San Diego is on a roll!
After finishing 2020 by raising a record high of over $4.9 Billion, San Diego startups have closed the first quarter of 2021 by raising a blistering $2.4 Billion.
This total is doubly impressive when considering that just a few years ago, San Diego county was collectively raising less than $2 Billion in a calendar year.

Lastly, I’d like to touch on early stage funding. At this year’s Venture Outlook, David Coats noted that in 2020, the percentage dollars invested into early stage companies dropped to 17% nationally, down from the historical amount of 23%. This parallels the struggles that we at Connect witnessed throughout the course of last year. When our nation went into lockdown, large and later stage deals seemed to explode, while early stage deals screeched to a halt. While these early stage deals seemed to recover their frequency by the end of the year, there was no way to catch up for that lost time. As we’ve all adapted to the challenges of remote work and investors have become more willing to invest in founders and teams that they haven’t met in person, we hope that San Diego can continue this funding momentum throughout the remainder of this year and establish a new record for annual funding!
We at Connect are excited to be currently selecting this year’s class of Cool Companies and can’t wait to share them and their stories with all of you!

Matt Kroe
Capital Programs Manager
Matt Kroe leads the production of the San Diego Innovation Report each year, and reports innovation company fundings and M&As in the region.