Despite a year’s worth of articles bemoaning the condition of U.S. venture capital investing (see here and here and here), venture capital firms invested $21.8 billion nationally in 2010 (3,277 total investments), according to the National Venture Capital Association & PwC’s annual MoneyTree report.
This represents a 19% increase in dollars invested over 2009.
Minnesota’s 2010 story ends quite differently. Cross-sector startups raised a collective $140 million, marking a 48% drop from 2009, and the lowest Minnesota amount since the MoneyTree reporting began 15 years ago.
For 2010, TECHdotMN documents 42 unique high tech deals (IT, SaaS, web/mobile, digital media, hardware, telecom), totaling in excess of $60m invested in Minnesota-based technology companies throughout last year. Excluding Cymbet’s $31m round, 36 different ventures raised approximately $30m combined in 2010, or $857k per average round, according to the data.*
Through seed, angel, super angel, venture capital, and private equity transactions, we’ll be consistently updating Minnesota technology financings throughout 2011 as a permanent part of our capital section.
*Disclaimer: although this is the most comprehensive research and roundup of Minnesota high tech-only deals ever published — by no means is it complete or 100% accurate. Unreported deals, transactions of undisclosed terms, or in many cases, final closing amounts are not included. Consider the figures to represent a minimum; in some cases, dates are estimated. If anything was missed or mistake(s) made, drop a note below!
| Date | Type | Company | Amt. | Investor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNK | Equity | 3D Software and Systems | $1m | - |
| UNK | Equity | 3D Sports Technology | $275k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Cachet Financial Solutions | $2.025m | - |
| UNK | Equity | Conservis | $325k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Emprimus | $1m | - |
| UNK | Equity | Exosite | $75k | - |
| UNK | Equity | FlyingWord | $325k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Instant Wireless Interpretation | $185k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Inveni | $200k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Localoop | $112.5k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Packet Power | $250k | - |
| UNK | Equity | SaaSware Highway | $37k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Spyeworks | $500k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Xollai | $591k | - |
| 12/30 | Equity | DraftStreet | $1.125m | - |
| 12/29 | Equity | The Blind Squirrel | $525k | - |
| 12/20 | Equity | Bloom Health | $7.5m | Sandbox Industries |
| 12/13 | Equity | JobDig | $1m | - |
| 12/10 | M&A | Tyco closes ADC | $1.25B | - |
| UNK | Equity | Adestinn | $1m | - |
| UNK | Equity | Echobit | $95k | - |
| UNK | Equity | Itizen | $100k | - |
| 11/22 | Equity | Digiliti | $429k | - |
| 11/18 | Equity | Optimine | $900k | - |
| 10/18 | Equity | Ayrstone Productivity | $40k | - |
| 9/22 | Equity | MBioX | $50k | - |
| 8/19 | Equity | Geacom | $812k | - |
| 8/9 | Equity | BringMeTheNews | $1m | Dolan, PSB |
| 8/5 | Equity | FieldSolutions | $1.5m | Startec, et al. |
| 8/4 | Equity | Aveso | $1.04m | - |
| 7/23 | Equity | 3D Sports Technology | $50k | - |
| 7/12 | Equity | Zipnosis | $62k | - |
| 6/23 | Equity | DeaftStreet | $352k | - |
| 6/14 | Equity | CreateHealth | $1m | - |
| 5/27 | Equity | mPay Gateway | $1.5m | Appian, GRP, et al. |
| 5/26 | Equity | ProfitSee | $80k | - |
| 5/12 | Equity | Exosite | $300k | - |
| 4/23 | IPO | SPS Commerce | $49m | - |
| 4/16 | Equity | Cachet Financial | $165k | - |
| 4/11 | Equity | Hardcore Computer | $500k | Capital Midwest |
| 4/1 | Equity | Recon Robotics | $1.5m | - |
| 3/23 | Equity | Zipnosis | $200k | - |
| 3/22 | M&A | TDS aquires VISI | $7.8m | - |
| 2/19 | Equity | Indigo Identityware | $1.2m | - |
| 2/1 | Equity | Zencoder | $20k | Y Combinator |
| 1/25 | Equity | Cymbet | $31m | Perseus, Intel, TI |
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