CarePredict, a Plantation company that developed a wrist-worn health tracker to help protect seniors, raised $9.5 million in the first quarter, the most of any South Florida company.
The Plantation company that most often has led financing in recent years has been Magic Leap, the technology startup that has raised more than $2 billion. The company led 2018 venture capital in the state, but didn’t raise any funds in the first quarter, according to spokeswoman Julia Gaynor.
In South Florida overall, there were five venture capital deals worth $17 million, which compares with seven deals worth $25 million in the same quarter in 2018, according to the MoneyTree Report by auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The financing was led by Secocha Ventures in Miami, Las Olas Venture Capital in Fort Lauderdale, and Startup Health Ventures, which has offices in San Francisco and New York City.
“We invested in CarePredict because the company is solving one of the most important social problems we face,” said Dean Hatton, founding partner of Las Olas Venture Capital. He said the market for machine learning for assisted living, as well as for seniors living at home, is “massive.”
“We think CarePredict has great potential in what is a true global market,” he said.
Other South Florida companies that raised funds in the quarter were:
— Kairos, a facial recognition company in Miami, raised $4 million.
— Streann Media, a content provider software company in Miami, $1.88 million.
— Sonavation, a biometrics sensor company in West Palm Beach, $1.08 million.
— Open English, a online learning company in Coconut Grove, $700,000.
— DentiDesk, maker of online software for dental clinics in Miami, $200,000.
But the South Florida startups raised less than four other companies in Florida:
— Finxact, a banking platform company in Jacksonville, which raised $30 million
— Peerfit, a personalized fitness platform company in Orlando, $18 million
— Mostyle, a telecom company in Orlando, $16 million.
— Bond-Pro, a mobile company in Tampa, $10 million.
The MoneyTree Report, which tracks venture capital, is produced each quarter by PricewaterhouseCoopers with CB Insights.
mpounds@sunsentinel.com or 561-243-6650, twitter: @marciabiz