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Q2 Venture Funding Drifts Downward In Southern California

The latest MoneyTree Survey, from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capital Association, and Thomson Reuters, tabulated $837.3M in funding during Q2 of 2012, down from Q1, and slightly below investments in Q2 of 2011. According to the report, which tracks venture capital activity nationwide, there were 89 deals in the quarter, the same as in Q1, but less than the 97 deals in the same quarter of last year.

The region saw the most investments in Los Angeles, with $329.0M in funding, followed by San Diego, with $304.7M in investment, then Orange County, with $203.6M in funding. Los Angeles most mostly flat quarter-to-quarter in terms of dollars invested, with both Orange County and San Diego seeing slightly less funding that the prior quarter.

Overall, the biggest investments round went to Fisker Automotive, the electric auto maker, raising $147.6M in the quarter, then Sonos, the whole home music system manufacturer, which raised $45M in funding; followed by YouTube content producer Machinima, with $35.0M raised. Mobile video sharing app developer Viddy, with $30.7.M raised, and cloud computing provider Eucalyptus, with $30.0M raised, also were among the top fundings. Fisker Automotive actually topped the nation as the biggest, venture capital funding in the quarter.

In terms of the venture capital industry in the area, the most active Southern California venture capitalists -- not necessarily the most active in investing in local companies here -- were GRP Partners, with 10 investments; followed by Siemer Ventures and DFJ Frontier, with six investments each; then Mull Capital, with five investments. Tied with four investments east were Qualcomm Ventures, Rincon Venture Partners, Baroda Ventuers, and crosscut Ventures.

The most active VCs investing in local companies were GRP Partners (8 investments), New Enterprise Associates (7), Siemer Ventures (6), as well as Baroda Ventures, DFJ Frontier, Rincon Venture Partners. Crosscut Ventures, Mull Capital, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, all with four investments each.

Nationally, the report tallied $7.04 billion invested in the quarter, down 12 percent from the $8.01 billion invested for the same period last year.

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