Silicon Valley just had its most lucrative quarter in five years

Print 30 December 2013
Alice Truong, Fast Feed

After a slow start to the year, the number of deals in Silicon Valley has risen to 267 in the third quarter totaling $2.85 billion, up from 251 deals and $2.6 billion invested the same period last year.

Released Thursday, the Silicon Valley Tech Venture Capital Almanac counted 3,308 venture capital deals amounting to $31.5 billion since 2009. In that same period, the Valley has seen 683 venture-backed exits and 11 venture-backed IPOs valued at more than $1 billion at the time of their public offering.

Overall, 2013 is on pace for a record number of VC-backed exits, with 144 year to date. About 12% of companies have gone the IPO route--the largest being Facebook in 2012, Twitter in 2013, and Zynga in 2011, respectively--but many of these exits can be attributed to the trend of acqui-hires, with companies gobbling up talent from seed-stage companies that have failed to raise series A funding.

 

Among giants in the Valley, Google has been busiest acquiring startups since 2009, but Yahoo--fueled by Marissa Mayer's shopping spree--is catching up at No. 2. The firm that recorded the most exits since 2009 is Sequoia Capital, though the title for the most active VC firm goes to SV Angel. Among startups that have remained private, Pinterest has raised the most funding, followed by Palantir.

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