This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah business owners who wanted to expand and grow their companies during the first nine months of this year had a harder time finding the venture capital they needed than a year ago.
A new study released by Dow Jones VentureSource, which runs a database that tracks venture capital funded companies, reported that so far this year 22 deals took place among Utah businesses. A year earlier there were 24.
The value of those 2011 deals totaled $122.9 million, down from $150.1 million during the first nine months of 2010.
"It is the same old story," said Brad Bertoch, president of The Wayne Brown Institute, an enterprise that seeks to facilitate venture capital funding for Utah businesses. "For companies there is never enough (venture capital), and on the investor side there are never enough good deals."
He noted, though, that given Utah's size that one or two big investments by venture capitalists could significantly affect the overall funding trend in the state.
And he added that there are a number of significant funding deals in the works that could be completed during the final quarter. "I wouldn't be surprised if this year we ended up with the same level of venture capital investment in our companies as last year."
Bertoch said the deals that took place through the first nine months of this year were evidence that Utah companies and their entrepreneurs continue to come up with ideas and business plans that investors are willing to support.
Still, it isn't always easy for companies to find such funding, especially with credit being so tight and the economy struggling to throw off the effects of the Great Recession.
"It was hard finding the venture capital that we needed but we were successful," said Vicki Farrah, president of Catheter Connections, a 3-year-old company that has developed an inexpensive product that protects patients from contracting life-threatening infections when they are hooked up to IV tubing.
Farrah said the problem for Catheter Connections was that the big venture capital funds shied away from funding a company that sold a medical device for under $1. As a result, the company turned to smaller angel investors in Utah, Europe and Israel.
"When we finally were able to explain what our product could do and the benefits to hospitals and their patients, we found some who were willing to invest in our company."
The CEO of Campusbookrentals.com, an Ogden-based company that operates a website where college students can save money by renting textbooks rather than buying them, said it had a little bit easier time raising money this year than in years past.
"Of course, this year we got to the point where it wasn't as critical that we be able to raise venture capital," said Alan Martin. "So it seemed a little easier."
But the company, which employs 120 and operates a 57,000-square-foot distribution center in Ogden, had to go outside Utah to find the funding it needed.
Nationally, investors put $8.4 billion into 765 deals for U.S.-based companies during the third quarter of 2011, a 29 percent increase in dollar volume and an 8 percent increase in the number of deals, compared with the same quarter last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
"Venture investment rose in the third quarter, putting the industry on pace to near pre-recession investment levels by the end of the year," Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource, said in a statement announcing the study results.
Canning noted that in the third quarter, medical device companies raised more venture financing than biopharmaceutical companies for the first time since 1988.
She added, "Although it is unclear how long venture capitalists can continue at this pace given the weak fundraising and difficult exit environments, the increase in deal activity, especially among early stage start-ups, shows VCs are optimistic they will be able to support the next generation of start-ups."
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