2017 Innovators Report
Tracking North Carolina’s Entrepreneurial Activity
Back to a Billion
Entrepreneurial companies in NC collectively raised over $1 billion in 2017. Similar to 2015, a few big deals launched the dollars over the billion benchmark. But the best news is that funding activity remains strong. NC entrepreneurs raised money through a record-setting total of 224 deals, a 19% increase versus 2016.
$1,125,749,682
Total for 2017
$48,484,364 (16 deals)
$22,892,743 (18
$806,136,164 $1,182,353,573 $532,641,991 $1,125,749,682
Life Science $269,850,572 (80 deals) Tech $784,522,003 (110 deals) Cleantech
Advanced Manufacturing & Materials
deals) Total Funding
2017 2016 2015 2014 # of Companies Completing Deals Cleantech 8 Tech 94 Life Science 57 Advanced Manufacturing & Materials 14 2017 2016 2015 2014 # of Deals 224 188 191 180 # of Companies 173 154 173 137 Total # of Deals 224
Sector Swap
In 2015 and 2016, life science companies raised more money than tech companies in North Carolina. But we saw a flip in 2017. The top two deals were in the tech sector and account for over 40% of total funding for the year.
In contrast to tech’s monster year, the life science sector was missing big deals in 2017, but the pipeline of younger life science companies is encouraging and will likely lead to big deals in the near future.
Equity Funding by Quarter/Sector
2017 Innovators Report
Raised $300 million; Named a Unicorn Raised $176 million 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Millions Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q1 2016 Q2 2016 Q3 2016 Q4 2016 Q1 2017 Q2 2017 Tech Life Science Q3 2017 Q4 2017 Advanced Manufacturing & Materials Cleantech $225M $176M $300M
Charlotte on the Rise
Typically, we see over 75% of the dollars in North Carolina going to Triangle-based companies. In 2017, Charlotte brought in the bulk of dollars. The top four deals of the year were all to Charlotte-based companies, accounting for a combined $552 million (almost 50% of total funding).
But the Triangle accounted for two-thirds of the deals. Durham had the most deal activity of any city in the state with 62 deals, and Raleigh came in second with 49 deals.
Funding by Location
Deal Count by Location
$106,007,181 Cary/Morrisville $44,684,012
2017 Innovators Report
Charlotte $614,214,603 Charlotte 38 Deals Triangle $408,109,651 Triangle 140 Deals Mountains
Triad $37,696,006 Eastern $30,472,108 Mountains 19
Triad 13
Eastern 13 Deals Durham
Raleigh
Durham 62
Raleigh
18
$35,207,314
Deals
Deals
$243,920,925
Deals
49 Deals Cary/Morrisville
Deals
Active Early Stage Ecosystem
National funding reports for 2017 reflect a rise in large investments in late stage companies, while the number of seed deals decreased as a whole across the U.S. But in North Carolina, we continue to see an active early stage ecosystem. Over 80% of the deals for NC companies were under $5 million.
Number of Deals by Size
Funding by Deal Size
2017 Innovators Report
$31M ≤ $999K $151M $1M-4.9M $213M $5M-$14.9M $196M $15M-$29.9M $216M $30M-49.9M 2017 2016 2015 $27M ≤ $999K $145M $1M-4.9M $169M $5M-$14.9M $237M $15M-$29.9M $179M $30M-49.9M $425M ≥ $50M $36M ≤ $999K $181M $1M-4.9M $195M $5M-$14.9M $160M $15M-$29.9M $76M $30M-49.9M $475M ≥ $50M ≤ $999K $1M-4.9M $5M-$14.9M $15M-$29.9M $30M-49.9M ≥ $50M 2017 111 76 25 8 2 2 2016 78 68 27 10 5 0 2015 89 62 21 11 5 3
1st Order Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
BioSignia, Inc.
Blogads
BoostSuite
Care Management Techologies
Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Inc
Chemtura, USA
Coventor
Digital Health Department
DILIsym
GridBridge, Inc
Impulsonic
iScribes
KnowledgeTree Inc.
MaxPoint
Polyglot Systems Inc.
Rival Health
Skia
Source3
TearScience, Inc.
TrialCard Inc.
WedPics
Whitespace Health
Yodil
Zift Solutions, Inc.
2017 Innovators Report
30 Exits in 2017 IPOs
The Innovators Report is made possible by generous gifts to the CED Annual Fund. Thank you to our many supporters! For more information on how to contribute, please visit www.cednc.org/donate CED, PitchBook, National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Small Business Technology Development Center (SBTDC), Groundwork Labs NCIDEA, EY, PwC, SBIR.gov Mergers/Acquisitions/Buyouts
2017 Innovators Report Investors 112 Unique Institutional Investors 13 International CA 18 TX 5 MO 5 IL 6 IN 1 TN 3 AL 1 FL 1 NC 23 SC 3 MA 8 MD 1 DC 3 NY 11 Regional Breakdown Northeast 22 Mid-Atlantic 7 Southeast 37 Midwest 13 West 2 California 18 International 13 International Breakdown Canada 2 China 3 Germany 1 Ireland 2 Israel 3 Nepal 1 Singapore 1 PA 1 VA 3 CT 2 GA 1 KS 1 CO 1 WA 1
“This region, North Carolina, I love it. . . . The people, the climate, the culture, the great universities, the entrepreneurial atmosphere.
You have something very special here.”
-John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist in a fireside chat with Steve Nelson, Co-Founder of Carbon, Inc. during the CED Tech Venture Conference 2017, his first time ever speaking in North Carolina
And that’s direct from one of America’s greatest venture capitalists. North Carolina entrepreneurial companies continue to attract investment from funds across the U.S. and around the world. As part of tracking funding activity in North Carolina, CED’s Innovators Report identifies institutional investors participating in the deals. CED tracks investors by location, fund type, and sector interests as part of CED’s Connections to Capital, a highly curated, targeted and strategic investor-entrepreneur matching service.
What’s the Deal?
Meet Jay, CED’s Director of Entrepreneurship and head of Connections to Capital. By fostering relationships with North Carolina entrepreneurs and investors from across the country, he is able to make introductions by pairing specific investment criteria with NC company data. His work increases investments to the region and helps entrepreneurial companies scale.
“At CED, we know how North Carolina fuels entrepreneurial companies. It’s the combination of a great quality of life, talent and universities, low cost of living, and supportive community,” said Jay Bigelow, CED’s Director of Entrepreneurship. “The 2017 Innovators Report data helps show the strength of the state’s entrepreneurial activity, with increases in both total funding and number of deals over 2016.”
Engage with CED
CED connects entrepreneurial companies with high-value resources to accelerate business growth. CED services and programs (including Connections to Capital, Venture Mentoring, and signature conferences) empower member companies to go further faster.
Partners of CED are fueling tomorrow’s success stories by investing in today’s ecosystem.
Visit our website for more information on how you can engage with CED. cednc.org
2017 Innovators Report
