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Wisconsin companies have raised almost twice as much venture capital so far this year than in all of 2013, according to a national report released Friday.

Through September, 22 deals had generated about $67.1 million for state firms, compared with almost $33.9 million during all 12 months of last year, data from the MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association shows.

The report is based on information Thomson Reuters collects from a survey of venture capitalists.

Nationally, venture capitalists invested $33 billion in the first nine months of the year, exceeding the $30 billion total for all of 2013, even though investing slowed from the pace of this year's second quarter.

"Driven by a strong IPO market for venture-backed companies and the rise of start-ups in every region of the country, we continue to see a greater number of new players joining the venture game," said Bobby Franklin, president and chief executive of the National Venture Capital Association.

Franklin said the emergence of nontraditional investors, including hedge funds and mutual funds, is contributing to the increase in venture investing this year. Franklin said start-up companies are disrupting long-standing industries and even creating new ones.

"Traditional and nontraditional venture investors alike recognize this and want to get in on the ground floor of innovation," Franklin said.

The software industry continued to receive the highest level of funding among all industries nationally, at $6.1 billion.

In Wisconsin during the third quarter, one standout deal was $14.5 million raised by Propeller Health, a Madison maker of a digital system for people with chronic respiratory diseases. The round of financing was led by Safeguard Scientifics Inc., a publicly traded venture capital firm. The company said it planned to use the money to accelerate product development and to invest in strategic alliances, client services and sales and marketing.

While the growth figure for Wisconsin this year is an improvement over 2013, deals in the state make up only a smidgen of venture capital investment nationally, said John Neis, managing director at Venture Investors, of Madison.

Increases and decreases in venture capital totals measured over relatively short intervals can be heavily influenced by one large round of financing, he said.

"It's great to see the positive direction, and there has been a lot of entrepreneurial activity and there have been a lot of new players coming into the market, and I think all of that is very, very positive," Neis said. "I'm always hesitant to read too much into quarter-by-quarter and year-by-year numbers because, candidly, the numbers are so small here."

Neis, whose firm has been involved in financing some of the state's most successful biotech companies, said the goal is to sustain a growth pattern over four or five years and give Wisconsin a bigger chunk of venture capital.

"That's what we really need to do," Neis said. "Overall, positive. But it indicates we still have lot of work to do."

Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, was encouraged by the report.

"We're already more than doubled the 2013 totals in dollars invested. That's a healthy sign that Wisconsin companies are attracting investment dollars well beyond our borders. The story of Wisconsin's early stage deal opportunities is being told," he said.

He said the 22 venture deals in Wisconsin so far this year was approaching the record of 27 set in 2000.

Still said the investments this year represented "broad improvement across industry sectors."

"In 2014 so far, we have seen $8.4 million in industrial/energy deals vs. $2.3 million for all of 2013," he said. "In biotechnology, there have been $8.5 million in deals vs. $850,000 in 2013. The consumer products and services category has climbed from $2.3 million in all of 2013 to $8.5 million in the first three quarters of 2014."