number of deals overall: 1,799, for an investment of $19.8billion. Second came internet-specific companies, garnering US$11.9billion in investment through 1,005 deals. Many of these companies are based in the state of California, which alone concentrates 28% of U.S. research. Some new American businesses raise investments from angel investors (venture capitalists). In 2010 healthcare/medical accounted for the largest share of angel investments, with 30% of total angel investments (vs. 17% in 2009), followed by software (16% vs. 19% in 2007), biotech (15% vs. 8% in 2009), industrial/energy (8% vs. 17% in 2009), retail (5% vs. 8% in 2009) and IT services (5%). Americans are "venturesome consumers" who are unusually willing to try new products of all sorts, and to pester manufacturers to improve their products. Mergers and acquisitions Since 1985 there have been three major waves of M&A in the U.S. (see graph "Mergers and Acquisitions in the U.S. since 1985"). 2017 has been the most active year in terms of number of deals (12,914), whereas 2015 cumulated to the biggest overall value of deals ($24billion). The biggest merger deal in U.S. history was the acquisition of Time Warner by America Online Inc. in 2000, where the bid was over $164billion. Since 2000 acquisitions of U.S. companies by Chinese investors increased by 368%. The other way round—U.S. companies acquiring Chinese Companies—showed a decrease of 25%, with a short upwards trend until 2007. Research and development The U.S. invests more funds in research and development (R&D) in absolute terms than the other G7 nations combined: 17.2% more in 2012. Since 2000, gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) in the U.S. has increased by 31.2%, enabling it to maintain its share of GERD among the G7 nations at 54.0% (54.2% in 2000). Impact of recession on research spending Generally speaking, U.S. investment in R&D rose with the economy in the first years of the century before receding slightly during the economic recession then rising again as growth resumed. At its peak in 2009, GERD amounted to US$406billion (2.82% of GDP). Despite the recession, it was still at 2.79% in 2012 and will slide only marginally to 2.73% in 2013, according to provisional data, and should remain at a similar level in 2014. The federal government is the primary funder of basic research, at 52.6% in 2012; state governments, universities and other non-profits funded 26%. Experimental development, on the other hand, is primarily funded