Nine life science companies received just 11% of total VC investment in the first quarter.
The first quarter of 2007 has seen a sharp drop in the value and number of investments in life science fields in Israel compared with the corresponding quarter in 2006, reveals Ernst & Young in its quarterly Venture One survey. The survey points out that the nine life science companies that received investment accounted for just 11% ($47 million) of total investment in the first quarter, compared with 32% ($152 million) in 19 life science companies in the corresponding quarter last year.
The survey also revealed that $392 million was invested in 56 venture capital firms in Israel in the first quarter of 2007. This is the highest volume of investment since the first quarter of 2006, when $466 million was invested in 71 venture capital firms.
IT field was especially prominent in the first quarter, with nine investments in Web 2.0 companies. These amount to more than half the number of investments in the US and a record number of investments in the field in Israel. A total of $42 million was invested in IT, 10% of the capital raised in the first quarter, compared with $7 million, or just 1.5% of capital raised for IT in the corresponding quarter last year.