The numbers are in, and the amount local startups raised in 2023 is nowhere near the 2022 levels.
Buffalo Inno's tracking throughout the year shows our area raised a collective about $30 million in 2023. Pitchbook, which uses different parameters than Inno, puts the local total closer to $38 million, but neither figure is remotely near the $201 million that Buffalo startups raised in 2022.
2022 was a year marked with national trends of high volatility in the high-growth technology scene, a result of factors such as war in the Ukraine, U.S. economic inflation and a struggling stock market.
In 2023, many of those trends continued, prompting even huge tech companies to shut down and do layoffs. Earlier in the year, Silicon Valley Bank shuttered, affecting startups far beyond Silicon Valley.
For investments, that’s meant major pullbacks to startup investing, exits and deals over the past two years, after a prime startup-raising environment in 2021. (That year, Buffalo startups collectively raised more than $530 million.)
For Buffalo, with a small but growing tech ecosystem, monitoring startup funding helps gauge the health and growth of the local technology and startup community.
Locally, fewer startups raised funds in 2023. There were 14 total, which is less than the 32 in 2022 and the 35 in 2021.
There’s also the typical size of the deals. Last year, average raises were $2.142 million, a drop compared to the average $6.28 million in 2022.
Buffalo Inno has been closely counting startup deals in Buffalo for 10 years now, focusing on raises that are $100,000 or higher. These totals are meant to give a general idea of the ebbs and flows of the local tech startup scene.
As far as 2024 goes, startups will likely feel more pain before things improve, Peter Walker, head of insights at cap-table management firm Carta, told American Inno. But a reopened IPO window and more investment at later-stage fundraising rounds could mean a rosier outlook for startups in 2024, though those factors most likely won’t play a big role in a small tech scene like Buffalo’s.
Here are the Buffalo-area startups that raised funding in 2023
- HELIXintel ($11,000,000)
- CleanFiber ($6,700,000)
- AireXpert ($3,000,000)
- Azuna ($3,000,000)
- SelectFI ($1,985,000)
- FoodNerd ($1,000,000)
- Arbol ($850,000)
- Diadem Capital ($600,000)
- Immunaeon ($600,000)
- LenderLogix ($500,000)
- CaHill Tech ($250,000)
- Swift Rails ($225,000)
- Aerovec ($178,000)
- Latte ($100,000)
Did we miss a funding announcement? If so, email lbunny@bizjournals.com to be included on the list.
Check out previous recaps from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014.
