Our latest snap-shot of activity in corporate venturing.

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.

Corporate venturing investments slowed in March by number and value as exits were boosted by three initial public offerings. The slowdown in deal activity came as nerves appeared to creep back into wider market trading, as eurozone country Cyprus negotiated a bailout that involved haircuts for bank depositors.

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.

The number of corporate venturing units, tracked by Global Corporate Venturing, has risen to 971. We examine their development.

Last year, units in the sector sealed substantial exits, including UK-based media communications company WPP (also see our profile), US-based advertising company Interpublic, and education company Knowledge Universe, which was co-founded by Michael Milken. See the second paragraph for our most influential ranking.

A new study by Switzerland-based business school ETH Zurich in collaboration with US-based consultancy firm Bain & Company which partly uses Global Corporate Venturing data, finds more than three quarters of corporate venturing units transform their parents.