IoT Debuts As A Top VC Favorite; Cloud Rules Still

If venture capitalists’ choice of today is the mainstream technology of tomorrow, Internet of Things (IoT) has arrived in an almost Tiger Wodsian style. In the just-published 2015

Global Venture Capital Survey by Deloitte, IoT shows up for the first time as a venture capitalists’ favorite investment area, sitting right up there at the No 3 position. For the second year in a row, Cloud Computing/SaaS emerges as the top choice for VCs as an investment area. If anything, the confidence has only risen with a confidence level of 4.18 in a 5-point scale, up 0.7 from the 2014 levels. Ditto for mobile. VCs have a confidence level of 4.05 on mobile as an investment area, a bit higher than last year. It is the fourth time in a row that cloud computing features among the top two choices for venture capital investment globally. Except for IoT, most others are olders areas that are being cited by VCs as their favorites for the last three years. Interestingly, the comparatively lower profile sector, enterprise software continues to attract VCs. It features in the list as fourth most favorite investment area for VCs, as it did last year. In 2013, it was among the top three favorites. Among other segments, BioPharma, Robotics, Medical devices continue to fascinate VCs, even as New Media/Social Media sees a declining trend, though it still features among the top 10. US, with a VC confidence level of 4.17, continues to be the top favorite VC investment destination followed by Israel. Canada, China, UK, India and Australiia take up the next five positions. China and India saw a significant jump in VC confidence level over last year. Deloitte polled 208 venture capital and private equity investors between May to June 2015. The VCs represented 10 associations throughout North and South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia Pacific. While venture capital is the primary investment focus for 80% of the respondents, 20% came from the private equity community.