Coming off a huge first quarter of investment, the Portland metro once again saw venture capitalists pump more than $100 million into local companies, according to the latest Venture Monitor report.
In the second quarter, there was $187.4 million invested across 32 deals, according to the report compiled by Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. Deal count and dollar amount is up from the second quarter last year, which was disrupted by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The second quarter of 2020 saw $162 million invested across 28 deals.
Investment dollars are down in the second quarter compared to the first, which saw a whopping $418 million invested across 48 deals. (The deal count and dollar amount are up slightly from what was reported earlier this year as more deals surfaced after the initial report.)
The top 10 deals of 2Q 2021 accounted for $158 million of the total. According to the report, the three biggest deals in the quarter were:
- NuScale, which makes small modular nuclear reactors, raised $60 million across two reported rounds.
- ZincFive, which makes rechargeable nickel-zinc batteries for utility service backup, raised $33 million.
- Brandlive, which makes software for virtual meetings and events, raised $18 million.
The amount invested in 2Q 2021 is more than last year but below the amounts invested in the same quarters in 2019 and 2018, which saw $224 million and $395.2 million, respectively, according to the report.
Nationwide, there was $75 billion invested across 3,296 deals. So far, 2021 is on track to be another record-setting year, according to the report. In the first half of the year, $150 billion has already been invested. Last year, which was a record, saw $164.3 billion invested in total.
Similar to past quarters, this quarter’s results were driven by investment in later-stage companies. The ongoing trend nationwide has been for more money to be poured into fewer deals with investors flocking to later-stage companies.
However, the 2Q Venture Monitor notes that this quarter saw an uptick in earlier stage investment. The activity in the first half of this year is building on the strong early-stage activity in the second half of last year.
“The angel and seed markets have catapulted to record highs in the first half of 2021 and offer a tantalizing glimpse into future US venture dealmaking activity,” according to the report. “Based on the elevated number of companies raising capital through Q2, we expect activity in these earliest venture stages to remain high for the foreseeable future.”
Early-stage deal volume is an important metric as it indicates potential future activity.
Across the entire state of Oregon there was $228.5 million invested across 45 deals. That’s up from the second quarter last year when $173.7 million was invested across 34 deals.
Also this week, Pitchbook released a report looking at the private equity activity across the country in the second quarter. Like venture capital, PE has recovered from the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic last year and is on pace for record deals.
