The latest report from the 451 Group’s CAOS (commercial adoption of open source) practice is now available, presenting an analysis of venture capital funding for open source software-related vendors in 2009. Some of the key statistics are as follows:

As you can see, VC funding for OSS-related vendors was down considerably in 2009, as predicted. However, the decline was not actually as steep as I or others had predicted, and figures from the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers indicate OSS-related vendors fared better in terms of investment compared to software as a whole.

As well as an overview of the statistics from 2009, the reports also includes an update on the trends seen in investment for open source-related vendors since the investment in Cygnus Systems from Greylock Partners and August Capital in 1997.

There’s much more to the report than statistics, of course. It also includes comparison with funding levels from 1997 to 2008, analysis of venture-backed mergers and acquisitions in 2009 involving OSS-related vendors, as well as analysis of the ten largest OSS-related exits to date and the investors that have profited from them.

Also included is an overview of the potential impact of current economic conditions on OSS adoption and investment in OSS-related vendors, and a list of the 74 vendors we believe are most likely to be considering further funding in the next two years.

The report concludes with a look at the current prospects for OSS-related IPOs and (more likely) M&A in 2010, as well as a preview of venture investments in OSS-related vendors in the first quarter of 2010 (look out for a follow-up post about that in the coming days). Stay tuned also for details of the forthcoming webinar.

The latest CAOS report, Open to Investment, 2010 is available here. 451 Group clients with an interest in OSS and venture capital may also be interested in our recent Sector IQ report: Open source M&A in 2010: Will scarcity of later-stage funding lead to more scrap sales?