This was an exciting year for the wearables industry, with Apple launching its smart watch and Fitbit going public at a valuation of $4.1 billion. However, the funding climate for still-private companies in the space has cooled off — dollars invested in wearable technologies in 2015 are on track to hit $276 million at the current run-rate, a drop of 72% compared to 2014’s total. According to CB Insights data, this would be the lowest annual funding total since 2010, with the number of deals reaching close to 50, which is down around 15% from 2014 numbers.
Last year’s record-breaking wearables funding was driven largely by the $542 million Series B raised by Florida-based Magic Leap; in 2015, there were more modest rounds, the largest being Avegant’s Series B round totaling $24 million, followed by Doppler Labs’ $17 million.
Dollars invested in wearable technologies in 2015 are on track to hit $276 million, a drop of 72% compared to 2014’s total.Deals share in wearable tech is trending towards the early stages, with seed and angel investments currently accounting for 55% of deals, up from 29% back in 2011. On the other hand, mid-stage deals account for most dollars — from 2012 onward, Series B and C represented between 50% and 80% of all dollars going to wearable startups annually.
With $614 million raised, Jawbone tops the charts as the most well-funded private wearables company.
When it comes to investors, Intel Capital is leading the way, followed by Andreessen Horowitz, Rock Health, True Ventures and Khosla.
1 – Jawbone
2 – Magic Leap
3 – Misfit Wearables
4 – MC10
5 – Razer
6 – Polyera
7 – BodyMedia
8 – Ineda Systems
9 – Ledong Information Technology
10 – Avegant
10 – mCube
1 – Intel Capital
2 – Andreessen Horowitz
3 – Rock Health
3 – True Ventures
3 – Khosla Ventures
6 – Qualcomm Ventures
6 – Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
8 – DCM Ventures
8 – First Round Capital
8 – Felicis Ventures
8 – Bessemer Venture Partners
8 – The Social+Capital Partnership
8 – CrunchFund
8 – Formation 8