VCs raise $17 billion in the first half of this year, their best haul since 2008

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The boom times for venture capitalists investing in tech keeps on cranking.

Indeed, cash raised by VCs in the first half of this year has peaked at an eight-year high with $17 billion flowing into investor coffers. Fund performances are also behaving admirably, and so are the portfolios of the VCs making many of the investments. And why wouldn’t they?

For example, in the first seven weeks of the third quarter ending August 17, $4.3 billion was raised. This means venture fundraising has so far totaled nearly $22 billion this year, the best showing since 2008, according to Reuters Venture Capital Journal.

The speculation for VCs is whether that number will continue to climb in 2014 or suffer a setback. It depends on the economy.

VCs and analysts speculate that by year’s end, VC fundraising will total about $25 billion. So far this year, there have been five funds from Andreessen Horowitz, Technology Crossover Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Founders Fund, and Accel Partners that have surpassed the $1 billion mark.

In fact, Technology Crossover Ventures, which focuses on late-stage technology companies, leads the billion-dollar pact. Its most recent fund raised $2.5 billion. Incredibly, it was TCV that recently invested $250 million in big-time media disruptor Vice, which raised a total of $500 million less than two weeks ago, the other half coming from traditional media players A&E.

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