Breaking Records Year After Year
Our San Diego startup ecosystem continues to break venture capital records with investment into San Diego County already outpacing all of 2020 by over $2.6B, with two months still left in the year. In total, San Diego County companies have raised over $6.5B in venture capital funding through Q3 2021, and $7.8B to date (10/29/21) this year.
It seems that every time I write about San Diego venture funding, the county has just broken a new funding record, which I might have found repetitive to report on if the news wasn’t so incredibly impressive!
So far this year, Connect has identified 23 funding rounds in excess of $100M, with 20 of those deals being completed through Q3.
We were disappointed to find that starting this year, CB Insights would no longer be tracking San Diego venture funding alongside the other metros that they cover, but Connect is happy to pick up the slack and share how our local region compares to a few of the other metropolitan areas.
According to CB Insights State of Venture Report, venture funding through Q3 2021 is as follows: Miami has raised $2.4B, Atlanta has raised $3.1B, Denver has raised $3.1B, Austin has raised $3.8B, the DC Metro Area has raised $4.3B, Seattle has raised $4.7B, and Chicago has raised $4.9B. It’s exciting to see San Diego’s success in comparison to the others. The annual funding totals, including 2021 data through Q3, can be seen in the graph to the right.
In addition to the eight deals identified in our Q1 Venture Roundup, the following companies have completed funding rounds of over $100M: Tyra Biosciences, Janux Therapeutics, Classy, Boundless Bio, Cue Health, RayzeBio, Element Biosciences, Netra Dyna, Genomatica, Wiliot, Seismic, Shield AI, and Lycia Therapeutics. Already in Q4 – Vuori, Flock Freight, and ClickUp have each raised funding rounds in excess of $200M, over $1B collectively.
To date (data retrieved on Oct 29, 2021), Life Science companies have accounted for over 60% of all venture funding dollars invested in San Diego County while only being 46% of the deals completed. Growth stage funding rounds (defined by Connect as post Series A venture rounds) have accounted for over 72% of all venture dollars invested so far in 2021.
We can’t wait to see where San Diego’s total funding settles at the end of this year!
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.