No Venture Backed IPOs in Q2 — 1st Time in 30 Years

For the first time since 1978, no venture backed firms completed an IPO during the second quarter. Mark Hefflinger over at Digital Media wire has a nice posting on this ‘non-event.’

I have always believed that the focus on venture funding is overblown as a vast majority of new firms do not access the VC markets. That said, the statistic (from the National Venture Capital Association) is pretty staggering and underscores the stalled mentality that has gripped our markets (credit and equity).

From the post:

For the first time since 1978, there were no venture-backed initial public offerings (IPOs) during the second quarter, according to a new report from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

The absence of IPOs follows an exceptionally slow first quarter, in which just five venture-backed companies went public.

In the first half of 2007, 43 companies went public.

The NVCA characterized the trend as a “capital markets crisis” for the start-up community.