Investments

Wisconsin neighbor grabs most Midwest health-care capital

Bank Of America Investment By WTN News • 01/26/06 Wisconsin has some catching up to do even among Midwestern states when it comes to health-care venture capital investment, according to the latest Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report.

Released by BioEnterprise, it looked at publicly disclosed investments in 12 states or regions in the Midwest area. Minnesota topped the list with more than three times the investment Wisconsin had.

These aren't comprehensive numbers, since not all firms report their funding deals. For example, the BioEnterprise report said the organization was aware of nearly twice as much investment in Ohio as was publicly disclosed, and only public information was included in the final listings.

Here's the breakdown by state:

VC (millions)	State
$151	Minnesota
$86	Ohio
$80	Missouri
$58	Western Pennsylvania
$53	Michigan
$39	Wisconsin
$39	Illinois
$23	Indiana
$19	Kentucky
$0	Iowa
$0	Kansas
$0	West Virginia

Across the entire region, medical device companies took in $205 million in 33 deals, biopharmaceutical companies took $192 million in 30 deals, and health-care software and service companies took $152 million in 23 deals.

BioEnterprise said VCs favored regions with a significant volume of deals clustered together. "For example, Cleveland and Pittsburgh are within a two hour drive of each other," said the organization's president, Baiju Shah. "In those two regions, 26 health care companies raised over $200 million in venture funding last year. The proximity creates a 'tech belt' of sorts, where venture firms can find a wealth of opportunities."

In Wisconsin, however, where venture capital firms are all towards the end of their investment cycles, there was no significant investment activity for the third quarter. Overall, Midwestern states saw investments of $144 million, up from $119 million in the second quarter, with Minnesota and Missouri leading the way. Michigan surged to third place for the quarter driven by a single firm that raised $30 million. Overall, Minnesota, Ohio and Missouri continued to lead the region for investments in 2005.

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