Last week, we issued the MoneyTree report and with that comes an update on the investments of corporate venture capital groups.  In the first half of 2012, corporate venture capital groups were more active than 2011 levels. In 2011, venture capital groups participated in 14.7 percent of all the U.S. venture capital deals and provided 7.7 percent of the total invested dollars. In the first half of 2012, the participation rose to 16.3 percent of deals. Dollar share rose slightly to 7.8 percent. In the first half of 2012, corporate venture capital groups participated in 280 rounds and invested just over $1 billion.

Looking at sector splits over the past six quarters for corporate venture capital (CVC) groups, software is the dominant sector (27.1 percent of CVC dollars) as it is with venture capital investment.  The industrial/energy sector which contains many of the clean technology deals received 18.8 percent of the CVC dollars.

Interesting, while over the past six quarters CVC has provided 7.7 percent of total U.S. venture capital, 10.9 percent of dollars going to clean tech companies come from CVCs.  Almost one dollar in four (23.3 percent) of all CVC dollars invested go to clean tech companies ($768M of $3,292M).

The NVCA continues to assert that corporate venture capital is playing an increasingly influential role in the startup ecosystem and this quarter's numbers support that premise.