Cultivation Capital, the St. Louis-based venture capital firm that has invested heavily in local and regional startups over the past five years, is Missouri’s most active such company.
That’s according to CB Insights, which analyzed data to find the most active venture capital firm by the number of investments in tech startups in each U.S. state from 2011 to the present.
Since being founded in 2012, Cultivation has pumped more than $32 million in 35 startups.
The firm has two tech funds: Tech Fund I worth $20 million, Tech Fund II targeted to be worth $40 million and a new fintech fund that was launched earlier this year that is targeted to be worth $75 million.
Cultivation has filled a void between seed capital and more traditional venture capital — anything more than $3 million.
Last year, Cultivation invested more than $11.3 million in 23 companies in 2015 — both single-year highs for the venture capital firm that has its office in the Downtown T-REX incubator at 911 Washington Ave.
When broken down by fund, Cultivation invested $4.77 million in nine companies through its Tech Fund I; $3 million in eight companies and one accelerator through its Life Sciences fund; and $3.6 million in four companies and two accelerators through its Tech Fund II.
Some of Cultivation’s larger deals in 2015 include LockerDome’s $10 million raise; Vasculox’s $8.1 million financing; and Host Analytics’ $25 million funding round.
St. Louis’ tech startups increased funding 13 percent in 2015 to nearly $176 million, according to the ITEN Tech Startup Report, an annual study of the health of the tech startup scene in the region. Since 2011, when tech startups raised $12.3 million, early stage tech companies have increased money invested by more than 1,330 percent.