A new report released today tallies up $7.7 billion in IT exits in 2011, the highest since 2000, for Southern California IT firms. The report--compiled by Ocean Road Partners--included both venture-backed and self-financed information technology companies. According to the report, the biggest exit during 2011 was for Greent Dot, which provided liquidity of $2 billion for its pre-IPO investors, the highest of any exit since 2000. The exit was the eighth highest in the database, according to Ocean Road Partners. Green Dot's backers included Sequoia Capital, Total Technology Ventures, and the Tech Coast Angels.
Compared with 2010, the report found an increase of 296 percent over exits in 2010, when $2.6 billion in liquidity was generated in the sector. Both years were well above 2009, which had a low of only $475M in exits. During 2011, the analysis identified 73 exits by companies, with an average value of approximately $106M. Among other major 2011 exits listed were Riot Games ($400 million) and HauteLook ($270 million). The report also tallied six companies having IPOs, the most since 2005; those firms included RealD, Cornerstone OnDemand, Demand Media, ReachLocal and Inphi Corp.
