A surge in life science deals the first three months of this year led to a jump in venture capital funding for North Carolina-based companies.

But while overall deal flow remained remarkably consistent compared to other first-quarter deal totals in recent years, the number of tech-related deals did plunge, says Dow Jones Venture Source.

Nationally, venture funding hit $15.7 billion across 875 deals. Funding surged 27 percent over a year ago, and the number of deals climbed 9 percent.

Of 10 deals reported in North Carolina, six were made in life sciences (biotech, 4; medical software/life science, 2), according to the report issued early Thursday.

The deals generated $120.3 million. But virtually all of that ($109 million) was in the life science sector.

Comparing quarters

The funding is up sharply from the $50.4 million reported in the first quarter of 2014. Ten deals also were made in that quarter, but information technology (4) and business/financial services (3) dominated healthcare (1).

The funding spike in 2014 fell short of the $154 million reported in 13 deals in Q1 2013. Interestingly, in that quarter deals were very balanced: 3 in biotech; 3 in IT; 3 in industrial goods and materials.

Q1 2012 remains a quarter to forget: 12 deals, $20.6 million.

The best first quarter in recent years definitely was the 11-deal, $168 million in funding for 2011.

The Dow Jones Venture Source report comes a day ahead of the National Venture Capital Association -PricewaterhouseCooper “MoneyTree” report. Statistics and deals reported in each often vary, so neither report can truly claim to be the “bible” on deal making data.

Key deals

Here are the four big deals highlighted by Dow Jones Venture Source:

  • Clinipace (Triangle), $50 million raised in a “later stage” deal which closed on Jan. 2
  • G1 Therapeutics (Triangle), $33 million in a “later stage” deal closed Feb. 5
  • Clinical Ink (Winston-Salem), $17 million in a second-round deal
  • Vascular Pharma (Triangle), $9 million in a second round.

More deals

Other deals as reported in WRAL TechWire this quarter include:

  • Bivarus, $1.9M
  • Royalty Exchange, $550,000
  • WedPics, $2.25M
  • Dignify Therapeutics, $3.15M
  • Plum Print, $1 million
  • Filter Easy, $1.2 million