Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Magic Leap leads Florida in financing
State startups got $2.14B in funding
Plantation-based tech startup Magic Leap, which in December announced its first product, led 2017 and fourth-quarter venture capital financing in Florida with investments of $502 million, according to the quarterly MoneyTree Report released Wednesday.
Magic Leap’s investments were second nationwide to California-based, ride-share company Lyft’s $1 billion during the fourth quarter.
In October, Magic Leap raised $502 million in an investment round led by Temasek Holding Pte., Singapore’s state-owned investment company. Existing investors Alibaba and Google also participated in the round, according to Magic Leap.
Florida snagged 88 deals worth $2.14 billion in venture capital and angel financing during the year. In comparison, the state saw 87 deals worth $1.24 billion in venture capital and angel financing in 2016.
“2017 was only the second year of Florida deals over $2 billion going back to 2000,” said Greg Vlahos, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which along with CB Insights releases the quarterly MoneyTree Report.
Vlahos said “Florida is bucking the trend” nationally with more venture capital deals for early-stage, or startup, companies. “There’s more VC confidence in the market,” which bodes well for Florida, he said.
In total, Magic Leap has raised $1.9 billion in financing and now employs thousands in South Florida. Last month, Magic Leap introduced Magic Leap One, a wearable computer that the company says lets users in-
teract with digital content in the real world. The product is expected to be available for purchase later this year; no price has been released.
In the fourth quarter, other South Florida companies that raised venture capital were: Miami-based CarSaver, which provides online car deals targeting the Hispanic market, and raised $30 million; Coral Gables-based Vix, formerly Batanga Media, which raised $6 million; Miami-based Home61, an online real estate brokerage that raised $4 million; and Boca Raton-based Springbig, a customer loyalty and communications company for cannabis retailers that raised $3.2 million.
During the year, Florida companies besides Magic Leap that attracted top investment dollars were: F1 Oncology in West Palm Beach, an earlystage biotech company that raised $37 million in the first quarter; Boca Raton-based Modernizing Medicine, which raised $231 million in venture capital in May, placing it among the top 10 deals in the country in the second quarter; and Jacksonville-based Fanatics, an e-commerce site for sporting leagues, which raised $1 billion in the third quarter.
Nationwide, there was more money and there were fewer deals in 2017.
Venture capital-backed companies saw $71.9 billion invested in 2017 across 5,052 deals. There were 109 “megarounds,” or deals of $100 million or more, recorded in 2017, topping the 107 mega-rounds recorded in 2016.
But while funding was up 17 percent from 2016, the number of deals fell 4 percent, declining to the lowest annual total since 2012.