We won't see another 2000 again, and that's good. Experts say the return to reality is positive but the market isn't in the clear yet. That's a nice way of saying there still are plenty of struggling early-stage companies that won't make it to 2002. Tilson puts it another way. During the second half of last year, most venture capital firms spent their time and money shoring up existing investments.
Life sciences One group that did see more funding is technology companies focused on life sciences.
Five of the first quarter's 30 investments went to companies in biotechnology, medical software or medical devices. That's about 10 percent of the first-quarter total. Ratajczak said Atlanta is probably closer to reaching a critical mass in medical device companies rather than biotech, but he plans to get BrainWorks into the biotech field. Right now, we don't have any expertise in it. One of last year's hot sectors, communications, had only two deals in the first quarter and fell to second in dollar volume for the first time since the Money Tree survey began.