U.S. venture capital investments soar in second quarter

Small businesses are benefiting from a sharp rise in venture capital investment in the second quarter of this year, according to a new report.

According to the MoneyTree report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, venture capitalists invested $6.5 billion in startup companies from April to June – an increase of 53 percent over the same period last year. The number of VC deals also rose nearly 29 percent compared with the same period in 2009.

Venture capitalists invested in many more seed and early-stage companies, showing that the industry is more willing to help an entrepreneur create a corporation than in the past – when venture capitalists generally waited until later to invest in a company.

“Venture capitalists are feeling more positive about the economic outlook for investment, based upon the jump we saw in VC funding this quarter,” noted Tracy T. Lefteroff, global managing partner of the venture capital practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Among the many industries that have benefited from the increase in investment are internet startups. In the second quarter of this year, venture capitalists have provided more than $23 million to 25 internet startup companies.