San Diego County startups raised only $590 million in the third quarter, a 60% drop compared to a year ago and the smallest quarterly investment total in eight years.
The number of deals told a similar sluggish story. The county saw 48 venture capital deals inked in the three months ended Sept. 30, according to a report by PitchBook, an industry research firm, and the National Venture Capital Association. That’s a decrease from 61 deals in the third quarter of last year and the lowest quarterly count in seven years.
Nizar Tarhuni, executive vice president of research and market intelligence at PitchBook, said: “Fundraising continues to lag amid ongoing market hesitancy, driven by years of capital influx the industry was ultimately unable to absorb.”
Mike Krenn, managing director for Prebys Ventures, offered additional insight: “Both early-stage money and growth capital is increasingly difficult to raise, both for tech and life science companies. And we’re seeing the hottest sector of the day, AI investment, is largely concentrated in the Bay Area, with billion-dollar funds deploying large amounts of capital at very rich valuations. That, too, is affecting all regions, not just San Diego.”
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Krenn added that while the total dollar investment for San Diego County is “certainly low, that’s attributable to the fact that we didn’t have any large rounds. We already have one $200 million round logged for Q4.”
He’s talking about San Diego-based Crystalys Therapeutics, which Krenn’s fund invested in. Crystalys is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that recently announced a $205 million Series A financing. It was co-founded by James Mackay, a veteran biotech leader with 40 years of drug development experience and six drug approvals.
Its drug — a pill called dotinurad — has been approved in Japan and China and is providing “meaningful relief for people living with gout,” a common inflammatory arthritis, said Crystalys CEO Mackay. “Our experienced team is now well-positioned to accelerate dotinurad’s development in the U.S. and Europe as a much-needed second-line therapy for patients who do not respond adequately to first-line treatments.”
AI focus
“AI’s rapid momentum continues to reshape the U.S. venture landscape, driving deal count growth and capturing the majority of capital deployed in Q3,” Tarhuni said:
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Nationally, top AI investments went to Anthropic in San Francisco, which raised $13 billion in September, and xAI in Palo Alto, which raised $10 billion in July, according to PitchBook.
Locally, three of the top 10 deals went to AI startups.
Alvys, a Solana Beach transportation management system using artificial intelligence and automation to transform freight operations, said in September that it raised $40 million in Series B funding.
Founded in 2020, Alvys said its customers achieve a 30% increase in monthly loads, a 10% sales boost, 90% faster accounting, 80% reduction in data entry, and savings of hours weekly in dispatch and administrative tasks.
“We’re scaling enterprise-grade solutions with AI at the core,” said Nick Darman, Alvys founder and CEO. “That means using AI, automation, and integrations to remove wasted steps, give teams smarter decision-making in real time and help carriers and brokers grow their operations and their profit margins without adding overhead. This funding helps us push toward that goal even faster.”
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Turnout, which was founded about a year ago in San Diego, is an AI-powered consumer service that streamlines complex government and financial processes such as tax debt relief and Social Security Disability claims. It said in September that it raised $21 million in seed funding.
Its AI automates nearly 60% of tasks by pulling transcripts, checking eligibility, pre-filling and filing applications, gathering medical and wage records, tracking deadlines and sending status updates.
“Turnout is using AI to transform the lives of everyday Americans, helping them navigate their finances, secure the benefits they are entitled to,” said Mo Koyfman, founder and general partner of Shine Capital.
GigaIO, a Carlsbad scalable infrastructure designed for AI inferencing, said in July that it raised $21 million in Series B financing.
The new funding allows the company to expand production of its flagship products: SuperNODE, a cost-effective and energy-efficient infrastructure designed for AI inferencing at scale, and Gryf, a carry-on suitcase-sized AI inferencing supercomputer.
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“As enterprises and cloud providers race to deploy AI at scale, GigaIO delivers a uniquely flexible, cost-effective and energy-efficient solution that accelerates time to insight,” said Jack Crawford, founding general partner at Impact Venture Capital.
In a PitchBook report, J.P. Morgan experts noted that while implications of investors’ love affair with AI “will take time to play out, history tells us significant market concentration carries risks.”
Defense
In addition to artificial intelligence, Bobby Franklin, president and CEO at NVCA, said U.S. deal values are climbing across other key sectors, including robotics. “This momentum isn’t just encouraging; it’s essential. Startups are the engine of U.S. job creation and the cornerstone of long-term economic growth.”
J.P. Morgan experts added that investment activity in sectors such as defense tech and robotics reflects prevailing geopolitical considerations and national security priorities.
