Thursday, April 19, 2012

Rocky Mountain Region's Venture Totals Slip

Venture capital totals in the region slipped slightly in the quarter, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCooper/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree report, which was released this evening. According to the report, $205.7M was invested in the region in Q1 of 2012, versus $244.9M which was invested in Q4 of 2011. The slip in venture totals followed the national trend, where there was a 19 percent drop in dollars and 15 percent in number of deals between Q4 of Q1. Nationally, venture capitalists invested $5.8 billion across 758 deals in Q1 of 2012, down from $7.1 billion across 889 deals invested in Q4 of 2011.

Despite the overall regional drop, overall venture activity in some of the states in the region were up. Arizona saw six deals worth a total of $47.09M, well above the three deals and $10.9M invested in Q4 of last year. Idaho, which saw a single deal in Q4 worth $150K, actually saw two deals, with a total of $7.15M. Montana broke a venture capital drought it has been in since its last positive quarter in Q2 of 2011, reporting one deal totaling $1.5M. The lower totals came from decreased deal flow in both Utah and Colorado; Utah saw $28.421M across 8 venture deals, down from Q4's 17 deals and $64.85M invested. Colorado also saw a drop, down to $121.62M across twenty deals, down from 28 deals and $169.136M in Q4.

---