.

Venture capitalists are quietly reasserting themselves in what is one of the few bright spots for the California economy. Venture capital investment reached almost $4 billon in California during the second quarter of this year, a 51% gain from the same period last year and the most since the third quarter of 2008. The number of companies they are funding also rose — up more than 8% to 296 compared with a year earlier, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, which collected the data.

Venture-capital fundraising in the U.S. plummeted 35% in the first quarter of 2012 - but the industry is hoping investors are just taking a breather before they begin pledging more funds in earnest. The total pot at the end of the quarter was $4.9 billion raised by 42 separate funds, including ones from Canaan Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. That's 9% fewer participating funds than the same quarter a year earlier, which raised $7.6 billion. The new data from the National Venture Capital Assn.

California last year attracted more venture capital than any other state, pulling in almost five times as much money as No. 2-ranked Massachusetts. A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Assn. said that California received more than half of the country's $28 billion in 2011 venture capital investments. The report was cited Thursday in a blog posted by Dennis Meyers, the principal economist of the California Department of Finance. Nationally, venture capital investments increased 22% last year compared to 2010.

When it comes to U.S. venture capital funding for the most promising new green technology firms, there's California and there's everybody else. California companies raked in $2.8 billion, or 57%, of the $4.9 billion in venture capital offered up in the so-called clean-tech category of funding nationwide last year, according to a recently released analysis from Ernst & Young. Massachusetts companies were a distant second with $465.1 million, followed by Colorado companies, which pulled in $363.3 million.

Venture capitalists invested 10% more funds in start-ups last year, shelling out $32.6 billion, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. The number of deals by U.S.-based venture companies increased 6% to 3,209, including several transactions involving consumer information service companies such as Twitter, Zynga and LivingSocial. The median amount invested was up 16% to $5 million. That's even as the fourth quarter, usually the most active of the year, saw a decline of nearly 4% year over year and nearly 2% from the month before to 803 deals.

Voters in South Carolina are about to witness an attack on Mitt Romney and the work of a private equity firm that made him wealthy and has provided the underpinnings for his appeal to voters. The assault will come Monday in the form of a planned $1-million-plus advertising campaign. The effort, which may expand to other states, is sponsored by an independent political group backing Newt Gingrich that has received donations from some of the country's most ardent conservatives. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story said that the pro-Gingrich super PAC financing the anti-Romney ad campaign was named Winning America's Future.

Fewer U.S. startups saw mergers, acquisitions or IPOs last year, but the ones that did nabbed more capital than all the deals in 2010, according to a report from Dow Jones VentureSource. There were 522 venture-backed exits last year --  a 4% slip from the year before. But together, they netted $53.2 billion - a 26% increase. That's because the prices paid for young companies and the amount raised in initial public offerings spiked in 2011. The median price purchasers shelled out in merger and buyout deals was up 77% to $71 million.  And the 45 companies who went public last year - including major firms such as Groupon, Zynga, LinkedIn and Pandora -- raised $5.4 billion, more than the $3.3 billion raised by 46 IPOs in 2010.

U.S.-based companies raised $6.3 billion through 717 venture capital deals during the first quarter of 2012, an 18% decline in capital and 9% decline in deals from the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. “The declines were pretty evenly spread across industries so there weren't any big winners or big losers in the quarter, but there were some surprises. Investment in consumer Internet companies fell after two exceptional investment years, while the IT industry fared well thanks to strong interest in software startups,” said Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource.

U.S.-based companies raised $6.3 billion through 717 venture capital deals during the first quarter of 2012, an 18% decline in capital and 9% decline in deals compared with the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. "The declines were pretty evenly spread across industries so there weren't any big winners or big losers in the quarter, but there were some surprises. Investment in consumer Internet companies fell after two exceptional investment years, while the IT industry fared well thanks to strong interest in software start-ups," said Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource.

California is fast becoming a global center for electric-vehicle innovation and jobs. Businesses in the state collected $467 million in electric-vehicle venture capital investment during the first half of this year, or 69% of the global total, according to a study by Next 10, a nonprofit founded by Silicon Valley venture capitalist F. Noel Perry. California also is now tied with Michigan, the traditional center of the U.S. auto industry, in the number of patents filed for electric-vehicle technology.

Venture capitalists, thrashed by months of bad economic news, are scrambling to find investors after pulling together the smallest pot of money in eight years. Firms raised $1.7 billion in the third quarter — less than half the $3.5 billion collected in the same period last year and the lowest amount since the third quarter of 2003, said the National Venture Capital Assn. "August and September were just abysmal for any type of venture-backed situation," said David Menlow, president of research firm IPOfinancial.com in Millburn, N.J. "Investors want to feel there's hope for the marketplace rather than feeling that everyone is standing at the edge of the abyss.