Venture-backed companies generated $56.5B in exits in 2013 (thanks to IPOs)
Venture-backed companies generated $56.5 billion in exits in 2013 from 868 deals. A total of 1,814 investors had exits.
Last year saw 107 IPO exits, which is the most since 2007, the year before the Great Recession. Merger-and-acquisition activity had its slowest year since 2009.
The amount invested in companies also went up in 2013, although the number of deals went down. VCs invested $49.9 billion of capital in 6,185 deals, as compared to $46.2 billion in 6,991 deals in 2012. Pre-money valuations and the median deal size increased across the board.
In 2013, 225 venture capital funds closed $28.5 billion. Funds closing less than $50 million led fundraising in 2013, and 73 first-time funds closed. Interestingly, the time spent fundraising dropped by three months.
The most active VC investors of the year were 500 Startups, Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, and Y Combinator.