Last year was a good-news, worrisome-news year for the state's venture-capital community, according to the just-released 2019 Michigan Venture Capital Association's annual report.

The good news? A dramatic record of $385 million was invested in 61 companies by VC firms either headquartered in Michigan or with offices here, a 36.5 percent improvement over the previous record of $282 million invested in 2015, and 56.5 percent better than the previous second-best total of $246 million in 2008.

The number of companies that got VC funding is the third-highest ever, behind the 74 in 2015 and the 68 in 2015.

Numbers compiled by the Washington-based National Venture Capital Association, which includes investments in Michigan companies by VC firms with no physical presence here, buttress that record level of activity. According to the NVCA, 104 Michigan companies got a total of $502.5 million last year, compared with the 78 companies that got $334.4 million in 2017 and the 73 companies that got $252.6 million in 2016.

California was No. 1 last year, as it is every year, with 2,869 companies getting a total of $77.3 billion, with New York No. 2 (981 companies, $14.3 billion) and Massachusetts No. 3 (624 companies, $11.9 billion). Michigan ranked 21st.

The bad news locally? A shortfall of cash on hand to invest in current or new portfolio companies. Of the $3.7 billion under management by state VC firms, 74 percent has already been invested, 10 percent is being set aside for those portfolio companies, with just 16 percent available to invest in new companies. While $337 million is available for follow-on financings for existing portfolio companies, survey respondents say they will need about $967 million for those companies over the next two years.

That shortfall could be short-lived.

Eleven state firms are currently raising what they hope will be a total of at least $722 million, according to confidential information submitted by state VC firms to Emily Heintz, whose Ann Arbor-based firm, EntryPoint, compiled the data and wrote the report. And another firm that launched in January and wasn't included in the MVCA report, Ann Arbor-based Narrow Gauge Venture Syndicate LLC, is raising a fund for early stage companies of what it hopes will reach $10 million.

"The report is exciting," said Ara Topouzian, who joined the MVCA as its executive director in March. Previously he had been president and CEO of the Troy Chamber of Commerce. "The venture community is working with entrepreneurs to build companies and put people to work. ... The innovation going on in the state is fantastic, and it's being connected to investors."

Of the potential shortfall of current cash available to state venture firms, Topouzian said: "That's not bad news, but it is something to keep an eye on. There's work to be done. There is a need for more outside venture capitalists to come into the state. We want to encourage new venture capital to come into the mix."

Here are some statistical highlights from the research report:

There are 140 venture-backed companies in Michigan, an increase of 37 percent over the last five years.

Michigan is no longer a fly-over state for East- and West-Coast VC firms. Every $1 invested in a Michigan startup by a Michigan-based VC is matched by $7.85 from companies outside the state.

533 venture firms from outside Michigan have invested in state companies.

46 percent of the companies getting funding in 2018 were IT companies and 32 percent were in life sciences.

859 angel investors invested $52 million in 84 state companies in 2018. That number of angels is 218 percent higher than five years ago, and those companies employ 642.