But a big boost actually came in the first quarter, with a previously overlooked $161 million equity investment into Boulder health care company SomaLogic.
The by China’s iCarbonX occurred in January and was later confirmed by . SomaLogic, which developed a new way to measure proteins to help monitor a person’s health, employs 200 people, according to Fintan Steele, the company’s Chief of Corporate Communications.
PwC adjusted its to show Colorado ended first quarter with 45 deals and $515.3 million, the state’s most lucrative quarter since third quarter 2012.
During the second quarter, which ended June 30, venture capital found its way to fewer Colorado companies — 31 for a total of $170 million, according to PwC. Top deals, according to PwC, included Boulder robotic toy maker million; Denver cybersecurity firm ; and $13 million for SyncHR; a of human resources software.
Combined, the first two quarters had 76 Colorado companies attracting $685.3 million in funding, nearly the same amount for the entire 2016, which pulled in $688.8 million.
“For the first two quarters of 2017, venture capital investing in Colorado companies nearly outpaced the investing levels of all of 2016,” said Rob Ward, a PwC partner. “Colorado saw a ‘mega-round’ deal during the first half of 2017 which it hasn’t seen in several years. We continue to see strength in the interest in Colorado companies and their innovation; including cyber security, robotics and mixed reality to name a few.”
Nationwide, venture deals jumped 28 percent to $18.4 billion, compared to the first quarter, thanks to 31 “mega-rounds” of $100 million or more. The number of deals, however, dropped 4 percent to 1,152 since the first quarter.
