Dashboard: Fundraising slows in August, M&A picks up

Fundraising (value down 55%)

A total of 21 U.S.-based venture firms collectively raised more than $1.2 billion in August, less than half of $2.7 billion that was raised in July, according to preliminary fundraising data form Thomson Reuters. It was the lowest amount raised in a single month since September 2014. Weston Presidio Capital and Cloverlay Solutions led the way, raising $241 million and $201 million, respectively, in August.

Deals (value down 14%)

August saw the deal volume hit a slight decline for the second month in a row. The number of deals went from 258 to 238 and the overall value dropped from nearly $4.9 billion to $4.2 billion. The top deal of the month was GitHub Inc closing on $251 million in equity. After that was Suja Life LLC receiving $150 million in financing and Tintri Inc came in third with $125 million.

M&A (value up 60%)

There were a total of 24 venture-backed, U.S.-based companies that were acquired in August. Of those, there were nine with disclosed values of almost $2.4 billion combined. That is a step-up in value from the month before when 30 VC-backed companies were acquired for nearly $1.5 billion. In August, the top deal with a disclosed value was OpenDNS Inc. Cisco Systems acquired the networking security company for $635 million.

IPO (proceeds down 40%)

A total of four VC-backed companies went public on the NYSE and Nasdaq in August, half as many that debuted the month prior. Combined, the proceeds of the newly public companies in August reached $573 million, compared with $951 million the month before. The largest offering of the month was Sunrun Inc, a solar paneling company, which went public for $250.6 million.