Friend Darren Johnson asks "Do you have historical data for how fast Utah has moved up over the last 5/10 years?"
In fact, the PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree report which I mentioned in January does address this question.
Utah's absolute level of venture capital placements peaked in 2000 (with the rest of the country) at $708 million. Funding levels dropped almost 90% by 2002 to just $89 million. (Click on the chart to see a bigger version.)
On a percentage of the national total, however, we peaked in 2005 at 1.09%. We dropped in 2006 to a level reflective of our longer-term average, but this ignores a big change not captured in the MoneyTree report: there is more venture capital under management in Utah than ever before and we expect that total to rise dramatically in 2007 and 2008 as the Utah Fund of Funds is deployed (thanks in no small measure to Will West).
As a result of new capital being organized in Utah, I expect Utah's share of the venture market to consistently be above one percent in the future.
Thanks for answering my question! That's very interesting. I had no idea it was so high in 2000, but I guess that makes sense. I think that Utah has a huge pool of smart, talented people doing great things right now - I'm excited to see a lot of the new startups in Utah being developed into large, enduring companies. Hopefully Control4 (where I work) will give the state even more visibility over the next year or so (we're growing fast!)
Posted by: Darren Johnson | March 27, 2007 7:38 PM | Permalink to Comment