Venture capital investments into Colorado dropped sharply in the first quarter from the fourth but remained on par with the amounts seen in early 2014.
Venture capital firms invested $115.6 million in 23 Colorado deals in the first three months of the year, according to The MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, or NVCA.
That contrasts with , which was the best quarter for funding since 2001. A year earlier, venture capitalists pumped $114.3 million into two dozen deals.
Nationally, venture capital investors placed $13.4 billion in 1,020 deals, a 10 percent drop from the dollar volume recorded in the fourth quarter.
Venture capitalists, however, showed a greater risk tolerance and directed more money into younger companies that often were shunned since the recession.
“Last quarter, it was great to see healthy first-time funding levels and that the majority of deals were seed and early-stage,” NVCA president and CEO Bobby Franklin said in a statement.
Software firms were clearly the first-quarter favorite in Colorado, garnering 70 cents of every $1 venture capitalist funneled into the state.
The largest investment, $17 million, went to Denver network security firm ProtectWise. Investors included Arsenal Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital, Paladin Capital Management and Trinity Ventures.
Aventura HQ Inc., also of Denver, received $13.3 million in expansion-stage funding for its health care and clinical software.
Denver-based Welltok Inc., developer of the CafeWell Health Optimization Platform, received $12 million from a group of seven investors.
TerraLUX Inc. of Longmont, a maker of LED lighting, received nearly $11 million in late-stage funding.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi
