Seattle Area Had a Middling 2017 for Venture Investment, Fundraising

The $1.73 billion in venture capital raised by Seattle-area companies in 2017 was the third-highest total of the last five years, according to the Venture Monitor report out Tuesday from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association.

The 2017 investment total for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area was spread across 297 deals. The total for the year is up 13 percent from 2016’s $1.53 billion across 267 deals. But 2017 fell short of recent high-water marks for the area in 2014, when $2.1 billion was raised, and 2013, when companies brought in $1.88 billion.

The local total stands in contrast to the national total in 2017, which hit a unicorn-driven record of $84.2 billion—the most since the dot-com era.

The Seattle-area’s 2017 in venture investing closed with a ho-hum fourth quarter of mid-size A and B funding rounds, led by a $35.5 million round raised by Nativis, a clinical stage medical devices company. See the full top-ten deals list below.

As for new capital, venture firms based in the Seattle raised about $461 million across three funds, the second-lowest annual total in the last five years, according to PitchBook data.

Two of the Seattle-based funds raised capital in the fourth quarter of 2017: Frazier Healthcare Partners closed a $419 million ninth life sciences fund in early November, and Pioneer Square Labs raised nearly $41 million for Pioneer Square Ventures Fund I, which closed Dec. 29, according to PitchBook data.

Now, the top 10 Seattle deals of the fourth quarter of 2017, including some participating investors:

  • Nativis, $35.5 million, angel investors
  • Destination Pet, $30 million, Opus Bank
  • Amperity, $28 million, Madrona Venture Group, Tiger Global Management
  • Kineta, $24.4 million
  • Mavupharma, $20 million, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Alpine BioVentures
  • Seeq, $18.7 million, Altira Group, Next47
  • Hiya, $17.9 million, Balderton Capital, Lumia Capital, Nautilus Venture Partners
  • Blaze Bioscience, $16 million, Keiretsu Forum, B Cubed Ventures, Keiretsu Capital, W&W Capital
  • Arzeda, $15.2 million, WRF Capital, Casdin Capital, Sustainable Conversion Ventures, OS Fund, Bioeconomy Capital, Universal Materials Incubator
  • M3 Biotechnology, $14.1 million, WRF Capital, The W Fund, Bruce Montgomery, Michael Montgomery

Author: Benjamin Romano

Benjamin is the former Editor of Xconomy Seattle. He has covered the intersections of business, technology and the environment in the Pacific Northwest and beyond for more than a decade. At The Seattle Times he was the lead beat reporter covering Microsoft during Bill Gates’ transition from business to philanthropy. He also covered Seattle venture capital and biotech. Most recently, Benjamin followed the technology, finance and policies driving renewable energy development in the Western US for Recharge, a global trade publication. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.