Maryland, Virginia and the District raised a collective $215.7 million in venture funding in the third quarter, slipping from the $245.7 million raised in the same period last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s MoneyTree report.
The bulk of last quarter’s total came from six deals in the double-digit millions, led by the $50 million investment in Columbia, Md.-based Tenable Network Security Inc. by Accel Partners. The quarter saw a marginal boost from the three months prior, during which companies pulled in $206 million (or, $202 million, according to PWC’s updated data, which is sometimes revised slightly from quarter to quarter).
Tenable’s colossal round is part of a spurt of “growth” fundings, which tend to straddle the line between private equity and traditional venture. Also leading the crowd: Bethesda-based Telcare Inc.’s $25 million from Qualcomm Ventures and Sequoia Capital; Silver Spring-based Sonatype Inc.’s $25 million from Accel and others; Annapolis-based Zenoss Inc.’s $24.9 million round led by Summit Partners; Arlington-based GridPoint Inc.’s $23.3 million from undisclosed investors; and OriGene Technologies Inc.’s $15 million from IDG Capital Partners.
The data covers a larger geographical region than just D.C. and its suburbs, stretching as far as Baltimore and Martinsburg, W.Va. The top four capital-raising firms were all based in Maryland, and the District itself doesn’t even make the list until EverFi Inc.’s $8.5 million in reported Series B funding (The company had previously announced raising $10 million).
What’s especially striking about this list is the strength of both accelerator programs and state-affiliated investment groups on the seed funding stage. The enterprise software-focused accelerator, Acceleprise, logged five fundings, each at $30,000. The Maryland Technology Development Corp., or TEDCO, put cash into four startups, ranging from $46,000 to $75,000 apiece. Virginia’s CIT GAP Funds did five deals, each $100,000, and participated in a $1.74 million funding for BrightContext Corp. of Arlington. DreamIt Ventures, an accelerator program that has locations in New York, Austin and Philadelphia, wrote $20,000 checks for three companies.
