Investments into local startups from venture capitalists totaled about $100 million for the first quarter, with healthcare receiving the majority of the money.
The total was down from nearly $130 million invested in the same period last year, according to Dow Jones Venture Source.
The number of deals stayed at about a dozen compared to a year earlier.
About three-quarters of the new funding, or $73 million, was spent in five rounds of healthcare financing.
That’s not far from the $78 million spent on seven deals the same period last year.
Almost the quarter’s entire healthcare investing, or about $67 million, went into medical equipment and devices, such as Aliso Viejo-based LenSx Lasers and WaveTec Vision Systems, which both received about $20 million.
Medical software and information services received about $5.5 million in funding.
Two investments totaling $25 million went into communication and networking technology, making up almost all the rest of the funding for the quarter.
Costa Mesa-based Lumexis received $15 million of that.
About $1 million was invested into a software startup. Another $1 million went into business support services.
The most active venture firms were the Menlo Park-based Versant Ventures, which has a Newport Beach office, and U.S. Venture Partners, which both did two deals apiece. A total of 15 firms participated.
