PORTLAND, Maine — Companies in Cumberland County last year dominated fundraising through private security offerings, selling either stakes in their company or debt to raise cash.
Of the $115.5 million private companies in Maine raised last year, mostly from offering company shares, about 83 percent went to companies based in Cumberland County, according to a Bangor Daily News analysis of filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Nearly half that amount came from one company, Direct Vet Marketing Inc., an online pharmacy for veterinary offices started by Ben Shaw, son of Idexx founder David Shaw. The company does business under the name Vets First Choice.
That company’s $52.3 million round of equity fundraising was more than five times the amount of the next-highest equity offering from another Portland-based company, CashStar. The digital gift card company reported selling $15 million of a $22.5 million offering.
The fundraising reflects private companies that offered company equity or secured debt to investors, under a range of exemptions the SEC makes available to companies that have not yet started selling company shares publicly, such as on the New York Stock Exchange. Private companies report those offerings, which are exempt from registration, in a Form D filing.
Investment funds also can use exempt offerings, and they did in Maine last year. The Portland-based CleanGen Fund LP, founded last year, announced its intention to raise $30 million for clean energy investments.
The fund’s managed by Constant Energy Capital, a firm started last year and led by a former SunEdison executive.
Startups and early-stage companies more often sell equity to investors, while more mature companies with steadier cash flow can find investors for secured debt.
That was the case in Maine, where Camden National Bank made up nearly all the total debt offerings initiated in the state last year.
For that startup fundraising, which can come from accredited investors or others who have gotten detailed information about the offerings, the vast majority was clustered in Cumberland County.
And while the calendar year ended, the fundraising may continue. Many of those companies, required to report the first sales of any of the securities within about 15 days, sought to raise more and could still be working toward gathering additional or initial investors.
There were a few exceptions, with three offerings bringing about $3,255,000 to companies in Hancock County: Blue Hill-based Hydro-Photon, which raised $3 million in equity; Trenton-based Jackson Lab spinoff Bar Harbor BioTechnology, which raised $180,000 in an equity offering; and Bar Harbor-based Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory spinoff Novo Biosciences, which raised $75,000 in a debt offering.
York County also had a notable equity offering, from startup Hyperlite Mountain Gear, which had its second equity round in two years, raising $1.1 million last year that added to nearly $1 million raised in 2014.