Disparities in First Quarter VC Activity, the San Diego Subsidence, and Top 10 Local Deals

Bruce V. Bigelow4/15/11Follow @bvbigelow

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preceding quarter, when VCs put $218 million into 27 companies, according to the MoneyTree data. Over time, the numbers also reflect a gradual decline of deployed venture capital and deals in this area.

So what’s going on?

“It’s a good question,” says Ivor Royston of San Diego-based Forward Ventures. “There’s obviously a contraction going on. There is so much activity now in consumer Internet and social media, and most of that activity takes place in the Bay Area and back East.”

Royston also sees a broader contraction among venture investors in the life sciences, where he specializes. “There’s less capital available, and people are being very careful,” Royston says. “I do think the innovation is still here to be done.”

David Titus, who was recently hired to serve as the first official president of the San Diego Venture Group, says the statistics for a single quarter tend to be misleading because long-term trends are often obscured by the lumpiness of quarterly results. “So much of our dollar totals here can get swung by two or three late-stage biotech deals,” Titus says. Perhaps others will offer their perspectives below.

The top 10 San Diego deals, according to the MoneyTree Report:

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call (619) 669-8788 Follow @bvbigelow