Huge First Quarter '08 OSV Funding

According to the 451 Group, the first quarter of 2008 was a monster period for VC funding of open source ventures with the amount raised hitting $203.75m, up from $100.40m in the same quarter of 2007.

Here are Matt Aslett's analysis:

• The amount of funding in 1Q08 just beat the previous record, of $193.7m, set in 4Q06.
• There were 20 open source funding deals announced in the quarter, beating the previous record of 17, set in 1Q05 and 4Q06.
• Of those 20 funding deals, 17 had a disclosed value, giving an average deal size of $11.99m.
• That is the second highest average deal size ever, behind the $13.84m recorded in 4Q06, when there were 14 deals with a disclosed deal value.
• In comparison, there were 11 deals with a disclosed value in the first quarter of 2007, giving an average deal size of $9.13m.

My trends posting for 2008 did predict a general decline of venture funding for OSVs in favor of funding of software ventures with open source underpinnings. I still think this situation will happen but it appears more so in the future than in 2008.