Venture capital firms face tighter exit strategies

The IPO market has crimped the most, with no venture-backed firms making the leap to going public during the second quarter of 2008, according to a report from Dow Jones VentureSource and a similar study from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters.
Combined with only five venture-backed offerings in the first quarter, the market for venture-backed IPO deals has plummeted from 43 deals in the first quarter of last year, the NVCA report found.
"The situation is concerning enough to be characterized as a capital markets crisis for the start-up community," the NVCA report read.
There also does not seem to be many deals waiting in the pipeline. As of June 30, only 42 venture-backed companies had filed IPO papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That number is down 40% from a three-year high of 72 companies in the registration process in the third quarter of last year.
The report from Dow Jones VentureSource added that 10 companies have pulled their IPO registration papers since the last venture-backed offering was completed in March.