Florida reaped just a tiny sliver -- about a third of 1 percent -- of the U.S. venture capital pie in the third quarter, according to statistics released Friday. In Florida, just $36.7 million was invested in six deals. That's down considerably from $113.9 in 13 deals last quarter and the lowest since the first quarter of 2013. The state ranked 27th in nation for funding by dollar amount.
Florida companies receiving dollars in the third quarter were: Sancilio & Company ($20 million); LensAR ($7.85 million); Informed Medical Decisions ($5 million); OBMedical ($2.1 million); Neoreach ($1.5 million); Contactus.com ($300,000). Contactus, in IT services, and Sancilio, a biotech company, are based in South Florida.
Next quarter’s Florida numbers are likely to look off the charts with reports that Google Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz are involved in a $500 million round for Broward-based Magic Leap, the cinematic reality company founded by Rony Abovitz, cofounder of Mako Surgical. Magic Leap closed a $50 million Series A round in February.
So far in 2013, $232.3 million has gone into Florida deals.
Nationally, venture capitalists invested $9.9 billion in 1,023 deals in the third quarter of 2014, according to the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data provided by Thomson Reuters. Quarterly venture capital investment declined 27 percent in terms of dollars and 9 percent in the number of deals, compared to the second quarter when $13.5 billion was invested in 1,129 deals.
The third quarter is the sixth consecutive quarter of more than 1,000 companies receiving venture capital investments in a single quarter. With more than $33 billion invested through the first three quarters, total venture investing in 2014 has eclipsed total venture investing in all of 2013, which totaled $30 billion.
“The emergence of non-traditional investors, including hedge funds and mutual funds, is contributing to the increase in venture investing this year. Another factor that can’t be ignored is the changing nature of our economy, where startup companies are disrupting entrenched industries and, in some cases, creating new industries altogether,” said Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of NVCA, in a statement.
“Another factor driving the strong investment levels is the increasing prevalence of mega deals, deals exceeding $100 million, which we’ve seen over the past few quarters. We’ve already counted more than 30 mega deals in 2014 compared to only 16 in all of 2013,” said Mark McCaffrey, global software leader and technology partner at PwC.
The biggest deals were Vice Media ($500 million); Palantir ($165 million), Houzz ($165 million), Box ($158 million) and Lookout ($150 million). Next quarter, Magic Leap will likely join the top five list.
MoneyTree Report results are available online at www.pwcmoneytree.com and www.nvca.org.
Posted Oct. 17, 2014