Baltimore’s Q3 Venture Monitor report is out. An expert thinks the ‘quarter over quarter comparisons are not very instructive’

During the third quarter of 2023, the Baltimore metropolitan statistical area (MSA) reported a total capital raise of $78.05 million, distributed across 23 investment deals. These figures come from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association’s (NVCA) Q3 2023 Venture Monitor, which publicly debuted on Thursday. According to that report, Q3’s amount invested and number of deals fell from last quarter’s Q2’s $329.45 million and 32 deals, respectively.

Here are some more key insights from the latest Venture Monitor:

Ahead of the pack

In Q3, Catalyte, headquartered in Otterbein, took the lead as the top deal in Baltimore. The tech workforce development company raised $17.7 million, according to the Venture Monitor. Back in July, it reported having raised $1.52 million in a then-ongoing round.

Following closely was Columbia-based Xcision Medical Systems, which secured $13.3 million in later-stage VC funding. This medical technology company, which played a role in the development of the GammaPod device for breast cancer treatment in 2018, was also a part of the 2023 MedTech Innovator cohort.

A new global VC ranking, sans Baltimore

To provide an overview of the global venture capital landscape, PitchBook introduced the Venture Monitor in conjunction with a Global VC Ecosystem Ranking. This approach — split into “Development Score,” “Growth Score” and “Overall Score” lists — enabled a comparative assessment of locations and growth rates relative to one another.

Thriving venture ecosystems like DC (#12, Development Score), Los Angeles (#5, Development Score; #4, Overall Score), New York City (#2, Development Score and Overall Score) and Detroit (#2, Growth Score) featured across all lists. Baltimore did not secure a spot in any of these lineups, signaling potential room for growth and opportunity in the city’s venture landscape.

The top Baltimore-area VC deals

The companies featured in the venture Venture Monitor’s top deals list encompass a diverse range of sectors, including tech workforce development, medical technology fintech and ecosystem-mapping tech, underscoring versatility within Baltimore’s venture.

1. AI-for-workforce development company Catalyte secured a Series A of $17.7 million in funding, contributing to a post-value tally of $307.7 million as of Sept. 18.
2. Xcision Medical Systems raised $13.3 million in later-stage VC funding, bringing its total capital raised to $163.3 million by Aug. 30.
3. On July 11, CoapTech received $12.3 million in later-stage VC funding for its efforts to create affordable medical equipment.
4. On July 26, Remington-based biotech company AsclepiX Therapeutics secured $10 million of Series A3 funding, contributing to its total of $37.5 million.
5. Gliknik, a University of Maryland BioPark-based biopharmaceutical company, received $5.4 million in later-stage VC funding on July 7.
6. Cerebro Capital, as of July 18, completed a seed round of $4.5 million, contributing to $21.7 million in total.
7. CoapTech made a second appearance on the list for a raise of $4 million secured on July 15.
8. EcoMap Technologies, as of July 31, added $3.5 million to its seed round, leading to a total of $17.5 million.
9. Astek Diagnostics secured $3.1 million in early-stage VC funding on Aug. 21.
10. Howard County health tech startup Backpack Healthcare underwent a recent rebranding and obtained $1.6 million in early-stage VC funding on Sept. 15.

A different look at the “Greater Baltimore” top deals

UpSurge Baltimore leader Jamie McDonald said there are limitations to quarterly comparisons of NVCA data, particularly in a market as small as Baltimore.

“Quarter-over-quarter comparisons are not very instructive in an ecosystem our size because a single deal in a quarter can potentially make an outsized impact,” she said.

Instead, she advocates a more individualized approach.

“Looking at things annually and assessing trends on a relative basis,” she said, adding: “We were an ecosystem that started from a very low base four or five years ago. We’ve seen significant growth during that time. …And on top of that, the trend has been consistently upward, in the midst of a much more steep set of cycles that the national and global markets have gone through.”

According to UpSurge Baltimore’s own analyses of Q3 data, Greater Baltimore received $101.28 million in venture funding from 28 deals, still marking a dip from the previous quarter. Nevertheless, its calculation of total venture funding for the year so far stands at $530.3 million, distributed across 102 deals, indicating ongoing investment activity in the region.

Largely concentrating on the Baltimore area within a 15-mile radius, UpSurge Baltimore put together a list of top raises for the region. It includes businesses from PitchBook’s original list with adjusted figures to align with UpSurge’s insights into the local VC scene. This refined list has been edited for clarity and is accompanied by the following advisory: UpSurge data is compiled via PitchBook deals and reconciled with ecosystem deals not captured by the software. PitchBook and UpSurge are constantly collecting historical data that alter the numbers of future reports.

UpSurge Baltimore’s Q3 list:

• Catalyte secured $17.68 million in a later-stage VC funding round on Sept. 18, with a lead investment from Camden Partners.
• Fearless, an IT consulting and outsourcing company, completed a debt-general funding round in August that secured $17 million.
• CoapTech still made the “Greater Baltimore” list twice with an advanced later-stage VC funding round on July 11 this year, raising $12.3 million from Good Growth Capital.
• AsclepiX Therapeutics, whose website lists a location in Bethesda, advanced a later-stage VC funding round this summer with a total investment of $10 million.
• Decarbonization technology company ETCH advanced its seed round on July 25, securing $7.50 million from Emerald Development Managers.
• Zero Point Five Therapeutics, a developer of drugs to treat soil-transmitted parasites, advanced a later-stage VC funding round raising $7.22 million.
• Gliknik pushed its later-stage VC funding round forward in July with a total investment o
• CoapTech completed another later-stage VC funding round in July, raising $4 million.