The second quarter of 2007 has seen US companies continuing to attract major venture capital investment with a total of $7.4 billion, an increase of 8 per cent over the same period last year, according to the quarterly Venture Capital Report by Ernst & Young and Dow Jones VentureOne, the ninth consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth. The quarterly deal count rose by the same percentage to reach 717 deals, the highest deal volume since 2001. A big change in the quarter was in medical devices, which saw investments surge to $1 billion in 75 deals, 58 per cent up on the second quarter of 2006; biopharmaceutical companies pulled $1.1 billion in 86 deals. The report also indicated a movement to larger deal sizes and more money for second-round and later-stage investments. The median deal size in the second quarter of 2007 reached $8 million, up from the $7.4 million seen during the same time last year, and the highest median seen since 2000. Ernst & Young has also released its fifth annual global venture capital report which shows that global industry is currently seeing the highest levels of investment since 2001, with over $35 billion of investment in 2006 in the US, Europe, Israel, India and China combined. According to the report, growth in investment activity in China and India by foreign venture capitalists is increasing at a rate in excess of 35 per cent annually.