For the second month in a row we’re compiling all recent Seattle-area tech and biotech deals—“under the radar” and otherwise—into one comprehensive overview of all financings for the month. As always, the information is based on data provided by our partner, New York-based private company intelligence platform CB Insights, and our own prior coverage. And just as in June, the July data shows a clear trend: the majority of the local venture and angel-backed investments are going to the healthcare sector, which includes biotech.
Of the 17 deals Washington companies saw over the month of June, seven of them were in the healthcare sector, amounting to $62.5 million of the $81.7 million invested overall. Compare this to the $104.3 million raked in locally in June, of which biotech companies nabbed $41.1 million, and it’s easy to see that the healthcare sector is leading in terms of regional financings. But whereas the energy and utilities and computer hardware and services sectors trailed close behind healthcare in June, no other sector was even close to bringing in the same amount of funding in July. The electronics sector trailed far behind with $5.8 million in financing, and the business products and services sector was close to follow with deals totaling $5.4 million.
The Internet sector came in fourth with $4 million in financing. (The Northwest Open Access Network did nab $54.5 million in federal stimulus money to expand high-speed broadband service across Washington state, but as this is grant money and not investment financing, it is not included on the list). Software took fifth place, with $2 million, and the mobile and telecommunications sector took a distant sixth place with $1.3 million in funding.
Perhaps the most shocking result has to do with the energy and utilities sector, which only brought in $0.69 million in July—the only sector to drop below the million-dollar mark—compared to the $35.8 million they raked in back in June. The computer hardware and services, risk and security, industrial, automotive and transportation, and gaming sectors brought in no funding at all in July.
We reported on a number of the larger deals that came through in July, including the $32 million Seattle-based Immune Design raised in Series B funding for the development of a new generation of vaccines. This deal, the second-largest venture deal in Washington state this year so far (behind the $40 million nabbed by Seattle-based Calistoga Pharmaceuticals in June) is just another indication of the healthcare sector’s leading role in Washington state investments. Further evidence: Uptake Medical’s $17.5 million investment for the sale of its emphysema treatment device, and Integrated Diagnostics $10 million deal, the second of its three-part, $30 million Series A.
On the tech side, contact-organizing software developer Gist raised an additional $4 million from Vulcan Capital and the Foundry Group. There were also a few interesting deals you may not have heard of, including a $690,000 round of equity that Seattle-based General Biodiesel, one of the first cleantech companies to set up shop at the McKinstry Innovation Center, brought in.
Here’s the full list of July’s equity-based deals, both under the radar and on it:
July also saw a few startups raising cash through deals based on debt, options, and/or warrants, rather than equity, including mobile software company Dashwire, which brought in over $515,000 in July from an undisclosed investor. (CEO Ford Davidson says the mobile app space is a “market that’s on fire.”) Those seven transactions, worth a combined $14.5 million, are listed below.
