$40 billion was invested in U.S.-based startups across all sectors during the past 12 months, compared to $36.2 billion during the year leading up to Aug. 31, 2007. The rounds got fatter, too, as there were 3,084 deals in the past year versus 3,219 in the previous period.
More money, less deals, the funding gap in the US is getting bigger. This is not going to help entrepreneurs trying to start their businesses, I see this as a flag that things are not improving when it comes to financing startups.
Meanwhile the same post mentions that the number of European deals only decrease slightly while the total amount spent is 5% less. So I assume from what I read (there is no number there on this) that the funding gap is decreasing in Europe, something good.
I wish we could see that trend in the US, it would certainly help entrepreneurship. With the economy as it is, it is time for the spreadsheet guys to give the entrepreneurs some room back...
Logging you in...
julien · 864 weeks ago
mdangear 37p · 864 weeks ago
For reference, Inc Magazine just release their Inc500 for 2008, and the median amount of capital to launch the business for their top 5000 (no mistake here, they do top 500 and top 5000) is $25,000, very far down from the $6M minimum investment for a VC. No question angels can help with this, except that their investment model is somewhat flawed (see my Entrepreneur Commons posts on this). So in the end, there is still a need for more help in this area...