Maryland, mostly bolstered from a single mega deal, had a strong third quarter of venture capital deals in 2022, despite activity as a whole declining across the state.
In total, Maryland saw $396.48 million invested through 33 VC deals, a decline from the second quarter of this year, according to the Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor report and Baltimore Business Journal research. Although those numbers appear promising when compared to the $395.28 million raised during the third quarter last year, a single outlier is skewing the data set. Delfi Diagnostics raised more than every single other startup in Maryland combined in Q3 through a $225 million raise.
Pitchbook did not include Delfi Diagnostics in its report on Maryland venture capital in Q3, instead listing the Baltimore company's headquarters as Palo Alto, California. Although the company has a lab and office in California, a Delfi Diagnostics spokesperson confirmed the company is headquartered in Baltimore.
Without Delfi Diagnostic's mega round, Maryland only saw $171.48 million invested through 32 VC deals, the smallest dollar amount invested in area companies since Q4 of 2017, according to the Pitchbook report. In Baltimore, the number of deals also declined, with local companies other than Delfi Diagnostics raising $68.54 million in 13 deals, down from $130.15 million in 23 deals in Q3 of 2021.
The country as a whole suffered from a slowdown, with the lowest fundraising amount since Q2 of 2020. Pitchbook data showed that some industries, such as health care, clean tech, energy and transportation were relatively insulated from the downward trend. As a whole, this year is still a historic one for startups, with 2022 seeing more activity than any other year with the exception of the record-breaking 2021, which saw a flood of VC deals.
"VC isn’t about panicking over quarterly fluctuations, and Q3’s activity is above historical averages and part of a durable, positive trend in the industry," the report states.
There is a massive decline in companies going public this year, with only 59 companies being added to the stock exchange compared to 303 in 2021 and 145 in 2020. Baltimore companies that went public in recent years have struggled with financial issues after taking the plunge, with ZeroFox and BigBear.ai both suffering from massive declines in stock price after going public in 2022 and 2021 respectively.
Despite the decline in VC deals, the amount of money raised by venture capital funds nationwide is at an all-time high, with funds raising $150.9 billion, already more than 2021’s full year total of $147.2 billion. Baltimore has seen several notable funds raise money this year, from Jeff Cherry’s Conscious Venture Labs to a brand new angel investor syndicate, Riptide Ventures. However, much of the growth is only going to the top 6% of investment funds, with first-time fund investment projected to fall below 2014 amounts.
Here are the top 10 deals in Greater Baltimore and Maryland, according to Pitchbook, which did not include Delfi Diagnostics $225 million raise in its Maryland and Baltimore lists.
The top 10 deals in Greater Baltimore in Q3 were:
- Vorbeck in Jessup: $25 million
- DrivenIQ in Towson: $15 million
- AeroVanti in Annapolis: $10 million
- Mira1a Therapeutics in Baltimore: $7 million
- VerImmune in Baltimore: $3 million (VerImmune's headquarter is now in Washington, D.C., but it retains a presence in Baltimore)
- Pixelligent in Baltimore: $2 million
- Cerebro Capital in Baltimore: $2 million
- Array Dental Group in Columbia: $1 million
- EpiWatch in Baltimore: $1 million
- County Sports Zone in Bel Air: $1 million
The top 10 deals in Maryland were:
- The Collage Group in Bethesda: $25 million
- Cybrary in Riverdale: $25 million
- Vorbeck in Jessup: $25 million
- DrivenIQ in Towson: $15 million
- Eat The Change in Bethesda: $14 million
- AeroVanti in Annapolis: $10 million
- Mira1a Therapeutics in Baltimore: $7 million
- Future in Silver Spring: $5 million
- Tidewater Inn in Easton: $5 million
- Medcura in Riverdale: $4 million
This article has been updated to include Delfi Diagnostics' $225 million round, which was not included in the original Pitchbook report.
