San Diego’s Top 10 Third-Quarter Venture Deals

In case the word hasn’t quite gotten around, things are not pretty on the San Diego investment scene. As Greg wrote on Saturday, venture capital outlays in the third quarter fell to just $178.4 million, a 52 percent nosedive from the previous quarter and the most dismal quarterly showing for the region since Q1 of 2005, according to the new quarterly MoneyTree report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.

What’s more, whereby the region had ranked 5th in the first quarter and 6th in the second, it fell to 13th place in the third quarter out of 18 regions tracked by the study. Only 22 venture deals were done in San Diego in the quarter, down from 38 the previous quarter and 41 for the same period a year earlier. This was also the lowest deal total since Q1 of 2005.

The nearby Los Angeles/Orange County region fared much better, with $572.5 million invested in 54 venture deals for the quarter, down just a bit from the $593.8 million from the previous quarter and up over Q1. The area ranked third in the nation for the quarter, behind only Silicon Valley and New England.

However downbeat the situation in San Diego, though, some big deals were done—starting with San Diego’s own The Active Network, which raised $80 million to help it provide online registration and other services for a variety of sporting events and activities. In fact, five area firms, in fields as diverse as energy, personal transportation, and security for pay TV, closed rounds of $20 million or more.

Following is a list of the area’s top 10 venture deals for the third quarter —and the venture investors behind them.

The Active Network, San Diego, CA — $80 million
Investors: Citi Alternative Investments, Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment, Good Energies, PCG Asset Management, US Renewables Group

Sapphire Energy, Del Mar, CA — $40 million
Investors: Arch Venture Partners, Cascade Investment, Venrock, Wellcome Trust

PowerGenix Systems, San Diego, CA — $30 million
Investors: Angeleno Group, Bessemer Venture Partners*, Element Partners, Granite Ventures, MILCOM Technologies, OnPoint Technologies, Technology Partners

Aptera Motors, Carlsbad, CA — $24 million
Investors: Google, Idealab, Individual Investors

Verimatrix, San Diego, CA — $20 million
Investors: Cipio Partners, Crescendo Ventures, Goldman Sachs Ventures*, JK&B Capital, Mission Ventures, SunAmerica Ventures

ISE, Poway, CA — $17.5 million
Investors: DTE Energy Ventures, Inc., NGP Energy Technology Partners, RockPort Capital Partners, Siemens Venture Capital

Sequoia Communications, San Diego, CA — $10.1 million
Investors: BlueRun Ventures, Tallwood Venture Capital

Daylight Solutions, Poway, CA — $5 million
Investors: Not available

Legend Films, San Diego, CA — $5 million
Investors: Augustus Ventures*

AndroScience, San Diego, CA — $4 million
Investors: Grand Cathay Venture Capital, Industrial Bank of Taiwan

* lead investor

Source: Dow Jones VentureSource

Author: Robert Buderi

Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative. Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.