Greater Washington startups smashed recent funding records in Q1. See who raised the most.

D.C. business insurance startup Pie Insurance led the way to a record-breaking quarter for venture capital funding in the D.C. area with its $118 million round in March — the most of any startup in the region.

Fast-growing companies ScienceLogic, ID.me and Aledade also all raised more than $100 million, propelling the region to more than $1 billion in funding during the first quarter of 2021, the highest in at least a decade, according to the most recent PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report, a product released quarterly with the support of Silicon Valley Bank and Secfi.

Separate data from the PwC/CB Insights Moneytree Report show the last time the region hit $1 billion in a single quarter was the end of 2000 — the height of what became known as the dot-com bubble.

The recent quarter's billion-dollar haul was a massive increase over the same quarter of 2020, which saw just $386.6 million in funding. But the increase in dollars did not mean a huge increase in the number of deals, as the region saw 71 in the most recent quarter, a slight uptick from 68 in the first quarter of 2020.

The massive spike in venture dollars locally mirrors the national trend, in which startups raised about $69 billion in the first quarter nationwide, up 92.6% over the first quarter of 2020. And the deal sizes are bigger across the country too, with 3,987 funding rounds adding up to $4.7 million per deal.

“The U.S. venture industry started off 2021 with a record quarter, possibly heralding a strong year for startups across the country. As the nation recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, high-growth startups are well-positioned to help the economy recover and grow,” Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of National Venture Capital Association, said in a statement.

But even with these sky-high numbers, it's still competing with an inordinately active 2020. Covid-19 may have forced the closures of millions of businesses across the country, but it did not seem to have a huge impact on local venture capital investments last year. Greater Washington startups brought in a record year for venture dollars across all of 2020 — $2.1 billion, topping the previous record of $1.9 billion set in 2019.

Despite the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the region still hit about $849 million in total venture investments in the second quarter of 2020 before dropping to $420 million in the third and $455 million in the fourth quarter.

The biggest raise for a venture firm was the $140 million raised by Construct Capital, the D.C.-based venture firm spearheaded by former New Enterprise Associates Partner Dayna Grayson and Uber’s former head of new mobility, Rachel Holt. The firm will be focused on “foundational industries,” such as manufacturing, transportation and logistics.

The top venture deals in the D.C. area by funding in the first quarter of 2021 were: