NEA & Oak make up 20 percent of VC raised last year, fundraising pipeline thin

There is a notable piece about fundraising in 2006 at VentureWire (sub required) today, in which the following stood out:

Just two venture capital firms, New Enterprise Associates and Oak Investment Partners, accounted for 20% of the total dollars raised. NEA raised $2.5 billion while Oak Investment Partners raised $2.6 billion.

And looking forward, the piece said the pipeline for fundraising for the first half of this year appears thin, though fattening in the second half:

Among the firms expected to come to market sometime over the next 12 months are Advanced Technology Ventures, Atlas Venture, Battery Ventures, Charles River Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners and Venrock Associates.