The latest figures gathered by TECHdotMN show that the volume of dollars invested into Minnesota tech ventures doubled year over year, from $60m in 2010 to over $126m in 2011, respectively.

This data includes IT, Web, Mobile, SaaS and hardware companies reporting investment rounds in excess of $25,000 and does not account for unreported or undisclosed transactions.

Notable deals of the year include Ability Network’s $27m round, Cima NanoTech’s $15m D round, 8thBridge’s $10m series B, RedBrick Health’s $5.7m raise, and TST Media’s $3.5m Series B. All in all, 63 unique companies raised capital throughout 2011.

The increase in funding can be attributed in part to The Minnesota Angel Investment Tax Credit as 2011 was the first full year of the tax credit, which was approved in April, 2010. True to its name, the credit aims to benefit angel investors and spur early activity rather vs. large institutional funds. The state’s 2011 tax credits were fully allocated, and $12m has been earmarked for the 2012 tax credit.

2012 looks equally bright for Minnesota as Code 42’s $52.5m investment round announced earlier this month points to another annual rise in overall funding and continued growth in Minnesota.  Below is the quarter to quarter data from 2011:

$38m raised; 21 startups Q1

$35m raised; 19 startups Q2

$34m raised;  24 startups Q3

$19.5m raised; 28 raised Q4:

“Code 42 Software, a Minnesota-based online backup company for consumers, businesses and the enterprise, has raised $52.5 million in funding led by Accel Partners with participation from Split Rock Partners.

This is the first major investment from Accel’s recently announced Big Data Fund, which is dedicated to funding infrastructure and application companies in “Big Data.” This is the first round of institutional investing for Code 42.”

Read More…

(Radically patient)

(full press release)

Founded in 1998, Datacom develops, markets and supports fully-integrated, web-based enterprise ERP, CRM, Accounting, and Supply Chain Management software. The company’s flagship suite, dataSTOR, is targeted at small/mid-sized manufacturers; dataSIGN is customized for sign makers and dataFAB serves metal fabricators.

A historical look reveals that the firm had previously raised close to $1m in 1998.

Inspired by Thunderbird Angels, an Arizona investment network affiliated with the Thurderbird School of Global Management (David’s alma mater), the husband and wife duo have their sights set on formally organizing a small yet diverse group of accredited Minnesota angel investors.  Gopher Angels is not a fund of pooled capital, rather a network of structure, collaboration, and leverage.

“We see both the need and the opportunity,” says Sara. “This is our next endeavor,” David adds, describing their own entrepreneurial past, which includes Bagster, a novel disposal business they started in 2005 and sold to Waste Management two years ago.

“Our backgrounds are strong in many areas, but not all…if there’s one thing we know, it’s that surrounding yourself with smart people can make all the difference.  In this sense, we realize how active the tech startup community is here and are recruiting accredited investors with a strong IT/SaaS and similar knowledge base who want exposure to quality dealflow plus a team capable of co-investing.”

Gopher Angels intends to have 10 members ready in January to start looking at deals by February.   From there, they see room for up to 30 accredited investors to join by the end of 2012.  Some of the membership guidelines they’ve outlined include:

• Accredited investors as defined under SEC rule 501, Reg D
• Attendance of regular screening and diligence meetings
• $950/year membership fee for social and overhead expenses
• Expectation of investing a minimum of $50k over a two year period

“We’ll be working collaboratively with other angel groups, VC’s, educational institutions, entrepreneurial networks and others who are passionate about seeing more investment activity in Minnesota startups,” said David, who can be reached by email at: david.russick@russickgroup.com

The program, created in May, 2010, offers qualified angels (and funds) — whether from Minnesota or not — with a 25% refundable tax credit on investments made towards certified local startups.

At the half, roughly 17 tech companies had seen some $5.5m in investment capital through the program, with approximately .75 cents on every dollar going into ‘high tech’ ventures (IT, SaaS, web, mobile, telecom, etc.) at the time.

