Q3 2021 Investment Report
Investment in Greater Baltimore Levels Off During Q3
Following a record-setting first half of 2021 during which $721M was raised, Q3 investment activity moderated to $77M. Despite the plateau in investments during July, August, and September, the nearly $800M nine-month total for 2021 represents an 18.3% increase compared to the first nine months of 2020.
The modest increase in investments during Q3 underscores the overall uncertainty felt across the U.S. as a result of the surge in COVID-19-Delta variant cases. Investments in Q3 benefitted 14 companies across five of the Region’s seven jurisdictions. The $77M total for Q3 does not include investments in real estate development, or in Greater Baltimore's existing high-value companies. Investments were tracked for companies at the pre-seed, seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, and Series D rounds, as well as Private Equity investments in early- and mid-stage growth companies.
Baltimore City reported the greatest number of deals and the highest total investment value with eight deals valued at $47.6M. This represents more than half of the total deals and 62% of the quarter’s total investment value. Three deals were reported in Baltimore County while Anne Arundel, Howard, and Carrol Counties received one deal each. Despite reporting one deal, the share of Q3 investments in Anne Arundel County made up more than one quarter (26%) of the Region’s total value.
In Q3, seven companies received investments of more than $1M each with almost two-thirds of them devoted to Digital Health and Health Care Analytics. Headquartered in Baltimore City, b.Well Connected Health, topped the list by raising $32M, or nearly 42% of the quarter’s total value. Four additional Baltimore City companies were among the top five with Youreka Labs (IT/cyber security) raising $8.5M, Sonavi Labs (healthcare/life sciences) raising $3.5M, TikTalk2M (healthcare/life sciences) raising $1.5M, and EliteGamingLive (Education) also raising $1.5M. Real Time Medical Systems (Healthcare Analytics-Anne Arundel County) and RLL (Biotechnology-Baltimore County) round out the list with deals of $20M and $8M, respectively.
In Q3, more than 86% of the companies raising funds had a focus on IT or Healthcare/Life Sciences. These companies received the bulk of the Region’s investments (96%) with deals totaling more than $74M. Nearly 36% of all the companies that received funding in Q3 are devoted to the development of Healthcare Analytics and Digital Health applications. Greater Baltimore’s Q3 investment totals across IT/Cyber and Health Care/Life Sciences are a compelling sign of the region’s leading role in advancing important technology with applications for healthcare.
With nearly $800M raised in the first nine months of 2021 across the Region’s seven jurisdictions, Greater Baltimore is only $10M shy of topping 2020 totals and is on track to reach another blockbuster funding year. These investments continue to reinforce the Region’s ability to foster an economically robust ecosystem that drives innovation and attracts companies and talent.