News Item
04.20.2015
$104.8M VC invested in Chicago in Q1 2015
This morning, DJX VentureSource released its Q1 2015 venture capital report, which tracks investments into companies that have received at least one round of venture funding. Chicago’s $104.8 million VC dollars invested in Q1 2015 decreased slightly from the $112.5 million raised in Q1 2014. There were 11 investment rounds in Q1 2015, a decrease from 13 in Q1 2014.
The following charts compare Chicago’s first quarter 2015 performance with other select metro areas, followed by major VC deals, investors, IPOs and M&As in Chicago and across the U.S. (not exhaustive).
Major VC Deals in Chicago, Q1 2015
- Raise Marketplace Inc. ($56.0M)
- Livongo Health Inc. ($20.0M)
- BucketFeet Inc. ($7.5M)
- Options Away Inc. ($3.5M)
- Thinkcerca.com Inc. ($3.2M)
Active Investors in Chicago, Q1 2015
- OCA Ventures (2 deals)
- Pritzker Group Venture Capital (2)
- Great Oaks Venture Capital LLC (2)
- Hyde Park Venture Partners (2)
Major VC Deals in the U.S., Q1 2015
- Space Exploration Technologies Corp. ($1.0B)
- Lyft Inc. ($530.0M)
- Moderna LLC ($450.0M)
- United Surgical Partners International Inc. ($425.0M)
- Pinterest Inc. ($367.1M)
- Relativity Media LLC ($250.0M)
- Imaging Advantage LLC ($250.0M)
- DraftKings Inc. ($250.0M)
- Social Finance Inc. ($213.0M)
- Snapchat Inc. ($200.0M)
Active Investors in the U.S., Q1 2015
- New Enterprise Associates (29 deals)
- Andreessen Horowitz (22)
- First Round Capital (20)
- Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (17)
- Accel Partners (16)
- Sequoia Capital (15)
- Google Ventures (14)
- General Catalyst Partners (13)
- Bessemer Venture Partners (13)
- SV Angel (12)
- Redpoint Ventures (12)
- Great Oaks Venture Capital LLC (12)
- Khosla Ventures (12)
- Formation8 Partners LLC (12)
- Atlas Venture (12)
Top IPOs in the U.S., Q1 2015
- Box Inc., Los Altos, CA, Data Management ($175.0M)
- Spark Therapeutics Inc., Philadelphia, PA, Biotechnology Therapeutics ($161.0M)
- Invitae Corp., San Francisco, CA, Medical/Lab Services ($101.6M)
Top M&As in the U.S., Q1 2015
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company acquisition of Flexus Biosciences Inc., San Carlos, CA ($1,250.0M)
- Under Armour acquisition of MyFitnessPal Inc., San Francisco, CA ($475.0M)
- C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. acquisition of Freightquote.com Inc., Lenexa, KS ($365.0M)
The investment figures included in this release are based on aggregate findings of Dow Jones’ proprietary research collected through surveys of professional firms, interviews with company executives, and from secondary sources. Information reflections equity financing, including cash investments into companies that have received at least one round of venture funding, and do not include companies receiving funding solely from corporate, individual and/or government investors. Figures are subject to change. For more information, please refer to the DJX VentureSource website.
Chaired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, World Business Chicago is the public-private partnership leading the Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs in order to drive business development, cultivate talent, and put Chicago at the forefront of the global economy.
WBC’s “Economic Briefs” track indicators from month to month to gauge the strength of several aspects of Chicago’s economy, including unemployment, population, venture capital, job openings and new hires, home sales, tourism, etc. This data provides a clear analytic framework for specific Plan strategies and initiatives. For a summary of these and other economic indicators, refer to WBC’s monthly Chicago By The Numbers.
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