Venture capital investing in Washington state started out with a whimper in 2013, but it is ending with a bang.
After the slow start, as evidenced by the chart above from CB Insights in which just $100 million was invested in the first quarter, things roared to life in the fourth quarter buoyed in part by one blockbuster biotech deal.
Juno Therapeutics, a spin out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Seattle Children’s Research Institute, announced a whopping $120 million venture funding round in early December.
That deal alone was more than all 26 venture financings recorded during the third quarter, and is poised to put an exclamation point on the end of 2013 in terms of startup financings. In fact, December was an especially active month in Washington state. In addition to Juno, there was a $22 million round for Cyanogen; a $14.5 million investment in DreamBox Learning; and a $32 million investment in Opscode.
According to reporting at GeekWire, a total of $225 million was invested in December alone in Washington state startups. For the fourth quarter, which included a $50 million investment in online real estate company Redfin and a $32.5 million deal for Seattle biotech Immune Design, the tally is more than $410 million. (Official numbers from CB Insights, PwC/NVCA’s MoneyTree and others usually is released next month).
The momentum going into 2014 should warm the hearts (and potentially line the pockets) of entrepreneurs and VCs this holiday season. And no wonder that both groups are generally optimistic going into the new year.
Here’s a look back at the top deals we tracked this year, those companies that announced $10 million or more in Washington and Oregon. We broke the list down by month, and you can see that things really heated up this quarter.
December
Company: Cyanogen, Seattle
Sector: Mobile
Funding: $22 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Tencent.
GeekWire story: Andreessen Horowitz leads $22M series B round for mobile OS-maker Cyanogen
Company: DreamBox Learning, Bellevue
Sector: Education
Funding: $14.5 million from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, GCV Capital, venture capitalists John Doerr and Deborah Quazzo, and two undisclosed Seattle education philanthropists.
GeekWire story: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, VC John Doerr invest $14.5M in DreamBox Learning
Company: Chef, Seattle
Sector: Enterprise software
Funding: $32 million from Scale Venture Partners, Citi Ventures, Battery Ventures, DFJ, Ignition Partners and Amplify Partners.
GeekWire story: Fast-growing IT automation startup Opscode raises $32M, changes name to Chef
Company: Juno Therapeutics, Seattle
Sector: Life sciences
Funding: $120 million from Arch Venture Partners and the Alaska Permanent Fund.
GeekWire story: Cancer research startup Juno Therapeutics raises $120M in massive series A financing
Company: Blaze Bioscience, Seattle
Sector: Life Sciences
Funding: $19 million cumulative investment in 2013.
GeekWire story: Tumor paint startup Blaze Bioscience raises $9M to help surgeons pinpoint cancer cells
November
Company: AudienceScience, Bellevue
Sector: Advertising
Funding: $16.7 million
GeekWire story: Digital marketing firm AudienceScience lands funding
Company: CreativeLive, Seattle and San Francisco
Sector: Education
Funding: $21.5 million from Social+Capital Partnership and Greylock Partners.
GeekWire story: CreativeLive lands $21.5M, looks to upend online learning with live broadcasts
Company: Redfin, Seattle
Sector: Real estate
Funding: $50 million from Tiger Global Management, T. Rowe Price Associates, Greylock Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, DFJ Venture Capital, Vulcan Capital and The Hillman Company.
GeekWire story: Documents: Redfin raising $50M funding round in major new step for online real estate company
Company: 2nd Watch, Seattle and Liberty Lake, WA
Sector: Cloud computing
Funding: $23 million from Columbia Capital and Madrona Venture Group.
GeekWire story: 2nd Watch lands $23 million, assists businesses with cloud migration to Amazon Web Services
October
Company: Immune Design, Seattle
Sector: Life sciences
Funding: $32.5 million from The Column Group, Topspin Partners, Alta Partners, Versant Ventures, Osage Partners and ProQuest Investment.
GeekWire story: Cancer research startup Immune Design pulls in $32.5 million, plans to raise more
Company: Kona Medical, Bellevue
Sector: Life Sciences
Funding: $10 million from Morningside Group.
GeekWire story: Kona Medical raises $10M to reduce high blood pressure for people in China
August
Company: Jama Software, Portland
Sector: Enterprise Software
Funding: $13 million from Trinity Venture Partners and Madrona Venture Group.
