Venture capital firms poured a record $282 million into 21 Fairfax County-based technology firms in the second quarter of this year, according to the MoneyTree Report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers. When combined with deals reported in sources other than PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Fairfax County total soars to $338.825 million invested in 24 companies.

The $338.8 million in funding is a record for Fairfax County and puts the total for the last four quarters at more than $1 billion. The amount of private equity financing has risen steadily in the last year: $327.3 million (first quarter 00), $222.3 million (fourth quarter 99), and $161.9 million (third quarter 99).

The $282.025 million total from the MoneyTree Report is 50.3 percent of the Virginia total and 24 percent of the total for Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., combined. The Fairfax County total reported by PricewaterhouseCoopers outstrips totals for New Jersey ($246 million), Washington, D.C. ($188 million) and Ohio ($131 million).

"Reaching the $1 billion mark is especially remarkable when the total venture capital funding for Fairfax County companies was only $100 million in 1997," said Dr. Gerald L. Gordon, president of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA). "Despite the market pull-back this spring, extraordinary companies, such as those in Fairfax County, continue to find funding."

Among the big Fairfax County winners with $10 million or more in investments were Commerce Industries (Vienna), $44 million; eMotion (Vienna), Ztango.com (Reston), $37.8 million; $34 million; OneSoft (McLean), $32 million; EyeCast (Herndon), $30 million; Motient (Reston), $25 million; Scoreboard (Herndon), $25 million; Sandbox (Reston), $20.15 million; FOLIOfn (Vienna), $15 million; Exent Technologies (Reston), $11.45 million; The .Com Group (Reston), $10 million; and WPSH Media Inc. (Reston), $10 million.

Other firms receiving venture funds were Longitude Systems (Chantilly), $8.25 million; netDecide (Falls Church), $7 million; iKimbo (Reston), $6.375 million; Linguateq (McLean), $5 million; QB Inc. (McLean), $5 million; Promisemark (Fairfax), $4 million; Career Rewards (McLean), $3.3 million; WorldStor.com (Reston), $2 million; zGraffiti (McLean), $2.1 million; SI International (McLean), $1.1 million; ServiceBench (Fairfax), $0.2 million; and MetroBook Computer Corp.(Chantilly), $0.1 million;

The FCEDA operates a capital attraction program managed by David Harvey. The program has two goals: assist entrepreneurs by bringing them together with venture capitalists and "angel" organizations, and increase the amount of venture activity in the county. FCEDA operates a Web site at http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.com.

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