Changes

*As has been the recent trend, the Software industry continued to receive the highest level of funding of all industries in the fourth quarter, receiving $4.5 billion going into 369 deals for the quarter, despite being down 24 percent in dollars and 17 percent in deals compared to the third quarter. For the full year of 2015, Software was up 8 percent in dollars, but down 5 percent in deals, compared with 2014. Four of the top 10 megadeals in the fourth quarter went to Software companies. [http://nvca.org/ NVCA]

*The Biotechnology industry received the second largest amount of venture capital for the quarter, with $1.5 billion going into 95 deals. While dollars invested declined 32 percent and the number of deals declined 25 percent compared with the third quarter, Biotech ended the year up 17 percent in dollars and relatively flat in deals for the full year 2015, compared with the previous year. Despite ranking second in terms of dollars invested, Biotech did not secure any of the Top 10 deals. [http://nvca.org/ NVCA]

*Investments in the Life Sciences sector (Biotechnology and Medical Devices combined) during the fourth quarter accounted for $2 billion going into 172 deals, declining 31 percent in dollars and 16 percent in deals, compared with the third quarter. Like in the previous quarter, Life Sciences investments accounted for 18 percent of all venture capital deployed to the startup ecosystem in the fourth quarter. In 2015, Life Sciences dollars were up 12 percent and deals were down 3 percent, compared with 2014. [http://nvca.org/ NVCA]

*Media & Entertainment companies received the third largest amount of venture capital for the quarter with $881 million deployed across 114 deals, which is a 40 percent decrease in dollars compared to the third quarter, despite a 14 percent increase in number of deals. Additionally, only one of the top 10 megadeals was within the Media & Entertainment space in the fourth quarter. For calendar year 2015, Media & Entertainment dollars remained flat, and deals were down 13 percent versus 2014.  [http://nvca.org/pressreleases/58-8-billion-in-venture-capital-invested-across-u-s-in-2015-according-to-the-moneytree-report-2/ NVCA]