Crunching the numbers: 2021 has been great for venture funding in Ohio

This year won’t be all that fondly remembered in most respects, but 2021 has been huge for venture funding in Ohio.

So says Crunchbase in this analysis, which notes that so far this year, “Ohio-based companies have raised over $2.2 billion in venture funding across all stages,” according to the organization’s data. “That’s more than double the sum raised in all of 2020, and marks the highest statewide funding total to date.”

From the article:

Leading the gains are a bevy of big rounds at hefty valuations for companies including health AI provider Olive and welding automation upstart Path Robotics. Average round size, meanwhile, has more than doubled. All this is leading longtime local investors to conclude that the Buckeye State startup scene is finally hitting its stride.

“I do think this outsized uptick isn’t a one-off,” said Ray Leach, CEO of JumpStart, a Cleveland-based venture development organization that supports and invests in startups. He points to several factors — including a few recent Ohio founder success stories and a larger pool of local capital. The shift away from in-person meetings amid the pandemic also helped local companies woo out-of-state investors.

Most funded companies are located in or around Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Of the three, “Columbus has seen the highest gains,” Crunchbase notes. It benefits from being home to Ohio State University “and a local talent base in insurtech and fintech, two hot areas for startup investment.”

Cleveland “isn’t seeing the same concentration of supergiant rounds of $100 million and up” as Columbus and Cincinnati have. However, Crunchbase says, “there are sizable deals getting done. Two standouts are Splash Financial, a student loan refinancing platform that raised a $44 million round in June, and SPR Therapeutics, a medical device startup focused on pain management that closed on $37 million in October.”

On the early-stage side, the piece notes, “Ohio was one of the top-performing states for investment gains. … Overall Series A and B investment topped $850 million in the 12-month period surveyed, up 500% year over year.”