It’s a good time to be raising cash in tech land.
According to a report out today from Dow Jones VentureSource, the amount of venture capital dollars flowing to U.S. based companies surged 24 percent during the second quarter compared to the same period last year. In total, 1,043 deals attracted $19 billion. That was the biggest haul in at least three years.
Continuing a trend in the venture business, the number of deals actually declined slightly when compared to same period last year.
One reason for that is that very large financing deals — the so-called billion-dollar unicorn companies — are raising massive venture capital rounds.
For example, alternative lodging marketplace Airbnb raised $1.5 billion for the quarter — the largest recorded deal of the quarter. That’s far more than what comparable firms have raised in the public markets.
Valuations retreated a bit in the second quarter, compared to the previous quarter. But the $65 million median pre-money valuation for the second quarter was still way up compared to the $50 million pre-money valuation for the same period last year.
Business and financial services saw the most money, accounting for 30 percent of all dollars.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Bay Area attracted the most money as $9.2 billion flowed into 342 deals. New York saw $2.96 billion sunk into 141 deals, while the Boston area attracted $1.35 billion across 97 deals. The Seattle area ranked fifth in deals — with 34 — and fifth in dollars — with $444 million invested. That was up from $416 million in the second quarter of last year.
The biggest deals in Seattle included two in the healthcare and life sciences arena — Adaptive Biotechnologies, which raised $191 million, and Lee Hood’s Arivale, which raised $36 million.
Oregon saw 12 deals during the quarter, up from nine for the same period last year.