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Venture capital funding arrived for lucky few in Florida in latest quarter

 
Among the six deals in the state in the latest quarter, biotech firm Sancilio & Co. in Riviera Beach captured $20 million of the $36 million committed.
Among the six deals in the state in the latest quarter, biotech firm Sancilio & Co. in Riviera Beach captured $20 million of the $36 million committed.
Published Oct. 17, 2014

Venture capitalists invested $9.9 billion in 1,023 deals nationwide in the third quarter of 2014. Although that's a 27 percent drop from the second quarter of the year, 2014 totals thus far have eclipsed those for all of 2013.

In Florida, VC investing dropped to $36.8 million among just six deals in the third quarter. That's down 67 percent from the second quarter's investing of nearly $114 million in 13 deals in the state. The numbers come from MoneyTree data compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.

"Despite the drop in VC dollars in the third quarter, we continue to see a healthy level of investing," said Mark McCaffrey, global software leader and technology partner at PwC. "Investments are on pace to surpass $40 billion in 2014."

Florida's outlook looks less rosy. Venture capitalists have advanced just $232.3 million in the first three quarters of 2014. They would have to invest more than $193 million in the fourth quarter — a large sum for Florida not seen in the fourth quarter since the "dot-com" boom of 2000 — just to match the state's 2013 total of venture capital.

Among the six deals in the state in the latest quarter, biotech firm Sancilio & Co. in Riviera Beach captured $20 million of the $36 million committed. Informed Medical Decisions said this summer that its InformedDNA business (a provider network of genetic specialists) in downtown St. Petersburg received $4.5 million from Zaffre Investments, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Contact Robert Trigaux at rtrigaux@tampabay.com.