A local example is San Diego’s Firestorm Labs, which was founded in 2022. The expeditionary manufacturing company said in July that it secured $47 million in Series A funding. The investment will help Firestorm add engineers and open a larger production facility to meet the evolving needs of U.S. and allied defense organizations.
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“Our military needs technology it can trust to be ready when the circumstances demand it,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “Deployable, on-site 3D drone printing is a powerful tool that further extends the warfighter’s ability to secure the battlespace, while advancing U.S. leadership on the frontiers of defense technologies.”
Retired U.S. Army Gen. Richard D. Clarke, who recently toured Firestorm’s San Diego facilities, said: “Firestorm’s innovation is really helping that logistics chain to operate more efficiently.”
Exit deals
Carly Roddy, co-head of venture capital relationships for J.P. Morgan, said nationally, “Strong performance of the latest wave of tech IPOs is bolstering confidence for others in the pipeline, and M&A activity is also rebounding. While there is still a long way to go in some areas of the market, recent developments are encouraging to see.”
Locally, Carlsmed went public in July. The Carlsbad company has developed a patented, machine learning technology that taps a patient’s X-ray and CT scans to design a digital surgical plan to achieve the best spinal alignment and then 3-D print titanium implants.
Company revenue for the six months ended June 30 was $22.3 million, nearly double from the same period a year ago. The company has a market cap of about $315 million.
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Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals in July completed a reverse merger with Ikena Oncology and $75 million private placement with new and existing investors. The combined company in San Diego publicly trades under the name ImageneBio and has a market cap of about $82 million. The clinical stage biotech business develops treatments for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Also, AbbVie in August completed the purchase of San Diego-based Capstan Therapeutics for up to $2.1 billion.
Founded in 2021, Capstan develops therapies that modulate unhealthy cells inside the body — rather than editing the cells outside of the body — through RNA delivery methods. Capstan encodes mRNA and packages it in a lipid nanoparticle that is “decorated” with an antibody, which directs the body’s T-cells to attack problematic cells.
“AbbVie and Capstan aim to transform the care of those living with autoimmune diseases by developing treatments that have the potential to reset the immune system,” said Dr. Roopal Thakkar, executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer at AbbVie.
In late October — after the close of the third quarter, Boston Scientific announced another local acquisition. The Massachusetts company said it will pay about $533 million for the portion it doesn’t already own of Nalu Medical, a Carlsbad company that develops a minimally invasive system to treat chronic nerve pain in areas such as the shoulder, lower back and knee. Boston Scientific has invested in Nalu since 2017.
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Earlier this year, Boston Scientific said it bought another Carlsbad company called Bolt Medical, which develops intravascular lithotripsy that treats coronary and peripheral artery disease.
Nalu’s therapy uses mild electrical impulses to interrupt pain signals before they reach the brain. The system uses a miniaturized, battery-free implantable pulse generator powered wirelessly by a small externally worn therapy disc and controlled via a smartphone app.
Boston Scientific expects Nalu to generate sales of more than $60 million this year and to post year-over-year growth of about 25% next year.
Jim Cassidy, Boston Scientific’s neuromodulation president, said: “Peripheral nerve stimulation is an exciting field with significant unmet patient need.”
Angel City FC’s 2-0 win over the San Diego Wave on Saturday should have been a cause for celebration. Instead, it was marred by injury.
It didn’t take long for ninth-place Angel City to take down the NWSL table leaders in San Diego. Maiara Niehues scored in the 17th minute, marking four straight games with a goal for the Brazilian international. Ary Borges finished the job with a goal less than 10 minutes later.
But heartbreak ensued just before the halftime whistle when Jun Endo went down with what appeared to be a non-contact injury. The Japanese midfielder grabbed her knee and could be heard sobbing before she walked off the pitch.
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Endo tore her ACL in 2024 and went through a recovery process that lasted more than a year. She returned to the pitch in June 2025 and completed her first full 90 minutes in Angel City’s win over the Orlando Pride on July 3.
Among life’s most magical moments is when you stand quietly in your garden and a hummingbird hovers less than a foot away in front of your face, seemingly taking you in and letting you do the same.
It’s not exactly interspecies communion, but it can feel like communication of some kind. Especially when it happens more than once. Which it can if you have hummingbirds visiting daily because you’ve created a space that welcomes and nourishes them.
Apparently a lot of us in the U.S. have been doing just that. According to Emergen Research, the hummingbirds feed market, which includes nectar solutions, feeders and supplements, was valued at half a billion dollars in 2024 and is expected to reach $1.2 billion by 2034.
