Wisconsin startups raised a little more than $51 million in venture capital across 16 deals in the second quarter, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report.
The level of activity was the lowest in the state since the third quarter of 2020 when firms raised just $25 million across 14 deals.
Top deals in the state during the second quarter included $13.1 million raised by Madison-based insurtech firm
Understory; $12 million raised by Milwaukee-based restaurant marketing and operations technology firm
SpotHopper; and $9 million raised by Madison-based green energy firm
Realta Fusion.
Other firms raising funds and noted in the PitchBook report included Milwaukee-based
Frontdesk, Middleton-based firms
Polco and
ImbedBiosciences, Cottage Grove-based
Metify, Madison-based firms
Pivotal Health and
AirDeck, and Milwaukee-based
CareDirect.
The second quarter numbers marked a sharp decline from the first quarter when Wisconsin firms raised more than $116 million across 29 deals. Around the country, the picture was more mixed with roughly half of states seeing an increase and half seeing a decrease. In total, venture capital investments decreased from $45.8 billion in the first quarter to $39.8 billion in the second. The number of deals decreased from around 3,500 to roughly 3,000.
It was the slowest quarter for activity nationally since the second quarter of 2020.
“The U.S. venture market operated through Q2 rather mundanely,” the PitchBook report noted. “Deal counts have leveled off, still remains low, with few outsized deals to speak of. The tepidness is palpable, and it seems likely the market could quickly hit a cliff if economic conditions worsen.”
States near Wisconsin were also a mixed bag.
Illinois, which in 2021 and 2022 regularly topped $1 billion or even $2 billion in quarterly startup investment, saw its companies raise $663 million in the second quarter, up 3% from the first quarter.
Minnesota was the big gainer in the region with a 115% increase from the first quarter to $298 million raised. However, that figure is well below the $531 million per quarter the state averaged in 2022 or the $683 million it averaged in 2021.
Indiana also saw a 37% uptick in the quarter to $153 million, although that remained below the $172 million quarterly average in 2022 and $165 million in 2021.
Iowa, which saw $40.5 million in venture capital raised in the second quarter, was the only state Wisconsin outpaced in investment in the quarter. The state’s total was down 40% from the first quarter and fell short of the $63 million and $65 million quarterly average from 2022 and 2021.
Michigan saw a 78% decline in venture capital investment coming in at $115 million the first quarter, down from an average of $294 million in 2022 and $252 million in 2021.
