Our latest snap-shot of activity in corporate venturing.

This is our first quarterly look at the European corporate venturing market.

Wider corporate venturing activity continued to be robust, although the month was down on prior periods. In April there were 64 investments worth $885m, 93 investments worth $1.6bn in the same period last year, and 78 investments worth $905m in March.

This is an analysis of the ten most active units and has attached the main data of our new quarterly reports, the first of which, a 12-page special, can be seen in full, in this month's magazine.

US-based chip design software manufacturer Tensilica, backed by Japan technology companies Fujitsu and NTT, and US-based technology company Cisco, was the biggest sale of the quarter, in an exit to US-based chip design software manufacturer Cadence Design Systems for $380m. The biggest initial public offering of the quarter was the $108m raised by US-based marketing software company Marin Software.

Sequoia Capital was the venture capital firm most active alongside corporates in the first quarter. It was in the syndicate backing Xoom, which raised $101m in its initial public offering, at a market capitalisation of $509m, as was SVB Capital, the private equity division of Silicon Valley Bank.

A look at the largest deals in the quarter, including the $700m round of private equity funding for China-based e-commerce site 360Buy, as eye-catchingly large Asia deals continue to be a staple of our coverage.

The main investment and exit stats from the quarter.

Corporate venturing activity continues largely unchanged, although broader
mergers and acquisitions were handed a boost by the re-emergence of the private
equity buyout, with a $24.4bn bid for US-based computer maker Dell and a $23bn
offer for US-based consumer goods company Heinz.

Last month there were 68 investments worth $1.2bn, compared with 97 investments worth $1.9bn in January last year and 61 worth $996m in December.