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Gaming, social media companies all over SecondMarket

The company, which facilitates equity transactions for non-public companies, says consumer Web and social media demand hit $264.9 million in value during the second quarter.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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A look at the top liquidity events by industry.
A look at the top liquidity events by industry. SecondMarket

SecondMarket, which facilitates equity transactions for non-public companies, said today that the typical company on its service is awfully large -- and focused on consumers.

According to the firm, the typical private company on SecondMarket has a $329 million market cap and average funding of $108 million. The company has been in operation for seven years and has about 200 employees.

Digging deeper into its data, SecondMarket found that 48.3 percent of the companies involved in so-called liquidity events, or transactions of some form, came from the gaming industry. Another 21.8 percent of those companies were involved in the Web and social media businesses.

SecondMarket's data focuses solely on the transactions occurring across its service, so they're by no means exhaustive. However, they provide a key glimpse into the current state of the private market, and can showcase some trends across the economy.

Speaking of trends, SecondMarket says that during the second quarter, investor demand for Web and social media companies hit $264.9 million in value, easily besting the second-place catch-all "other" with $68 million in value. Software companies attracted $50 million in value.

One other tidbit from the study: during the second quarter, social video startups Viddy and SocialCam nabbed the most new attention from investors.