No Fooling: VC Exits Up, PE Fundraising Also Climbs

I’m busy putting together the morning email (and a bit hungover from last night’s Shindig), but wanted to quickly post a pair of Q1 data reports that hit my inbox this morning. Analysis will follow a bit later.

First up are VC-backed exits, which had a banner quarter. And I don’t just mean compared to the past year’s slog. The National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB) report higher VC-backed M&A exits than ever before in a single quarter, with 111 deals generating $5.86 billion in disclosed value. VC-backed IPOs also rebounded, with nine offerings raising more than $930 million.

Download the numbers here.

As for private equity fundraising, Preqin reports that 79 funds raised $50.4 billion in Q1. This is a slight bump over the prior quarter. Worth noting that Preqin data includes all types of PE funds (VC, buyout, etc) and only counts a fund when it holds its final close. In other words, a fund could raise $100 million in Q4 and $100 million in Q1, but the whole $200 million would be counted in Q2.

Preqin also shows a decrease in the aggregate number of funds still in market. Download its release here.