DJX VentureSource has released its Q4 2015 venture capital report, which tracks investments into companies that have received at least one round of venture funding. Chicago’s $553.8 million VC dollars invested in Q4 2015 increased significantly from the $440.2 million raised in Q4 2014. There were 19 investment rounds in Q4 2015, a decrease from 24 rounds in Q4 2014.

2015 marks a notable year for investment in Chicago, with a total of $970.2 million invested. This is a 9% increase from to 2014, when investment totaled $893.7 million. The total number of rounds, however, decreased by -25%, with 68 rounds in 2015 compared to 91 in 2014.¹

The following two charts display Chicago’s performance in Q4 and annually from 2011 to 2015.

The following charts compare Chicago’s fourth quarter 2015 performance with other select metro areas, followed by lists of major VC deals, investors, IPOs and M&As in Chicago and across the U.S.²

Major VC Deals in Chicago, Q4 2015

• Avant Inc., Business and Financial Services ($325M)
• Uptake Technologies, Information Technology ($45M)
• Insureaon Inc., Business and Financial Services ($31M)
• Reverb LLC, Consumer Services ($25M)
• Dose Media LLC, Consumer Services ($25M)

Active Investors in Chicago, Q4 2015

• KGC Capital (2 deals)
• MK Capital (2)
• Pritzker Group Venture Capital (2)

Major VC Deals in the U.S., Q4 2015

• Uber Technologies Inc., Consumer Services ($2,100M)
• Lyft Inc., Consumer Services ($1,000M)
• Jet.com Inc., Consumer Services ($350M)
• Avant Inc., Business and Financial Services ($325M)
• Sunnova Energy Corp., Energy and Utilities ($300M)
• Pharmaron Inc., Healthcare ($280M)
• Tenable Network Security Inc., Information Technology ($250M)
• HotChalk Inc., Consumer Services ($230M)
• Flatiron Health Inc., Healthcare ($175M)
• AliphCom Inc., Information Technology ($165M)

Active Investors in the U.S., Q4 2015

• New Enterprise Associates Inc. (25 deals)
• Sequoia Capital (14)
• General Catalyst Partners (14)
• Google Ventures (14)
• Khosla Ventures (13)
• Andreessen Horowitz (13)
• Innovation Works Inc.  (11)
• Bessemer Venture Partners  (11)
• Accel Partners  (11)
• OrbiMed Advisors LLC  (10)
• Greycroft Partners  (10)
• Formation8 Partners LLC  (10)

Top IPOs in the U.S., Q4 2015

• Pure Storage Inc., Mountain View, CA, Information Technology ($425M)
• Square Inc., San Francisco, CA, Business and Financial Services ($231M)
• Edge Therapeutics Inc., Healthcare ($80M)

Top M&As in the U.S., Q4 2015

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Company acquisition of Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Chapel Hill , NC, Healthcare ($2,075M)
• Digital Bridge Holdings acquisition of ExteNet Systems Inc., Lisle, IL Information Technology ($1,400M)
• Cisco Systems acquisition of Lancope Inc., Alpharetta, GA, Information Technology ($453M)

¹ Alternate sources (CB Insights, CrunchBase, PitchBook, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, etc.) have various methods for collecting and tracking venture capital data, resulting in disparate figures.
² Lists are not exhaustive.

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 reflects equity financing, including cash investments into companies that have received at least one round of venture funding, and does 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.

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