MARKET TAKEAWAYS
Seattle's tech market remains highly active and prosperous as the top 5 venture rounds totaled $652 million, nearly idential to Q2. Each of these top deals exceeded $100 million in funding. ProbablyMonsters garnered the highest round of the quarter at $200 million, a 4x increase from their early stage VC founding round last quarter.
The strong tech and life science industries in Seattle have fueled rising property valuations so far in the second half of 2021. Google-leased Lakefront Blocks in the South Lake Union submarket is reportedly being shopped for a resounding would-be valuation of $1,258 psf. A life science property, 400 Dexter Ave N, sold for $1,255 psf this month, setting a local record for standalone properties.
Tech firms were particularly active in the sublease market this quarter. The top five leases in Q3 were signed by tech companies and three of them were subleases exceeding 43,000 square feet (sf). These included a diverse array of firms such as Bungie, Convoy and Chewy.com. Online trading firm Robinhood leased it's first space in the Puget Sound, taking a 52,870 sf new development in the Kirkland submarket.
Leading experience management platform Qualtrics made a couple of purchases in Q3, acquiring local startup Usermind and Clarabridge, a Virginia startup valued at $1.13 billion. Other notable deals involved the acquisitions of local startups Ally and CreativeLive by Microsoft and Fiverr, respectively.