Venture capital firms based in Orange County boosted 2018 local investments, led by Adventus Ventures and CerraCap Ventures.
The 14 firms ranked on the Business Journal’s annual tally of venture capitalists reported overseeing 65 investments in Orange County last year totaling $54.5 million, climbing from $52 million in 66 investments in 2017. Both were still a far cry from 2016, when nine firms invested $83.6 million in Orange County.
No. 1 Newport Beach-based Toba Capital was created by Vinny Smith in 2012 after selling Quest Software in Aliso Viejo to computer maker Dell Inc.
“We would love to source a few new ideas here in 2019. Orange County is a tremendous place to start and scale a company,” Toba partner and co-founder Wilder Ramsey said.
Toba has $1.1 billion in funds under management, up from $615 million a year ago.
The firms on the list in total have $1.7 billion in assets, up 54% from a year ago.
Newcomers
• No. 2 Irvine-based Adventus Ventures, which focuses on identifying and developing medical technologies, doubled its investments to $6 million in four OC deals last year.
• No. 4 CerraCap Ventures in Costa Mesa showed the biggest percentage increase, rocketing up 1,400 points to $3.8 million in 2018 from a mere $250,000 locally the prior year.
• No. 9 K5 Venture Partners of Newport Beach dipped 38% to $750,000 in Orange County investments.
“We stopped investing in super-early stage and focusing more on late seed/Series A,” said Managing Director Amir Banifatemi. “Also, we are more selective with regards to AI and robotics and there are less companies that fit our criteria. Ultimately, we want to focus on Series A and B and only a couple of areas including AI.”
He added, “The climate is positive for this year, but we don’t see a uptick in funding, at least not in our focus.”
Notables
• Okapi Venture Capital in Ladera Ranch dropped 76% in its OC investments in 2018, but only dropped two spots to No. 5.
Marc Averitt, Okapi managing director, said roughly 26% of its 2018 investments went into Orange County companies. “The remainder went to companies elsewhere in Southern California,’’ he said. The company manages $77.2 million, up 15% from the prior year.
• Cambridge Cos. SPG’s Newport Beach office came in at No. 3 with five deals totaling $5 million in OC. The company focuses on revenue-generating companies “that have broken down the barriers of entry into the market” and can scale nationally with a potential buyer or initial public offering, according to its website.
• No. 14 Newport Beach-based True Family Enterprises, which was founded by entrepreneurial couple Alan and Twila True, stayed on the list. The company’s website lists 14 investments, including Buena Park’s True Fresh HPP, where Alan True has invested about $30 million. The company declined to disclose the amount it invested in OC companies last year.
