Despite end of IPO drought, U.S. venture-backed liquidity market at 6-year low - Austin Business Journal:

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Overall venture-backed liquidity fell 57 percentfrom $6.48 billion in the second quarter of 2008 to $2.8 billion in the most recenft quarter, the report said. Venture capitalists generatefd $2.57 billion through mergere or acquisitions of 67 portfolio companies in thesecond quarter, a 60 percen t decline from the $6.48 billion raised via 89 M&Asa in the same quarter in 2008 and the lowestt quarterly M&A deal total since 1999. Three venture-backed companiee made public-market debuts in late May and raising a totalof $232 million. In the priof 13 months, only one other VC-backed company completed an IPO, in Augus 2008.
The two largest M&As of the quartedr belonged toSan Jose-basedr (NASDAQ: CSCO), which boughrt San Francisco-based , a maker of digital camcorders, for $590 milliojn and Palo Alto, Calif.-based , a maker of workloadd management software, for $105 million. According to VentureSource, the overalk median amount paid fora venture-backeed company in the second quarter of 2009 was just shy of $22 milliob -- a 46 percent drop from the nearl y $41 million median paid during the same period in 2008. The data showexd that, prior to achievinhg liquidity via a merger or acquisitionn in the second companies raised a medianof $16.3 million in venture capital, 30 percent less than the $23.
4-millionj median seen during the same period last year. In the median amount of time it took to reac h liquidityvia M&A was 4.5 25 percent less time than the 6-yea median in the second quarter of 2008. The largestt IPO belonged to SolarWindsof Austin, Texas, whichu raised $113 million in its May IPO. The companu makes network and performance management tools forthe