Venture capital activity in the Portland metro appeared to tick up in the second quarter of this year following several quarters of sluggish activity that mirrored national trends.
The latest research from Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association indicates that investment in the Portland metro area, which includes Vancouver, cracked $100 million for the first time since the second quarter of 2023, according to the Q2 2024 Venture Monitor.
Investors pumped $123.2 million across 30 deals in the Portland metro in the second quarter. That’s a jump sequentially, when just $57.5 million was put into 21 deals in the metro in the first quarter, according to the report.
So far this year, $180.7 million has been invested across 52 deals, according to the report.
That is still down significantly from last year, in which $362.3 million landed across 63 deals. Last year, a massive drop in the amount of money invested in the Portland metro was logged after several years of historic activity.
Numbers are still sluggish nationwide as well, though, Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of the NVCA noted in the report that the volatility over the last two years is subsiding and trends are emerging.
Across the country, $55.6 billion was invested across 3,108 deals. That amount invested is up from a year ago when $37.8 billion was invested. However, the number of deals was higher a year ago, at 3,670.
“The peak of the Covid-19 pandemic saw unprecedented levels of investment in a variety of technologies such as early-stage blockchain, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, AI, and others. Regardless of cause, the initial flood of investment into these technologies has largely abated, and now investors are focused on supporting their most promising companies to maturity amid a historically challenging exit environment,” wrote Franklin in the report.
“This has meant more inside and continuation rounds with valuations under unprecedented levels of scrutiny.”
Locally, the two largest deals in the quarter accounted for $70 million of the total. They were:
- $35 million raised by data management software maker Hydrolix. The Series B was led by existing backer S3 Ventures and included existing investors Nava Ventures, Wing Ventures, AV8 Ventures and Oregon Venture Fund.
- $35 million raised by Boulder Care, which provides telehealth treatment for substance use disorders. The round was led by Advance Venture Partners and also included Stripes, First Round Capital, Qiming Venture Partners and Laerdal Million Lives Fund.
For the state of Oregon, $226.6 million was invested in the quarter across 35 deals. That is up sequentially from the first quarter when $58.6 million was invested in 28 deals.
