Investments in Massachusetts startups rose as fast in July as the Red Sox have fallen in August. Venture investors poured some $215 million into a whopping 25 deals last month. That marked a 54 percent jump over the $139.5 million invested in 15 deals in June, according to data provided to Xconomy by ChubbyBrain, a New York-based information services company developing tools for investors, startups, and aspiring entrepreneurs.
In addition to the venture investments, last month saw a shade over $197 million worth of debt financings, led by an enormous $191 million deal by Newton, MA-based wind farm developer and operator First Wind. This was a tremendous rise over last month’s two debt deals totaling $5.5 million.
See our tables of all July Bay State venture deals and debt financings on the second page of this post.
July’s biggest venture deal was the $50 Series D round done by Burlington, MA-based ConforMIS. The company provides customized knee implants for patients based on CT or MRI scans. That easily topped the next biggest deal of the month, the $30 million Series B round for Waltham, MA-based Avila Therapeutics. The round was led by new investor the Novartis Option Fund, which also agreed to co-develop Avila’s drugs for up to $200 million in upfront and future milestone payments.
Other highlights from the July ChubbyBrain data:
—The 25 venture investments spanned all stages, but nearly two-thirds involved early rounds, with 10 Series A deals and six Series B financings. That was a bit higher
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.
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