Venture capitalists had invested close to US$320 million in Maryland start-up companies in the second quarter of this year. According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the figure represents an increase of 115% from the first quarter.

Maryland can thank three major deals that occured in the same period for the large leap in statistics. The report said that US$150 million, or about half of the total venture capital financing, went to Precision for Medicine Inc. Precision for Medicine is a Chevy Chase firm that provides expertise in medical drug discovery. This transaction was one of the biggest amount any business in the country received in the quarter.

The two other Maryland firms that made hefty venture capital investments between April and June were Intrexon Corp. and Videology Inc. Receiving around US$60 million was Baltimore-based Videology Inc. Videology provides online advertising technology. Intrexon Corp., a biotech firm in Germantown, raised around US$85.6 million.

According to the same report, venture capital investments across the US in the second quarter totaled US$6.7 billion, representing a 12% increase from the previous quarter.