Orange County’s top venture capital firms combined to invest $79 million in local companies last year, a 60% increase from a year earlier.
This week’s Business Journal list features eight firms with headquarters or significant operations here. It ranks the entries by dollar amounts invested in OC companies and includes other information, such as the firms’ overall funds under management and numbers of employees.
Three firms said they increased local investments, while three other firms reported decreases. One firm said its 2013 investment amount was zero, unchanged from 2012. Figures for one other firm are based on estimates.
• The collective increase was carried by Versant Venture Management LLC, which kept its No. 1 place with a more than 150% increase in local investments.
The healthcare-focused investor put $59.2 million in OC companies last year, up from $22.9 million a year earlier. Discounting Versant would have led to a 25% drop in combined investment dollars.
Versant, which has about $1.6 billion in funds under management, is based in Menlo Park and has an office in Newport Beach. Local operations are headed by William Link, a managing director and cofounder.
Versant didn’t disclose the number of deals it made last year. Its announced transactions include co-leading a $4.7 million funding round for Aliso Viejo-based Inceptus Medical LLC and participating in a $30 million round for Laguna Hills-based Glaukos Corp.
Versant began raising its fifth fund last year with the aim of reaching $250 million. It also set up a Vancouver office late last year, investing $10 million in a drug developer there.
• No. 2, Irvine-based Sail Capital Partners, invested $14.5 million in OC companies last year, down 22% from 2012.
It has $250 million in funds under management, unchanged from a year earlier, and eight employees here, down from 10.
• Corona del Mar-based Miramar Venture Partners invested $4 million in OC companies last year, a 25% increase over the prior year. The money was spread across five deals, up by one. The firm’s overall funds under management also increased by 12% to $140 million.
Miramar focuses on businesses in the medical technology, cloud computing and digital media sectors. It’s also been actively investing through its recently established Miramar Digital Ventures, which focuses exclusively on mobile Internet startups, said Managing Director Bruce Hallett.
“We have already placed seed-stage investments in six different companies ranging from a mobile workforce management company to a company started by a Google alum that is building a recommendation engine for new Android [applications],” Hallett said. “We have four more seed deals in the works—two are in OC and are being led by a couple of our top serial entrepreneurs.”
Miramar’s 2013 OC investments included funding for Predixion Software in San Juan Capistrano and Brand Affinity Technologies in Irvine. It also invested in Welltok Inc., a healthcare-focused social media platform with operations in Orange County and Denver that’s also backed by Laguna Beach-based Okapi Venture Capital.
• Okapi, run by cofounders Marc Averitt and Sharon Stevenson, manages $47 million. It focuses on the biotechnology, healthcare and software sectors, among others, and invested $635,000 in OC last year, down about 80% year-over-year. The number of local deals increased from two to four.
• Irvine-based MedFocus Family of Funds ranked No. 5, with $401,500 in local investments last year, down from $1.3 million in 2012. The fund’s overall capital under management increased by 2% to $22.5 million.
“This decrease is due to the timing of funding needs of our Orange County portfolio companies,” said Vice President Tracy Pearson.
MedFocus’ current investments here include Ellipse Technologies Inc. and MiCardia Corp., both in Irvine.
MedFocus Principal Manager Michael Henson said the investment field for medical technology companies “has been difficult for the past three to four years,” though there’s been some stabilization more recently.
Still, “the uncertainties surrounding the regulatory processes and financing environment remain major obstacles,” he said.
• Rancho Santa Margarita-based Ventana Capital Management LLC has $67 million under management, up 34% year-over-year. It said it made no OC investments last year.
The firm is headed by Managing Partner Thomas Gephart and also has offices in Washington, D.C., and China.
The Business Journal excluded TGV Partners and Palomar Ventures, which were on last year’s list based on their plans to liquidate and wind down their operations, respectively.
