Investors put $53-million in Fla. deals

Though biotech may be in the news because of Scripps Research Institute's expansion into Florida, it wasn't the first choice for venture investors in the quarter ending Sept. 30.

Of 14 private companies in the state funded by private venture investors in the most recent quarter, high-tech and telecom deals far outnumbered health-related businesses. Only one of the deals funded with private venture money fits the broad category of biotech: NovaVision in Boca Raton, received $6-million to develop a device that restores sight in stroke patients.

With a total of $53.5-million in venture deals funded in Florida in the third quarter, Florida ranks 12th among the states. "We're about where we were last quarter," said Marty Donsky, a marketing manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers who oversees the Florida portion of the quarterly PWC/Thomson Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association Moneytree survey. "It's probably not getting any worse. Whether it gets any better is anyone's guess."

The third quarter's results were considerably better than a year ago, when venture investing in Florida bottomed out at about $21-million in 10 deals. But it's far from the boom times of third quarter 2000, when 46 deals received more than $1-billion in venture funds.

Among the Tampa companies receiving venture investments in the most recent quarter were Gold Coast Restaurants, a chain of seafood restaurants that received $154,000; Health Integrated, a health care management company that received $2-million; Persystent Technology Corp., a software startup with $1.6-million in funding; and Switch & Data, which provides facilities nationwide for Internet and telecom providers. Switch & Data received $5-million from Boston's Tudor Ventures, which it used for an acquisition.

Among investors in the latest quarter are two Florida funds, including Inflexion Partners, a Tampa fund that invests in early stage ventures.

- Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or 727 892-2996.