Updated: April 18, 2010 12:22 a.m.

O.C. venture investments soar 166%

Venture capital invested in Orange County leaped a whopping 166.5%, thanks in large part to the $115.3 million shot in the arm of Irvine electric car company Fisker, according to one first quarter venture capital report.

The MoneyTree Report released Friday is put out by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.

Eighteen Orange County companies took in $239.6 million during the first quarter, compared to 14 deals totaling $89.9 million in the same period a year ago. Even without the Fisker deal, local companies did well, raising $124.3 million, up 38.2% from a year earlier, according to MoneyTree data.

In addition to Fisker, Orange County companies that received venture money in Q1 include:

NeoMend, Irvine, biomaterials manufacturer, $33.1 million
WebVisible, Irvine, online advertising, $20 million
Newport Media, Lake Forest, TV on cell phone designer, $15 million
Reverse Medical Corp., Irvine, treatment for strokes, $14 million
Coraid Inc., San Clemente, storage solutions, $10 million (moving to the Bay Area)
Event Robot, Irvine, social business communication software, $8 million
OrthAlign Inc., Aliso Viejo, knee replacement surgical equipment, $5.2 million
GaiKai Inc., Aliso Viejo, new media and web products, $5 million
Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics Inc,Laguna Beach, irrigated cardiac ablation systems, $5 million
OluKai Inc., Aliso Viejo, footwear designer, $3.2 million
Gateway One Lending and Finance LLC,Anaheim, finance company, $2 million
Smish, Aliso Viejo, third-party apps management platform, $2 million
CardioPolymers Inc., Laguna Hills, cell-based therapies, $1.4 million
Vigilistics Inc., Irvine, food processing software, $450,000
Loan Depot, Irvine, direct-to-consumer lending services, unknown
iChange Network Inc., Fullerton, online community for people who want to make life changes, unknown
SpeedTax Inc., Laguna Hills, web-based sales tax solutions, unknown
Nationally, venture capitalists invested $4.7 billion in 681 deals during the first quarter of 2010, compared to $3.4 billion in 635 deals in Q1 2009. The quarter was down from Q4 of 2009, which had $5.2 billion invested in 832 deals, but the final quarter of a year tends to see more activity as venture funds try to wrap up transactions for tax purposes.

Similar findings come for a separate report by Dow Jones VentureSource.

According to that report, venture funds put $4.7 billion into 597 deals during the first quarter of 2010, compared to $4.2 billion in 522 deals a year ago.

“The uptick in venture investments during the first quarter of 2010 shows the industry is moving toward a slow recovery following the economic downturn,â€