They are the deals that slip through the cracks unnoticed. They are worth less than $1 million, but at least $100,000. Though small in size, these investments need to be included along with the bigger deals that get more press, if you want a more complete picture of the funding landscape in the innovation community. And there were at least 16 of these deals in the Northwest in September (see table below), according to ChubbyBrain, a New York-based information services company tracking VC, angel, and other investments in private companies.
It’s probably too soon to talk about trends, because this is the first month we’ve had access to ChubbyBrain’s data on these smaller deals, which were compiled from regulatory filings, user submissions, and other sources. But here are some quick observations.
About two-thirds of the deals (11 of 16) were equity investments, while one-third (5 of 16) were debt financings. Half the investments (8) were in software companies, while about a quarter each were in biotech/medical (4) and cleantech (3) firms. The majority of the deals were in the Seattle area (10), but a significant number were near Portland or in Oregon (6). Anecdotally, all those breakdowns seem consistent with the deal flow we’ve been seeing and reporting on in the Northwest for the past year or so. The data didn’t include the investors or the stage of the investments.
Without further ado, here are the 16 “under the radar” deals from last month:
Vantos (Seattle) Equity $873,487
Investigation software
InEnTec (Bend, OR) Equity $800,000
Cleantech fuels
WA 32609 (Redmond, WA) Equity $800,000
Biotech
Inson Medical Systems (Bellevue, WA) Equity $642,536
Biomedical drug delivery
Napera Networks (Mercer Island, WA) Debt $600,000
Networking software
Acucela (Bothell, WA) Equity $439,603
Biotech drugs
Adometry (Kirkland, WA) Equity $400,000
Analytics software
Smilebox (Redmond, WA) Equity $399,999
Consumer software
Asemblon (Redmond, WA) Debt $386,000
Cleantech/materials
Ohio River Clean Fuels / Baard Energy (Vancouver, WA) Debt $245,000
Cleantech fuels
Safetec Compliance Systems (Vancouver, WA) Debt $235,000
Software for chemical compliance
Second Porch (Portland, OR) Equity $225,000
Social software
SynapticMash (Seattle) Equity $200,000
Educational software
Silere Medical Technology (Kirkland, WA) Debt $120,000
Medical devices
BallLogic (Portland, OR) Equity $100,000
Consumer devices
Site 9 (Portland, OR) Equity $100,000
Web development software