Washington firms raised more than $2 billion in VC funding across 118 deals in just the first three months of 2021, according to a study by Newmark. This is in addition to the more than $2.5 billion that was raised in 2020, making it one of the most active VC markets in the US. Roughly 75 percent of that has been later-stage funding, with early stage, angel and startup/seed deals accounting for the remainder.

Nearly half (48 percent) of first quarter funding was landed by smaller companies and startups with less than 60 employees while an additional 17 percent went to those with payrolls in the 61 to 150 worker range. Information technology players remain the dominant players in this market, surpassing $883 million in new VC investment in 2020 and have nearly matched that total ($882 million) in the first three months of 2021.

The business-to-consumer sector followed, posting $645 million in new VC investment last year and an additional $252 million flowed to this sector so far in 2021. The healthcare and life sciences sector has also been robust, garnering more than $601 million in VC investment last year and on pace to surpass those totals in 2021. In first quarter, the healthcare sector raised another $488 million in VC funding. Financial services/fintech companies raised slightly less than $100 million in 2020 but have displayed robust investment in 2021, raising more than $171 million in first quarter, says Newmark.