The Tampa Bay region held strong in its Q1 deal funding, with local companies raising $77 million across a higher-than-average deal count.
According to the quarterly Pitchbook and National Venture Capital Association's "Venture Monitor" report, the Tampa Bay region had 17 deals from January to March of this year. It was a slight increase in deal flow from Q4's 14 deals and a bump up from 2020's Q2 and Q3 deal counts, which were six and 12, respectively.
The last time the region had that high of a deal count was Q2 in 2019, which only brought in $46.8 million.
According to the report, January 2021 brought in $54.9 million with five deals, February raised $14.5 million with six deals and March ended with $7.5 million raised across six deals.
The top five Tampa Bay deals from this quarter include:
• Tampa's Aspen RxHealth raised a $23 million Series B round, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The San Francisco-based venture capital firm has a history of investing in well-known technology companies, including LinkedIn, Yelp, Shopify and DocuSign. Aspen RxHealth connects users with pharmacists to deliver clinical services. Learn more here.
• Tampa-based SOMA Global, which modernizes software for first responder use, raised $22.5 million from local firm Weatherford Capital. Its Series A round was funded entirely by the venture capital firm, which typically sticks to later-stage rounds. Also new: It's the first Florida technology deal for the firm. Learn more here.
• Red Rover, the Clearwater-based startup founded by the founder of the PODS moving and storage giant, raised $13.6 million. The company, also known as Easy Moves Holdings LLC, previously raised $10 million in late 2020. Learn more here.
• Tampa's XGen, which uses artificial intelligence to help e-commerce companies, raised $7.5 million in its seed round. The majority of the investors were angel investors, along with participation from Florida Funders. Learn more here.
• Tampa biotech company InflammX Therapeutics Inc. raised $7 million, according to SEC filings. It is the first investment for the Tampa-based company, according to the filing, and had participation from four investors. Not much else is known about the company — there is no website and the listed number on the filing was disconnected.
The Venture Monitor report also stated the Tampa Bay metropolitan area had one exit — Clearwater-based Ensurem, which was acquired by Miami-based 777 Partners for an undisclosed amount.
Florida-based companies as a whole raised $468.7 million across 92 deals. Miami's MSA raised $230.7 million across 43 deals, with Orlando's MSA raising $27 million across nine deals. The quarter across the nation was record-breaking, bringing in $69 billion across 3,042 deals.
“On the heels of an unpredictable yet record-setting 2020, the U.S. venture ecosystem is off to a strong start in the first quarter of 2021," John Gabbert, founder and CEO of PitchBook, said in a statement. “With record levels of VC fundraising in 2020 and dry powder still sitting at all-time highs, investors continue to write ever-larger checks at both the early and late-stage, which has only been fueled further by nontraditional investors looking to capitalize on the VC investment universe."
