$285 million in VC funds pours into Colorado
James Paton, Rocky Mountain News
Monday, July 23, 2007
Colorado companies, led by Boulder-based FreeWave Technologies, racked up a banner quarter in attracting venture capital investments, a report to be released today shows.
About $285 million in funding poured into Colorado companies during the second quarter in 22 separate deals, according to the study by Ernst & Young and Dow Jones VentureOne.
To put that in perspective, companies across the state received $134 million a quarter, on average, over the two previous years. The average number of deals in that period is 14 a quarter.
In the largest transaction nationwide, FreeWave received $113 million from TA Associates, Ernst & Young said.
"Even if you take that deal out, you still have $172 million being invested by VCs, and that's a very strong quarter," said Mike Schoenfeld, Ernst & Young's venture capital advisory group leader.
Other notable Colorado transactions included a $25 million investment in Windsor-based Ice Energy and an $18 million round for ARCA Discovery of Denver.
The state saw six separate deals in the quarter valued at more than $10 million.
"And they're hitting diverse industries, which is nice to see," Schoenfeld said.
Across the U.S., venture investments increased 8 percent to $7.4 billion from a year ago, while the deal count climbed to 717, the highest volume since 2001, Ernst & Young found.
Health care companies are getting almost a third of all venture dollars.
The quarterly report concluded that more money is going to companies in later stages of fundraising.
Biggest Colorado VC deals in the second quarter
FreeWave Technologies $113 million
Ice Energy $25 million
ARCA Discovery $18 million
Me.dium $15 million
Zolo Technologies $13 million
BaroFold $12 million
patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2544
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