With this new data made available,  many startups have gained under AITC since we last looked:

3D Sports Ventures + $220K

Accelerated Innovations + $1m

Anser Innovation + $140k

Argos Risk + $450k

AsystMe + $67.5k

AtPlayMusic (stealth) – $187.5k

Brilliant Nations Corp. (Brilliant Cities) – 73k

Conservis + $170k

Early Learning Labs – $100k

Echobit + $50k

ForMyChildren (stealth) + $22.5k

HSIO Technologies – $1.5m

Instant Wireless Interpretation + $71k

Jericho Ventures (stealth) – $325k

LocaLoop + $208.5k

Midart Communications + $50k

Nitch – $50k

Packet Power + $225k

Seeonic + $125k

Vizsy – $160k

(+) denotes increased amounts (-) represents new additions to the list

Formed in 2007, the company leverages various proprietary technology tools to provide on demand networks of independent electronics field service technicians to enterprise level customers throughout North America. Field Solutions maintains a database of more than 22,000 technicians, according the the website.

Led by CEO Mac Lewis (right), FieldSolutions has been reporting strong growth in recent years, beefed up management and since expanded international footprint into Mexico.

FieldSolutions announced closing $1.5m first round led by StarTec last August and then went on to see $3.5m more in October; when combined, the firms total capitalization would be $7m.

The amended SEC filing also notes an increase the size of the target round, from $500k to $900k.

DelaGet’s proprietary software collects data at over 75 points of integration for 7,000 international multi-unit restaurants from 20,000 POS devices daily, according to the rather intuitive website.  This “normalized and stored” data then powers real time reports, loss prevention and payroll insights from the store level to the headquarters for operators and executives.

Naiku was launched earlier this year by Thompson,  Adisack Nhouyvanisvong and Kevin Sampers to provide automated formative and summative assessment solutions that give teachers information to help students achieve their academic goals.  Students can use their mobile devices (laptops, netbooks, iPads, iPods or Android) in place of traditional analog tests, saving valuable classroom time while improving measurability.

Between Project Skyway, the Minnesota Cup and TEKNE, Naiku has experienced strong validation and support from the Minnesota tech community throughout the year. The software is currently deployed throughout 12 districts that touch over 40,000 k-12 students across the state and regional expansion appears imminent.

“You hear a lot about how hard it can be to fundraise in Minnesota, and being our first time, we definitely found it to be a wild ride. In retrospect, the money came when our business was ready,” Thompson said from their new permanent home in CoCo Minneapolis.

Congratulations to Naiku on this milestone and extra kudos for working on problems that matter. For more on this entrepreneurial trio, check out the TECHdotMN TV interview.

Minneapolis startup enStratus has secured $3.5m in series A funding according to a fresh SEC filing.

enStratus is a cloud infrastructure management platform for enterprise-class applications in public/private clouds. The firm has a patented security architecture and an intelligent auto-recovery engine.  Growing steadily since 2009 launch, they’ve recruiting some big names in the industry to support strong domestic and international growth.

This disclosure clearly names Jeff Hinck from El Dorado Ventures, a Minneapolis/Sand Hill Road VC, and Vesbridge was also in on the deal.  In August, Hinck led on TST Media’s equal sized A round, which he elaborated on in a recent interview.

“We are excited about enStratus and the opportunity to help bring enterprise-level cloud management and governance to their customers,” Hinck said in a press release. “The enStratus solution, as well as a proven management team, were key factors in our decision to lead this round and we are confident in their continued success.

Hardcore Computer’s technology was originally introduced to the market in 2008, followed by liquid submerged blade servers in spring 2010,and has since expanded to three unique product lines:

• LSS 200 liquid submerged server – desribed as “the world’s first rack-mountable server with total liquid submersion technology – delivering savings and sustainability to the enterprise.”

• Reactor X – a specialty PC targeted towards console gamers.

• Detonator - a workstation for those “professionals who demand exceptional speed, versatility and rock-solid stability,” such as high frequency traders.

The company has seen an estimated $6.5m in capitalization since 2006 inception, and it’s confirmed that their latest effort was successful ($1.5m).  Earlier this year, it was announced that Sun Microsystems co founder Scott McNealy had become an advisor.

Hardcore maintains approximately 30 employees and at least six patents. “We effectively own the submersion cooling market,” co founder and CTO Chad Attlesey was quoted as saying in an interview.

Hardcore computer declined to comment on this article.