At almost 6 months into 2022, it’s a good time to check how the startup and tech ecosystem is tracking.
Now remember 2021 was a high water mark for venture capital and IPOs, so looking at 2-3 year averages, we can see howwe’re doing in OC.
I see $1.57 billion in 2022 private company funding so far. This is really strong compared to all of 2021 being $2.3 billion and 2020 total funding for the year at $1.8 billion.Â
It does help having a few huge funding rounds like fintech late stage Acorns raising $300 million or MEMS/microchip tech Menlo Micro’s $150 million, or aerial transportation startup Overair’s $145 million, or ocular drug development Cloudbreak Therapeutics $130 million. These are the four largest rounds so far in 2022 and they also represent four strong industry clusters in OC: fintech, transportation tech, chipmakers, biotech/life sciences.
This is a really good sign given the macro trends that are said to be funding less.
What are you seeing in your funding environment?
Keep it up Orange County!
Cheers!
