Forty-nine Web 2.0 companies raised a combined $262.28 million in venture capital in the first half of this year. That eclipses the $199.14 million in venture capital that 52 startups raised in all of 2005, according to VentureOne. Among the largest Web 2.0 deals this year are Facebook, which received a $25 million second round, and Zimbra, which received a $14.5 million later round.

Despite some large rounds, Web 2.0 fundings are a relatively small portion of the market, according to VentureOne. A total of $13 billion was invested in 1,213 U.S. venture-backed companies in the first half of this year. And the median size of a Web 2.0 financing round this year is $4.4 million, compared with $7.5 million for a venture financing overall.

If you want to learn more about fundraising by this next generation of Internet startups and what their prospects are for achieving liquidity events, I encourage you to attend The Deal's Silicon Valley Summit on Oct. 5th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

I'll be moderating a panel on Internet M&A that includes James Slavet, a general partner at Greylock Partners, the venture capital firm that has invested in a number of Web 2.0 companies such as Digg, LinkedIn and Facebook. I want to hear his views on why more Web 2.0 companies haven't been acquired for significant numbers and what their prospects are for initial public offerings in the coming years. It will be interesting to compare his answers with those offered up by the other panelists who hail from Yahoo, Fox and InteractiveCorp.

For more on The Deal's Silicon Valley Summit, see:
Conference web site

Tags: svsummit06, svsummit, m&a, Web+2.0, internet,vc, venture+capital