The South African Venture Capital Association met this month in Cape Town to discuss the results of a recent survey done on the state of investment into business by these funders. Here are some of those results:  

•  33 funds surveyed recording 251 VC transactions (2000 to July 2010); 7 in 2008.
• R2.6 billion invested in the VC asset class (2000 to July 2010).
• 60% of transactions by private VC fund managers, 5% Angels and 35% government backed VC fund managers.
• 50% of deals were into businesses in the start-up phase.
• 41% of transactions involved life sciences (biotechnology, medical devices, health technology).
• 27% of deals involving ICT and electronics.
• Gauteng was the largest base for VC transactions but Cape Town received more VC money than Johannesburg or Pretoria.
• 13 current VC fund managers were not in business five years ago.
• 17 VC fund managers were open for new transactions at time of survey.

Interesting to note the huge percentage of investment into startups, this is often the hardest phase to get funding. Another keen observation is that the Cape area has gotten more money that the business hub of Africa, Gauteng. Is this a trend that we are beginning to see, lets hope so.