21 Jul Venture capital availability in state declines
Wisconsin companies raised $6.5 million of venture capital funding in the first half of the year – a falloff of 81% from a year earlier, and the state’s slowest start since 2005.
The weak start mirrored a decline nationally. Venture capitalists invested $6.9 billion during the first half of the year, putting the industry on track to fall to funding levels this year not seen since 1996 or 1997, according to the MoneyTree Report, released Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.
Slightly more money was invested in Wisconsin and in the nation in the second quarter than in the first, according to the report, which is based on data from Thomson Reuters. In the second quarter, $3.6 million was raised, up from $2.9 million in the first quarter.
ProCertus BioPharm Inc., a Madison company developing drugs to protect cancer patients from common chemotherapy and radiation side effects, raised $2.1 million in the second quarter in a financing round led by Novartis Venture Fund and Venture Investors LLC.
NeuWave Medical Inc., a Madison company that’s developing a microwave probe to destroy tumors, was next, with a $1 million round led by Venture Investors.
Venture capitalists are having a harder time raising money from institutional investors, said John Neis, managing director of Madison-based Venture Investors. As a result, venture capitalists are being cautious with reserves to make sure they have enough money to fund the companies in their portfolios, he said.
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