Today marks the beginning of our venture capital data release season for Q2 2011 with the release of Exit Poll.  This report, which NVCA releases with our partner Thomson Reuters, measures venture-backed IPOs and M&As.  You can read the press release here.

The data suggests that the IPO market is continuing to improve in terms of volume with 22 offerings this quarter.  On the flip side, the acquisitions volume declined this quarter to 79 transactions from an all-time high in Q1 of 123.  Still, the acquisitions volume remains within range of historical norms.

The IPO data suggests that we will see a moderate improvement over 2010, but nothing outrageous or “bubble-like.  If the second half of 2011 is equal to the first, we will end the year with 72 IPOs – which would be a decline from last year’s 74 offerings.  And not all of these companies are based in the United States.  We count in our data set all global companies that go public on a U.S. exchange and have at least one US venture investor.

Some interesting fast facts about the first half of the year in venture-backed IPOs:

Of the 36 IPOs in 2011:

• 24 were U.S. companies; 8 from China;  and 1 each from Canada, France, Netherlands and Russia
• 15 companies went public on the NYSE; 21 on NASDAQ
• There are currently 46 venture-backed U.S. companies in registration with the SEC.
• Of the 22 IPOs in Q2, 15 were trading at or above their offering price yesterday.
• There were 8 firms that have had 3 or more IPOs this year:  Goldman Sachs (4), Redpoint Ventures (4), Meritech Capital Partners (3), Sequoia Capital (3), GGV Capital (3), Greylock Partners (3), Accel Partners (3), and New Enterprise Associates (3). Twenty five firms have had two IPOs this year.

While the quarter signaled increasing stability, we still need IPO volumes to increase and remain in the 25 offering range for US companies to consider a recovery. Given the uncertainty around the debt ceiling, the instability of foreign economies, these levels will likely be elusive in 2011, but we are a far ways from the drought of 2008-09 and headed in the right direction. 

Stay tuned for more venture data this month – VC fundraising, investments and performance coming your way in the coming weeks.  Happy 4^th of July to all!