venture investments increases
VENTURE capital investments on the Chinese mainland jumped 55 percent last year, reaching a three-year high, an industry report said yesterday.
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Venture capital valued at US$1.89 billion poured into the mainland last year in 214 deals, said a report jointly released by Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young.
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It marked a 37 percent increase in the number of deals year on year.
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Information technology remained the dominant industry for investment.
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2 y% _$ U+ F. o9 L# Y ABy industry, 131 IT companies were financed last year, receiving US$920.7 million, up 34 percent from 2005 in terms of capital.
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4 x7 q+ v7 d2 }+ H$ V6 O5 lMeanwhile, there was significant growth in areas such as healthcare, retail companies and clean technologies.
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The business, consumer and retail industry category posted 57 deals and US$613.3 million last year, 20 more deals and 40 percent more capital than in 2005.
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( n0 [: \; t1 n. U5 l* mThe energy segment climbed with 10 deals, up from one in 2005, and US$212.6 million invested, up from US$80 million a year earlier.
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"The continuous growth of the Chinese economy and the middle class in China - as well as the increased focus on innovation - are the primary drivers for the significant investment growth in these sectors," said Bob Partridge, China leader of Ernst & Young's Venture Capital Advisory Group.
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+ {1 P& p6 f/ e- B2 @3 EStephen Harmston, director of global research for VentureOne, said: "Another sign of the strength is that investors are helping their companies to ramp up quickly in the global marketplace by funding them with increasingly larger sums."+ y$ A9 C7 e8 G4 k
7 ?* l" ]/ F" UThe median deal size in China is now US$5.9 million, up 59 percent from US$3.7 million in 2005.
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8 D% T& K# t4 L( FIn addition, the level of second round investment activity illustrates the growing maturity of the venture capital market in China, Harmston said.
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& ~# [+ v7 s7 H5 Y+ t. Y! }& N"Investors are helping companies to move past the start-up stage into the next phase of development," he said.
