Good quarter for Socal venture capital activity

Southern California companies raised $739 million in the second quarter, according to data from Thomson Reuters, a 26 percent jump from the previous three months but a 13.7 percent drop from a year earlier. Of the Socal total, OC companies led fundraising, at $319.3 million. L.A. had $222.5 million, and San Diego $198.2 million. These numbers tend to bounce around a lot, depending on what deals happen to be done in any given quarter. Still, it's an interesting look at the types of companies that are getting funded these days. From Socaltech.com:

Southern California's biggest investment sectors in the quarter were Biotechnology ($173.8M); Medical Devices and Equipment ($168.3M); and Industrial/Energy investment ($123.0M). The largest investments for the quarter in Southern California were for Fisker Automotive, which raised $115M in the quarter; and Cameron Health, which raised $107M in funding. Both of those fundings significantly boosted the totals for Orange County. Other large deals included $40M in funding from ShoeDazzle, the celebrity-and-ecommerce startup headed by Brian Lee, former CEO of Legalzoom; $50M for biotech startup Sangart in San Diego; and $25M for clean technology firm Transphorm, which is based in Goleta.

The most active investors in Socal companies were Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Versant Ventures, with four deals each.