Report: Philly had nation’s largest increase in VC investment in Q2

We at Technically Philly love July.
Not because this is the month we celebrate the birthplace of our nation (Ed.: In the birthplace of our nation) or because we get to travel to the Jersey Shore. No, because we’re amped for the second quarter regional venture capital numbers.
If you recall, last quarter was abysmal for the region and the rest of the country as VC investment slowed to a near halt. Some declared a sort of VC armageddon.
This quarter, the national numbers went the only direction they could have: up.
In the aggregate, the national venture capital outlook only received a modest bump in the second quarter with some regions growing faster than others. But no region saw growth like Philadelphia.

According to PBJ, the surge was anchored by a few very large deals. Roughly $108 million of the $161 million can be credited to three deals. One deal was responsible for $50 million.
We got a small glimpse of the general direction of the local VC scene a month ago when First Round capital was reported to be the newly crowned champ of early-stage seed investing.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (.xls link), Q2 was much more generous to Philly startups than to the rest of the country. In the first quarter, the region saw roughly $31 million invested, while the second quarter netted $161 million. The increase of over 500 percent is the largest among the 19 regions the report tracks and ranks us 13th in total dollars invested.
Silicon Valley and the 67th ward both saw decreases in dollars invested.
If you discount Sacramento’s jump from two deals in Q1 to four in Q2, Philadelphia also was the region that saw the largest increase in total deals completed. In Q1 Philly had 13 deals, compared to 22 this quarter. Philadelphia ranks 12th in total number of deals, but again, first in growth.
More detailed numbers are expected August 3rd.