Venture capital investing in Dallas remains strong, despite a lag nationally in VC spending from record levels in recent years, the Dallas Business Journal reports. 

The DBJ said that VC investors in Dallas participated in slightly more than $633 million in deals in 2016, almost double the $335 million the year before. In the first six months of this year, VCs have invested $245 million here.

Nationally, VC investing has taken a dip, but that mean there aren’t plenty of investment opportunities in North Texas.

Les Kreis, co-founder of Fort Worth venture capital firm Bios Partners, told the Business Journal that a lot of opportunity still remains in the North Texas market, which he said drives much of the large Texas economy.

“I see Fort Worth focusing more resources on developing organic job growth through startups and entrepreneurship which will further expand the scope of North Texas’ total economic impact,” Kreis said.

The Business Journal reported Bios, which typically invests in biotech companies and researchers who have drugs in clinical stages, is raising $50 million for its second fund.

Nationally, VC firms invested about $38 billion in startups and other early-stage companies in the first two quarters of 2017. That’s down 10 percent from the $42 billion invested during the same period a year ago, according to data from Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association.

The DBJ also reported that deal activity — beyond just dollars invested — also declined. The publication said that through June 30, VCs participated in 3,917 deals nationwide, down 15 percent and 28 percent from the numbers recording during the same two quarters in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Strong investing months remain ahead in the final half of the year, the DBJ said.

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