There were fewer venture capital deals in the Portland metro in the third quarter, both compared to the second quarter this year and compared to the third quarter last year.
Investors pumped $156 million into Portland metro companies across 27 deals in the third quarter. That’s more money invested than the second quarter but is down 55% compared to the amount invested in the third quarter of 2021.
The data is latest from Seattle research firm PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association’s quarterly Venture Monitor report.
So far this year, $614.8 million has been invested in Portland-area companies across 96 deals, according to the report.
By this time last year, $948.5 million had been invested in the metro across 70 deals. Activity in 2021, which was historic, likely reflected pent-up deals that were put on hold in the second half of 2020. Since 2018, and omitting 2020, the region has seen record years of investment.
Looking at the first nine months of 2022 the dollar amount invested is down compared to the first nine months of 2021. However deal volume for the first nine months of this year is up compared to last year, likely indicating that smaller checks are going to more companies.
Statewide, $206.7 million was invested across 37 deals in the third quarter. As in the Portland metro, the dollar amount and deal count for the third quarter were below both the second quarter and the third quarter a year ago.
Nationwide deal count is down and the dollar amount invested hit a nine-quarter low, according to the report. Across the country investment totaled $43 billion across 4,074 deals.
However, VCs themselves have been able to raise money. Even with deal volume and amounts down and exit activity curtailed, VC fundraising nationally reached a record amount already this year with $290 billion of dry powder available.
“The VC slowdown narrative that has been pervasive in the market this year has finally materialized in the data, with nearly every metric aside from fundraising falling sharply in Q3,” said John Gabbert, CEO of PitchBook, in a written statement. “The VC ecosystem, however, has shown remarkable resiliency in the face of continued economic headwinds, raising record levels of capital and closing an unexpectedly high number of deals. In many ways, 2021 was an outlier year, and the VC market is now returning to pre-pandemic levels and long-term trends of steady growth.”
Top deals in the Portland metro for the quarter include:
- Cybersecurity company Eclypsium, which announced it had raised a $25 million Series B. The Venture Monitor pegs the round at $51 million.
- Travel technology company TrovaTrip and its $15 million round.
- Climate-friendly food maker Neutral Foods and a $12 million round.
