Investors poured $6.4 billion into startups during the first quarter of this year, a 35 percent jump from a year ago, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
The report, issued Thursday morning, showed $500 million more than reported last week by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.
VentureSource did report fewer overall deals at 661 vs. the PwC total of 736, which was based on data compiled by Thomson Reuters. (Read more about the PwC report here.)
The median price for deals in the VentureSource report rose to $5 million from $4.4 million in 2010.
Corporations were big investors, putting $448 million into deals.
“Large deals for capital-intense industries — such as renewable energy, healthcare and information technology — drove the investment increase in the first quarter,” said Jessica Canning, global research director for VentureSource, in a statement. “Venture capitalists, however, were not the only investors giving venture-backed companies sizable cash infusions. With acquisition prices on the rise, corporations are more inclined to invest and they funded three of the 10 largest deals confirmed during the quarter.”
Early-stage investments made up 38 percent of the deals and 16 percent of the capital compared to 39 percent and 20 percent respectively in 2010.
Some highlights from the report:
Business and financial services startups generated $935 million across 125 deals.
Consumer services ventures drew $1.2 billion across 106 deals – double the amount from last year but across only four more deals
Of that amount, much went to social media and online shopping.
“Investment in consumer-focused Web companies is taking off but only for a select few,” said Scott Austin, editor of Dow Jones VentureWire. “A handful of large rounds are boosting the total amount of capital invested but the median amount raised by consumer companies is a reasonable $4 million. That’s not far off from the first quarter of last year and is less than half of the median round sizes we saw in 2000 leading up to the implosion of the dot-com bubble.”
Healthcare deals produced 21 percent more dollars at $1.6 billion across 148 deals
Information technology startups closed on $1.6 billion in 212 investments, up 16 percent and 10 percent respectively.
The green energy sector, meanwhile, generated nearly double the amount of capital from 2010 at $742 million with 33 deals closing.
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