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NVCA: Venture Investments Drop In Q1

Venture capital investments in the U.S. have dropped to the lowest rate of activity since Q4 of 2011, as venture capital investors continue to be shy about investing in startups, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report. According to the report, there was $16.5 billion deployed to 1,797 companies nationaly in the first quarter of the year. The NVCA said that is the fewest companies to receive investment since Q4 of 2011. Particularly hard hit were first financings, which the group said fell to just 497 in the first quarter, the fewet in a quarter in almost seven years. Angel and seed deals also were significantly impacted, with only 827 deals versus the 1,223 recorded in Q1 of last year. Despite the investment slowdown, the NVCA said that venture firms have "plenty of cash to deploy" to startup across the United States, with $7.9 billion raised by venture funds in 2016. Bobby Frankline, President and CEO of the NVCA, said that the industry is returning to a "more rational level of investment activity".