Thanks to a muscular economy and a phenomenal success rate by dot-com companies, L.A. County saw an unprecedented influx of money last year.
Venture capital investments totaled $1.8 billion in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, up from the $513.3 million invested in 1998. There were 135 more deals closed in 1999 than the year before. Those results put Southern California third in the nation behind New England and Northern California which has long dominated every other region.
A comparatively small portion of last year’s investments 15.1 percent went into new media. The biggest industry for venture capital in L.A. last year was retail/distribution, which attracted 31.5 percent of the venture dollars, followed by business services with 21.4 percent.
All told, the 15 venture capital firms on the list have $7.78 billion under management.
