Investments in early-stage Wisconsin companies by angel and venture capitalists totaled at least $810.82 million across 111 deals in 2021, a 67% increase from the record set in 2020, according to early data released Monday by the Wisconsin Technology Council.
The five companies that landed Wisconsin's biggest venture capital deals in 2021 — Fetch Rewards, SHINE Technologies, VedaData, Redox and DataChat — accounted for about $475 million of the state total. Eight other firms landed about $135 million, the council said.
The data represent early findings in the council's annual Wisconsin Portfolio report; the final 2021 numbers will come out in the spring. The council uses public reports, filings and proprietary investor surveys to track angel, venture and venture debt deals in Wisconsin.
In 2020, Wisconsin early-stage companies raised $483 million in angel and venture capital, setting the state's previous record.
“Wisconsin continues to attract more angel and venture capital, including money from outside the state, but more work must be done to recognize the state’s full potential,” Wisconsin Technology Council president Tom Still said in a statement.
Despite increases in angel and venture investment in recent years, Wisconsin still lags behind other states. Minnesota recorded $1.34 billion in angel and venture capital deals in 2021 and Colorado, which has roughly the same population as Wisconsin, reported $6.5 billion, according to the council.
“The Wisconsin deal and dollar numbers are consistent with a 2021 surge in such investments nationwide, and representative of the rise in early-stage investing in the Midwest, in particular,” National Venture Capital Association president and CEO Bobby Franklin said in a statement.
The average size of each angel or venture capital round raised by Wisconsin companies in 2021 was $7.3 million, up from $4.2 million in 2020. The median round size was around $1 million for both years.
“It’s great to see major deals because it signals more companies are moving beyond the startup stage," Wisconsin Tech Council Investor Networks director Joe Kremer said in a statement. "Angel and venture capital can be ‘lumpy’ from year to year, so it remains to be seen whether 2022 will be equally successful.”
Three-quarters of Wisconsin's 2021 deals came from companies in Madison and southeast Wisconsin, while startups in Green Bay and the Fox Valley represented 12% of 2021 deals, the council's data showed. Deals by health care and information technology companies represented two-thirds of the statewide deal count and 87% of the total dollars invested in 2021.