The number of VC funds raised hits 5-year high

Some 62 venture capital funds were funded in Q3; median size of fund drops

One would think the Series A Crunch (seed-stage startups not being able to get follow-on funding) would spook angel investors and new funds from continuing onward in this very risky game of startup investing.

Yet despite the lack of Series A money for all the seed-stage startups that have been funded over the last several years, there's more venture funds getting funded.

In the third quarter, 62 venture firms raised funds. It's the highest number of funds raised since the fourth quarter of 2008, when limited partners plunked down $7.1 billion across 69 funds.

Based on dollar volume, however, the 62 new funds raised $4.1 billion, is well below the nearly $8 billion raised in the second quarter. 

Nonetheless it's still a relatively larger number of funds we've seen in years. 

It also underscore that there is interest among many investors to run their own institutional venture capital firm. And clearly there is interest from limited partners to fund them. While Greylock's 14th fund - a $1 billion fund announced in September - accounted for 25% of the funds raised, the median amount raised was $123 million. This is slightly lower than the $147 million median sized raised in 2012.

Here's a look at the top funds announced in the third quarter. 

Meanwhile, the amount of money invested in the third quarter was $8.1 billion, the highest since second quarter of 2012. 

Among the big fundraisings of the quarter came from Uber, which raised $361 million and Palantir Technologies, which raised $196.5 million.

As for who's the most active VC? Not surprisingly: Google Ventures.