By Donald Zuhn --
Earlier this week, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a trade association representing the U.S. venture capital industry, released the results of its third annual survey on venture investment. Perhaps not surprisingly, the trade organization forecasts that most sectors will see a continued slowdown in venture investment in 2009. The NVCA conducted its survey of 400 venture capitalists between November 24 and December 12.
In a report on the NVCA survey in the Washington Business Journal, NVCA President Mark Heesen noted that "2009 will be a year of anticipation for the venture capital industry as the economic turmoil will engender a fair amount of Darwinian change." Results from the NCVA survey indicate that 62% of respondents expect a decline in venture investment of more than 10% in 2009, dropping from an expected $30 billion in 2008 to only $27 billion in 2009 (venture capital investment over the last ten years is shown below in a figure from the NVCA survey report). While 60-79% of respondents believe venture investment in wireless communications, media and entertainment, and semiconductor business will drop in 2009, 25% of respondents predicted that venture investment in biotechnology will actually increase in 2009 (and another 33% indicated that funding for biotechnology would at least stay flat).
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