The activity around events in the Boston startup community rapidly picked up pace in September, but venture investments in Massachusetts tech and life sciences companies grew far more modestly.
The equity investments last month totaled $146.8 million, up slightly from $143.6 million in August. The September money came in across a smaller number of deals (25) than in August (30), meaning that the size of individual startup deals grew. That’s according to data provided by our New York-based partner, private company intelligence platform CB Insights.
Healthcare was the leading sector again last month, at $61.1 million brought in across eight deals. But the sector took the victory by a slimmer margin in September than it had in past months. Through much of this year, healthcare investments made up around half of each month’s total deal flow. Last month, it accounted for just over 40 percent of the equity financings. Boston-based Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, a developer of peptide-based treatments for metabolic disorders, led the way with a $19 million tranche of its Series A financing.
Good Start Genetics came in second last month, emerging from stealth mode with $18 million in Series A money. The startup said it would put the cash toward a planned 2011 launch of its genetic sequencing-based service that aims to test people prior to pregnancy to assess the likelihood of genetic diseases being passed on.
Investments in software startups nearly quadrupled last month, surging from $11.4 million in August to $43.9 million in September. The sector placed second in the total dollars invested for the month, and tied healthcare for the highest number of deals, at eight. The space was largely helped by a $16 million financing for Waltham, MA-based ActiFio, a maker of data management and disaster recovery software. The deal was the third largest for the month overall.
Read below for the full list of September equity financing deals.
Ten startups raised more than $22 million through non-equity based financings, including offerings of convertible notes, debt, and options and warrants. Read below for the full list.