GeekWire story: After adding more than 600 customers, Portland’s Jama lands $13M in first VC round
July
Company: Kymeta, Redmond
Sector: Communications
Funding: $50 million from Bill Gates, Lux Capital, Liberty Global, Osage University Partners and The Kresge Foundation.
GeekWire story: Satellite communications startup Kymeta lands $50M from Bill Gates, others
June
Sector: Enterprise Software
Funding: $18 million from OpenView Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures and Frazier Technology Partners.
GeekWire story: Socrata lands $18 million, continuing mission to unlock troves of government data
Company: FiftyThree, Seattle and New York
Sector: Hardware and software
Funding: $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Highline Ventures, Thrive Capital, SV Angels and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
GeekWire story: Microsoft Courier vets score $15M from Andreessen Horowitz to expand beyond blockbuster iPad app Paper
Company: SpaceCurve, Seattle
Sector: Software
Funding: $10 million from Triage Ventures, Reed Elsevier Ventures and Divergent Ventures.
GeekWire story: Big data startup SpaceCurve lands $10 million
Company: TalentWise, Bothell
Sector: Internet
Funding: $25 million.
GeekWire story: TalentWise spins off from Naveen Jain’s Inome with $25M from mysterious backer
Company: Optimum Energy, Seattle
Sector: Software/Clean Tech
Funding: $12.2 million from Navitas Capital and Columbia Pacific Advisors.
GeekWire story: Optimum Energy heats up with $12.2M to intelligently adjust temperature settings in buildings
May
Company: Cardeas Pharma, Seattle
Sector: Life Sciences
Funding: $34 million from H.I.G. BioVentures, Novo A/S, Avalon Ventures, Devon Park Bioventures and WRF Capital.
GeekWire story: Bruce Montgomery biotech startup Cardeas Pharma raises $34 million
Company: AVA.ai, Bellingham
Sector: Online tools
Funding: $16 million from Kennet Partners.
GeekWire story: Virtual assistant startup lands $16 million to help sales pros cultivate hot leads
Company: Apptio, Bellevue
Sector: Enterprise Software
Funding: $45 million from Janus Capital, The Hillman Company, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Shasta Ventures and T. Rowe Price Associates.
GeekWire story: Apptio raises $45 million at a hefty valuation, plans to accelerate ‘on all fronts’
Company: Donuts, Bellevue.
Sector: Domain Names
Funding: $10M+ from Generation Partners and Columbia Partners Private Capital.
GeekWire story: Donuts raises more cash in quest to control hundreds of domain name extensions
March
Company: Theraclone Sciences, Seattle
Sector: Life Sciences
Funding: $14 million from ARCH Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, MPM Capital, Healthcare Ventures, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Amgen Ventures, Versant Ventures and Zenyaku Kogyo.
GeekWire story: Theraclone raises $14M to ID rare human antibodies that could be used to fight disease
February
Company: Julep, Seattle
Sector: E-commerce/Retail
Funding: $10 million from Andreessen Horowitz. Maveron, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, Lady Gaga’s Manager Troy Carter, Version One Ventures and a venture firm funded in part by actors Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.
GeekWire story: Andreessen Horowitz, Jay-Z’s VC firm invest $10M in cosmetics startup Julep
Company: Urban Airship, Portland
Sector: Mobile
Funding: $25 million from August Capital, Foundry Group, Intel Capital, True Ventures, Founder’s Co-op and Verizon.
GeekWire story: Mobile marketing startup Urban Airship lands $25M
January
Company: Janrain, Portland
Sector: Online Tools
Funding: $33 million from Millennium Technology Value Partners, Salesforce.com, Epic Ventures, DFJ Frontier and others.
GeekWire Story: Janrain lands $33 million for social sign-in technology
Company: Puppet Labs, Portland
Sector: Enterprise Software
Funding: $30 million from VMware
Story: Pulling the right strings: Puppet Labs lands $30 million investment from VMware (Via Silicon Florist)
Company: MicroGreen Polymers, Arlington, WA
Sector: Clean Tech
Funding: $10 million+ (cumulatively throughout the year) from the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians
GeekWire Story: Indian tribe backs Microgreen Polymers, will use environmentally-friendly cups and trays at casino
