Across the globe, 133 early stage venture funds are on the road seeking $10.7 billion in capital. Some, apparently, are meeting with success. From January to July this year, 40 early stage funds closed on $7.4 billion, Preqin reports.

The research firm said global activity rose 16% in deals done and dollars allocated, with Internet startups attracting more than a quarter of all investments. Seed, angel and Series A deals made up a third of transactions.

The Preqin study, released today, found that the quarterly deal flow varied over the 10-quarter period from about 60 to almost 100, with a spike of dollars allocated in the first quarter of 2011, when Facebook raised $1.5 billion and Zynga brought in $485 million.

The number of venture funds seeking money worldwide grew to a six-year high in May, according to a report from Preqin. As of May, 369 funds were on the road hoping to raise $50.5 billion in new capital, the report found.

One big uncertainty for the year ahead is the health of the private equity fundraising market. After all 2011 wasn’t what you might call the best of times. But then, it is not as if the industry really needs the money, as strange as that sounds. Here is a calculation I came across this morning [...]

Cleantech funds are hardly barnburners, but it is interesting to note that many may have performance multiples of at least capital invested. This is according to Preqin, which in a recent report found the median multiple for cleantech funds is above 1.00x. The company compares distributions and fund value with cash invested. The company said [...]

Data and intelligence provider Preqin has appointed Anthony Habgood to the company’s board of directors as chairman. Anthony is chairman of Reed Elsevier and Whitbread plc. PRESS RELEASE Preqin, the alternative assets industry’s leading source of data and intelligence, is pleased to announce that Anthony Habgood has joined the company’s board of directors as Chairman. [...]

Twenty-seven secondary funds are out seeking capital, according to a report from Preqin. The funds hope to raise $19.8 billion from investors with a majority of the new investment vehicles focused on North America. According to Preqin, 59% target stakes in North American private equity funds, while 30% set their sights on Europe. The remaining [...]

TrueCar broke the ice. Many LPs hope the hole gets larger. TrueCar, a startup that lets consumers check the prices of car sales, said Wednesday it raised $200 million in debt and equity financing, with part of its equity investment marketed on the secondary site SharesPost. SharesPost says it is the first time a company [...]

LPs appears to be warming to private equity, in particular mid-market buyouts, distressed equity and venture capital. At least they were prior to the August financial shock. Almost two-thirds of LPs said they committed new money to the PE asset class in the first half of the year, a pace that is ahead of the [...]