After Tampa Bay's tech scene had one of its highest-grossing years of all time, it has hit a dip.
The region raised $82.16 million in Q3, according to data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. In contrast, Q2 brought in more than $108 million, and Q1 had a record-breaking $218 million. Tampa Bay's Q3 in 2021 brought in roughly $27 million more than the same time in 2022.
It's not unique to the region or even the Sunshine State; VC investment across the nation dipped to its lowest point in two years, with $43 billion in deals. It also may not be a concern — if experts are comparing 2021 to 2022's numbers, it's a bit of a mismatch, according to PitchBook experts.
"The VC ecosystem has shown remarkable resiliency in the face of continued economic headwinds, raising record levels of capital and closing an unexpectedly high number of deals," John Gabbert, founder and CEO of PitchBook, said in a statement. "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.”
Tampa Bay had similar deal flow in Q3 to previous quarters, closing 17 deals compared to Q2's 19 deals and Q1's 20 deals.
PitchBook recorded 10 deals over the last quarter totaling over $1 million:
- 5x5 Technologies, a St. Petersburg-based drone analytics company, closed $20 million in September
- American Injectables, a Brooksville-based pharmaceuticals company, raised $19 million in August
- Base Culture, a Clearwater-based natural food brand known for paleo baked goods, raised $10 million in July
- Morphogenesis, a Tampa-based biotech company focused on immunotherapy, closed $9 million in July as part of a larger $22 million round.
- Bill360, a Tampa-based SaaS company focused on the financial industry, raised $8 million in July
- RxLive, a St. Petersburg telehealth startup, raised $5 million in September
- Threshold 360, a Tampa-based provider of interactive 360 virtual tours, raised $4 million in September
- Lonestar, a St. Pete-based startup focused on putting data centers on the moon, raised $3 million in August
- XPROfintech, a Tampa-based solutions provider for vendor management, raised $2 million in July
- Kliken, a Tampa-based marketing tech company, raised $1 million in August
