Venture capital raised for startup companies hit new highs for the midway mark of 2019, and Florida was among the states with increased deal dollars.
Florida saw a swell in venture capital dollars raised from April to June, with South Florida companies making up nearly half, according to the second-quarter MoneyTree Report on venture capital.
The state had 22 deals worth $743 million during the quarter, compared with 24 deals worth $119 million in the same period in 2018. Mid-year, Florida has already reached $904 million, compared with $630 million a year ago.
South Florida companies raised $408 million of those dollars. Those that attracted the big bucks were:
Plantation-based Magic Leap, maker of a wearable computer, snagged $280 million from a Japan-based cell phone company. The company has a raised a total of $2.3 billion from some of the world's largest companies including Google and Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, and the Public Investment Fund, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia.
Miami-based companies TissueTech, a biotech company in Miami, raised more than $82 million in the quarter; and CareCloud, a cloud-based healthcare business management company, $33 million. And Delray Beach-based SunWave Platform, a platform created for addition treatment centers, raised $6 million.
Magic Leap was second in Florida for the quarter by KnowBe4, a Clearwater-based internet security company that raised $300 million.
Venture capital is on track to reach record levels this year, according to MoneyTree's producers, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and CB Insights. Nationally, deal funding increased 10% and transaction activity 3 percent, with $29 billion raised across 1,409 transactions, the report said.
"The last six months saw the largest total venture capital investment we've ever recorded for the first half of the year," said Tom Ciccolella, U.S. venture capital leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
