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US venture capital funds raise $24bn in 200631/01/2007. Source: AltAssets. 
 US venture capital firms closed 95 funds in 2006, raising $24.33bn, according to Dow Jones VentureOne. This is 29 fewer funds than were raised in 2005 although the total amount of capital was only slightly down from the $24.94bn raised in 2005.
In the fourth quarter of 2006, however, only $4.01bn was raised by 21 funds, a decline of 51 per cent in capital from the fourth quarter a year earlier ($8.25bn). The amount was the lowest raised since the first quarter of 2005, when $2.72bn was raised.
The largest US venture capital fund closed in the fourth quarter was the $425m ProQuest Investments IV fund. The largest venture capital fund raised in 2006 was the $2.56bn Oak Investment Partners XII fund.
Stephen Harmston, director of global research for VentureOne, said, 'The entire private equity industry has been supportive of larger funds being raised by established firms with positive track records over the past two years, so it is not surprising that the venture capital market has fallen in line with that trend.
'It remains to be seen whether the slowdown in Q4 will prove to be a sign of a curtailment of that trend, or just a short-term pause for venture capital funds. What is true is that venture capital funds in 2005 and 2006 have kept a very close pace with the amount of investment that is occurring,' Harmston continued.
About 16 per cent of the funds raised in 2006 were funds of $500m or greater, the largest percentage since VentureOne began compiling the data in 1992. That compares to only about eight per cent of the funds raised in 2005. At the other end of the spectrum, only 34 per cent of the funds raised in 2006 were funds smaller than $100m, also the smallest percentage to this fund size on record.
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