Venture Investment Dollars in RI Companies Fall in First Quarter 2013

Venture capital investments in New England fell to $677 million invested in 88 companies in the first quarter of 2013, according to the MoneyTreeReport by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.  This represents a 22% decline from the fourth quarter of 2012.

Three of those companies are in Rhode Island, netting a total of $20,500,000. However, one long-standing biotechnology company, Nabsys, Inc., received $20,000,000 of those funds.

At the same time, investment levels across the U.S. continue to decline. Nationally, venture capitalists invested $5.9 billion in 863 deals in the first quarter.  This represents a decrease of 12% in dollars and a 15% decrease in deals compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, when $6.7 billion was invested in 1,013 deals.  The Software, Biotechnology and Medical Device sectors once again received the most investment dollars for the quarter.  Investment in Internet companies declined, with only $1.4 billion being invested in 231 deals.

Locally, the three companies to receive investments in the first quarter of 2013 are: 

Absolute Commerce, Inc., of Providence, received an early stage investment of $250,000 from  the State’s Slater Technology Fund.  Absolute Commerce is developing  electronic procurement technology designed to speed the process of integrating suppliers’ product catalogs with buyers’ electronic resource management (ERP) computer systems.

Care Thread, Inc. (formerly called Consano Inc.), of Providence, also received a $250,000 early stage investment from the Slater Fund.  Care Thread delivers a HIPAA-compliant mobile messaging solution that provides every member of a patient’s health care team with real-time information detailing a patient’s status and treatment.

Nabsys,Inc., of Providence, closed a $20,000,000 Series D follow on investment in March.  The financing was led by new investor from Bay City City Capital, with participation from existing investors, including Point Judith Capital and Stat Venture Partners.  The money will be used to support the commercial launch of the company’s positional sequencing platform used in DNA analysis, genome mapping and genome sequencing.