Who’s raising? The top funding deals for Pacific Northwest startups in Q2

Who’s raising? The top funding deals for Pacific Northwest startups in Q2 Taylor Soper

Tech startups spanning biotech, agriculture, healthcare, autonomous vehicles, and other industries reeled in the largest funding rounds during the second quarter this year across the Pacific Northwest.

Total venture capital raised in Q2 came in at $382 million across 34 deals, according to GeekWire’s funding tracker. That dollar value is just below the previous quarter; down nearly 50% from the year-ago period; and not even in the same hemisphere as the second quarter of 2022, when 63 companies raised a collective $2.1 billion.

It’s a new world for startups. The era of growth-at-all-costs and plentiful venture capital dollars are long gone, following record-breaking boom times just a few years ago.

As we wrote last month, “default alive” is the mindset for many companies under pressure from investors to demonstrate a path to profitability.

Investors are focused on “supporting their most promising companies to maturity amid a historically challenging exit environment,” said Bobby Franklin, CEO of the National Venture Capital Association, in a new PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor released Thursday. “This has meant more inside and continuation rounds with valuations under unprecedented levels of scrutiny.”

But many investors have cash they need to invest, and some startups are still raising.

AI startups are gobbling a big chunk of funding these days, raising nearly a third of all dollars during the second quarter, according to CBInsights.

That trend is reflected in the Pacific Northwest, where several of the top rounds in Q2 went to startups focused heavily on AI technologies.

The Seattle region didn’t crack the top 10 among metropolitan areas ranked by total funding raised in Q2, according to PitchBook. It was behind areas including Chicago, Austin, and Philadelphia.

Here’s a look at the top funding rounds for Pacific Northwest startups in Q2.

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