VC investments, exits bounce back in 2015

The venture capital industry staged a healthy comeback in 2015 with $2.3 billion invested in 536 deals — an increase of 24% and 12% respectively. VC exits also exploded to $4.3 billion, driven by three large IPOs — the Vancouver-based clinical-stage oncology company ProNAi Therapeutics Inc ($158.4 million), Shopify ($131 million), and David's Tea (US $75 million). The latest report from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association shows that funding is shifting somewhat to early-stage deals, with seed stage investment increasing 30%. Information and communications technology firms accounted for two-thirds of volume and transaction values (325/$1.4 billion), followed by health and life sciences (110/$647 million) and clean tech (44/$135 million). Fundraising also experienced healthy gains in 2015, with 33 funds raising $2 billion, compared to $1.2 billion in 2014....