As at 30 June 2004 , investors had $9.0b committed to venture capital investment vehicles, an increase of 19% on the $7.5b committed as at 30 June 2003 . Investors had $5.1b of committed funds drawn down at 30 June 2004 , an increase of 8% on the previous year end ($4.7b at June 2003). This left $3.9b of committed funds yet to be called on, up 38% on the $2.8b of unused commitments as at June 2003.

Most of these funds were sourced domestically, with 93% of the total investment from Australian investors (up slightly on June 2003).

New and follow-on investments during 2003-04 contributed $627m to this June 2004 total, down 6% on investments made during 2002-03. Investments in these 909 investee companies were reported by 195 venture capital investment funds and companies (177 in 2002-03).

The selection of investee companies (into which venture capital is invested) was an intensive process. The total of 137 venture capital managers reviewed 10,530 potential new investments during 2003-04 and conducted further analysis on 1,067 of those, with 181 being sponsored for venture capital. These managers spent a total of 179,000 hours with the investee companies (190,000 in 2002-03), advising and assisting in the development of the enterprises.