Companies in the Denver and Boulder area raised $130.8 million in venture capital during the third quarter, with rounds closed by SolidFire and Ping Identity leading the way, according to the latest quarterly MoneyTree Report. Overall, 19 companies closed rounds in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30.
The third quarter has been the best of 2013 so far—local companies raised $110.5 million in the second quarter and $77 million in Q1. Local companies did better in last year’s third quarter, though, raising $160.1 million.
The MoneyTree report is from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data provided by Thomson Reuters.
The quarter-to-quarter uptick tracks with the national data, as nationwide companies raised $7.8 billion during the quarter.
The biggest national news might be the boom in software investments. Software companies received $3.6 billion, making it the first time in 12 years that more than $3 billion has been invested in the software sector during a single quarter.
“More venture capital dollars are going into more software deals than we’ve seen in the past decade. The continued increase in valuations for innovative and disruptive technologies in software-related companies, coupled with the increase in exit activity, is driving venture capitalists to make more investments in this space,” PwC’s Mark McCaffrey said in a release. McCaffrey is the firm’s global technology partner and software leader.
Software startups did well in Boulder and Denver, but the company that raised the most was SolidFire, a hardware concern. A medical device maker and a company trying to use biotech to clean up carbon emissions also were among the area’s top deals (see below for details).
Here are the area deals that totaled more than $5 million in the quarter. The MoneyTree report only tracks the size of the equity investment, so rounds that included a debt component (such as Ping Identity’s latest round, which totaled $44 million) could in some cases be larger.
—SolidFire raised $31 million. The Boulder-based company develops all-solid-state data storage systems designed for large-scale public and private cloud infrastructure. The investors were New Enterprise Associates, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Samsung Venture Investment, and Valhalla Partners.
—Ping Identity raised $25.9 million. The Denver-based company makes network security software and specializes in cloud-based single-sign-on platforms. The investors were Appian Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson International, General Catalyst Partners, SAP Ventures, Triangle Peak Partners, Volition Capital, and W Capital Management.
—Surefire Medical raised $16.4 million. The medical device maker is based in Westminster and is developing an infusion system for the interventional radiology market. High Country Venture and Partisan Management Group did this round.
—Ciris Energy raised $15 million. Ciris is based in Centennial and is working on bioconversion technology that could convert carbon emissions from coal into natural gas. Asia Pacific Capital made the investment.
—SomaLogic raised $10 million. The biotech and clinical diagnostics company is based in Boulder and is developing technology that can identify illnesses by the protein biomarkers they create. Lonetree Capital Management did this deal.
—VictorOps raised $6.5 million. The Boulder startup makes software for the web and mobile platforms that IT systems operators can use to diagnose and fix network problems. Costanoa Venture Capital and the Foundry Group were the investors.
—Kapost raised $5.6 million. A former Techstars company, the Boulder startup t is developing software that manages the content creation process for companies running content marketing campaigns. Investors: Floodgate Fund, High Country Venture, and Lead Edge Capital.
—TapInfluence raised $5 million. Formerly named BlogFrog, Boulder-based TapInfluence develops cloud-based software that manages content marketing campaigns. Access Venture Partners and Grotech Ventures were the investors.
