Socal venture funding bumps up

The April-June quarter brought investments of about $1.6 billion in Southern California, according to socalTECH.com. That's up from $1.4 billion in the previous three months and $1 billion in the second quarter of 2009. Biotech investments led the way, at $242 million, followed by energy ($190 million) and medical devices ($128 million).

The most active investors in the region, by number of investments, were the Tech Coast Angels (9 tracked deals); followed by clean tech investor Angeleno Investors (3 deals). Other active firms included Bessemer Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Palomar Ventures, Clearstone Venture Partners, Domain Associates, The Westly Group, Life Science Angels, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Idealab, Versant Ventures, Anthem Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and First Round Capital.

PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association, and VentureOne will release their quarterly results later this month that will have a more detailed breakout of activity in Southern California. But socalTECH notes that those numbers usually differ due to the sources of information and other factors. Remember most of the venture firms are not bound to release their investments - and some do not.