A Boom or a Bubble? VC Financing Trends

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CB Insights

Venture capital (VC)-backed companies raised more than US$32 billion in Q2 2015 across 1,819 deals, bringing the total raised by VC-backed companies globally to a staggering $59.8 billion for the first half of 2015, according to Venture Pulse Q2 ’15 the first in a quarterly VC report series from KPMG International and VC data company CB Insights. The surge in funding in Q2 represents a 49 percent increase over the first two quarters of 2014.

[In the U.S.], after a multi-year high of $56.4B in 2014, 2015 is on track to reach five-year highs with $36.9B already invested in the first half of the year.

The Economist

The enormous, disruptive creativity of Silicon Valley is unlike anything since the genius of the great 19th-century inventors. Its triumph is to be celebrated. But the accumulation of so much wealth so fast comes with risks. The 1990s saw a financial bubble that ended in a spectacular bust. This time the danger is insularity. The geeks live in a bubble that seals off their empire from the world they are doing so much to change.

The American economy would be hit hard by a repeat of the financial shock that followed the dotcom crash in 2000. With the NASDAQ index near its record high, this is a common fear. Fortunately, although money and talent are pouring into the Valley, there is not yet much danger of a disastrous bust. That is because tech companies today not only have more robust business models than their dotcom predecessors did (ie, many actually make money), but they also rely on a smaller group of financial backers.