Editor’s note: Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) released venture capital data from the 4Q 2017 today in their quarterly PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report. While a full report complete with trend analysis is forthcoming, the sneak peek provides a trove of data comparing North Carolina and four of its regions to other states and regions nationwide. This is the second in a series of articles from WRAL TechWire focused on parsing apart the data and what they say about trends in the Triangle, the state, and nation. After digging into the data, we’ll hear from investors and entrepreneurs who participated in the 2017 venture capital investments, and finally we’ll compare with data from other reports. Part one provided a  look at Triangle deals.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – North Carolina-based companies raised a total of $956.3 million in venture capital investments in 2017, a 35 percent increase over 2016’s $706 million.

While 2015’s $1.3 billion remains the largest venture capital investment year in recent memory, 2017’s uptick could mean the sharp drop in investments during 2016 was an anomaly, not the beginning of a downward trend. However, trends take years to bear out, so only time will tell whether 2017 is part of an upward trend or a standalone increase.

This round of the Pitchbook-NVCA data release doesn’t include a ranking of the top deals of the entire year, but does provide Q4 rankings. The largest raise in Q4 came from Asheville’s Theraworks Protect whose skin-protection focused products earned it a $43.96 investment.

Investments were geographically diverse in 2017. In just Q4, half of the largest raises came from companies headquartered outside the Triangle—Charlotte, Greenville, Brevard and Franklin-based companies all make the top ten list in addition to the Asheville.

The report includes data from four North Carolina regions or Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs): Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, Durham, Greensboro-High Point, and Raleigh-Cary. For the first time in at least 11 years, the Charlotte MSA outranked it’s NC peers in terms of deal volume with $470.36 million invested. Durham’s $227.5 million brought the region in second place, Raleigh-Cary had $111.89 million and Greensboro-High Point was last with $4.04 million. Even when combining Raleigh-Cary and Durham, Charlotte beats out the Triangle by $130 .97 million.

AvidXchange —the fintech, payment automation software company –  has led the Charlotte region in VC raises for the past three consecutive years. This year’s $300 million Series F raise brings their total to over $547 million since they founded in 2000 .

But in the Raleigh-Cary region boasted the highest number of deals with 48 deals made. Durham’s 46 deals rank close behind, with Charlotte’s 36 deals, and Greensboro-High Point’s four deals rounding out the list.

Exits remained relatively constant between 2016 and 2017 with 13 in 2016 and 12 in 2015. Most exits were in Q1-Q2 with the lone Q4 exit being serial entrepreneur Justin Miller’s Wedpics which was acquired by Mixbook in mid-December for an undisclosed amount.

Two NC-based funds also raised funding in 2017, for a total of $275 million.