Reply #32: Venture capital goes up [View All]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2004-12-29-vc-usat_x.htm

SAN FRANCISCO — Reflecting the tech industry's recovery, venture-capital investing is ending its first up year since the boom ended in 2000.
Venture capitalists, who invest in young businesses on behalf of pensions and other institutions, plowed an estimated $20 billion into start-ups this year, say preliminary figures from the authoritative MoneyTree Survey. That's up from $18.7 billion in 2003, and it's the first annual increase in four years.

"We clearly have turned the corner," says Tracy Lefteroff of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which tracks VC investing for the survey.

This year's total would be far less than the record $106 billion in 2000, but the annual gain is a bullish sign for the broader economy. Start-ups, especially in tech, depend on VCs for money to develop innovations that eventually create most new jobs.

Lefteroff says 2005 could be another strong year. "That number could go up," he says.

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