Wednesday 19th Jan 2011
Calibre One News
Calibre One Publishes Q4 2010 Global Tech Investment Review
Philip Boyd, Partner, commented, "After a poor third quarter for Venture Capital investment, the final quarter of 2010 saw the strongest close to a year since 2007. The Internet and Mobile space in particular experienced a raft of large deals, with Social Media and Advertising performing particularly well and Gaming showing a marked improvement after a poor third quarter of the year. Moreover, Cleantech recorded its second best year for investment, with Smart Grid showing good growth.
A great deal of the positivity from investors stems from the improving exit market. There is a marked increase in M&A activity and the return of the IPO market looks set to continue into 2011. One of the European IPO highlights has been Betfair, a long-standing client of Calibre One.
An improving exit market is boosting optimism around funding, particularly for late stage businesses. Whilst signs suggest that 2011 will see a greater number of early stage Venture Capital firms co-investing with angel investors."
Mark Webster, Partner, commented, "The investment data within the Index suggests that 2010 has shown a good upturn in venture investment, relative to the previous two years. However, this doesn’t tell the entire story. Venture capital fund raising in North America has declined significantly from 2009 as the lacklustre returns from the VC space continue to create reservations in many investors.
However there are positive signs, such as the exit market being in rude health, with Q4 2010 being a vast improvement in terms of M&A activity and venture backed IPOs. Internet and Computer Software firms were at the centre of much of the M&A activity within the tech space and it is expected that this momentum will continue into next year. As we move into 2011 it is anticipated that IT, rather than Cleantech, will be the sector to watch, with Consumer Internet and Cloud Computing the two key areas that are expected to experience most significant growth."
About Calibre One:
Calibre One specialises in building main board and senior management teams for Venture Capital and Private Equity backed software, hardware, business services, communications, cleantech and internet businesses. We work with investors in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, South Africa, and Israel.
The Calibre One Index has, until now, purely focused on detailing Venture Capital investment in technology firms. Moving forward not only will it include the investments, but it will also contain some of the moves made by the people that lead those firms and a summary of the disclosed exits in this space.
The Calibre One Index is produced quarterly, every January, April, July and October and can be found at Calibre One’s website (www.calibreone.com).
