Research Reveals Time and Capital Required for Venture Capital-Backed Companies to Reach an Exit

Company news | August 13, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - August 13, 2009 - SVB Analytics, a leading provider of valuation services and corporate equity management and options accounting software, released the latest volume of its research series today, offering historical data on the time and capital it takes to get a venture capital-backed start up company in a position to go public, be sold or go out of business. SVB Analytics' research series analyzes the value drivers in the world of venture capital, based on examinations of valuation data for thousands of venture-backed technology and life science companies.

"Given the current state of the IPO window, one of the million dollar questions that entrepreneurs always ask us is how much time and capital it takes a company to get to an exit," said SVB Analytics Research Director Cindy Moore. "We took a look at the numbers and while we hesitate to predict specific outcomes, our data is informative."

SVB's research intends to infuse more science into the valuation process to assist both companies and venture capitalists in making investment decisions.

Volume 8 of the research series shows by exit year the distribution of type of exit (public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, closing of doors), as well as the range of capital-to-exit, months-to-exit, value-at-exit, and exit multiples for six technology sectors:

The research is authored by theoretical mathematician and SVB Analytics' Research Director Cindy Moore, reviewed by each valuation sector leader at SVB Analytics, and edited by its Founder and President Jim Anderson. The research was funded by SVB Analytics, a member of SVB Financial Group. SVB Analytics research is conducted using a database containing 16,000 companies and more than 51,000 financings.

About SVB Analytics
SVB Analytics is a leading provider of valuation services, corporate equity administration software and FAS123R software for private technology and life-sciences companies. SVB Analytics' offerings include fair market valuations for compliance with IRC409A and FAS123R, capitalization tracking and options accounting. SVB Analytics is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB), with Silicon Valley Bank, SVB Capital, SVB Global and SVB Private Client Services, which serve the unique needs of technology, life sciences and private equity firms. More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com/svbanalytics/.

SVB Analytics is a non-bank affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank and a member of SVB Financial Group. Products and services offered by SVB Analytics are not FDIC insured and are not deposits or other obligations of Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve and it is the California bank subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, which is also a member of the Federal Reserve.