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But hummingbirds don’t live on sugar water alone, so while hanging some feeders is useful, creating a holistic habitat that provides them with other nutritional and life needs is just as critical.
A hummingbird alights on a bush sunflower (Encelia californica) at UC San Diego’s Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, in Mission Bay. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Keep in mind, caring for hummingbirds is a commitment to maintenance:
• Making sugar water, keeping it fresh and the feeders clean and protected from ants, bees, wasps and other intruders.
• Providing clean water for bathing in sheltered, clean bird baths.
• If possible, growing native plants that not only flower but attract the insects that hummingbirds eat and the spider webs they use to create their little nests.
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• You have to keep your cats indoors, too, and be strategic when placing feeders and fountains to protect the birds as much as possible from other potential predators, like hawks.
A full in-ground garden isn’t a must: McLeod’s small hummingbird ecosystem fits in an area on her deck, with feeders, a couple of birdbaths and flowering plants. The plants are also home to bugs — necessary protein — as well as material to use for nests. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Creating an ecosystem with food sources
Birds find most of their nutritional needs in nature, explained Dan Payne, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Scripps Ranch, which sells feeders, food and other backyard bird gear.
“What we do is supplement their feeding in a way that helps bring them closer to us so that we can see them and enjoy having them in our lives,” he added.
Essentially, he said, what we’re doing is a hobby.
But it’s a hobby that potentially goes beyond satisfying our enjoyment. By creating an ecosystem in our gardens, we’re contributing to the health of our environment. We’re attracting pollinators. Some will do their jobs and fly off. Others become a source of food for hummingbirds and other birds.
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Colorful, tubular blooms of Mexican honeysuckle at McLeod’s home fit the birds’ long beaks. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Hummingbirds are frequent visitors to McLeod’s yard, especially in early morning and at dusk. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Colorful, tubular blooms of Mexican honeysuckle at McLeod’s home fit the birds’ long beaks. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Hummingbirds, said Kelcy Coleman, conservation coordinator with the San Diego Bird Alliance, use nectar for most of their diet, and sugar water is a great replacement for that if you don’t have native plants.
“But they eat protein for a complete diet,” she noted. “They feed on small, tiny little bugs, and especially during breeding season, they will feed the bugs to their chicks, so the chicks will have more protein and grow faster. They also need shelter plants, like bushier plants or trees, to be able to rest on, as well as build nests, so a layer of habitat.
“What I mean by a layer is blooming and flowering plants,” Coleman added, “And then, bushes or coastal sage scrub habitat, where the bushes are taller than the smaller plants, and then sporadic trees as well.”
Native plants are recommended for several reasons. You’ll have more success with plants that prefer the soil and climate where they naturally grow. Many have low water needs. Wildlife is dependent on them for food and shelter. And if you plant natives, you’re connecting your habitat with others, including in our canyons and fields, giving the birds a broader home base.
Making plant choices
What native plants are we talking about? The most often mentioned is the California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum), with its brilliantly colored tubular flowers — designed for those long hummingbird bills. Coleman also recommended Dudleya, a succulent that flowers from spring to midsummer, again with vibrantly colored tubular flowers.
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Then there are monkey flowers: The bush monkey flower has orange and yellow blooms, while red bush and scarlet monkey flowers, of course, have red, trumpet-shape flowers.
Others suggested to me were coral bells and Western columbine.
Fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) at Anstine Nature Preserve, seen during a nature walk, is a plant that attracts hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Bush sunflower (Encelia californica) at UC San Diego’s Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, in Mission Bay. The blooms also draw hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
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Fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) at Anstine Nature Preserve, seen during a nature walk, is a plant that attracts hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
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If you’re sensing a pattern, you’re right, hummers have great vision and are drawn to bright colors, especially reds. (That’s why the most popular hummingbird feeders are red.) So a good way to attract more hummingbirds is to grow native plants that have those brilliantly colored flowers. You can find them at nurseries across San Diego County.
A good source for finding both plants for your specific needs and nurseries that sell them is the Calscape website, calscape.org. Also, advised Coleman, try to choose plants that bloom in succession. Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds are species that tend to be year-round residents in San Diego, instead of migrating, so we need to have a variety of plants that can bloom throughout the year.
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And don’t have anything to do with pesticides. Use the bugs to your advantage: They’re the food that hummingbirds — and other birds — need as part of their diet. You don’t want to poison what you’re working so hard to attract.
Anyone can create a home for hummingbirds, says Renee McLeod, a “Birding for Beginners” instructor for San Diego Bird Alliance. She also leads inclusive tours for EveryBody Birds San Diego. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
All this may lead you to think that if you don’t have an in-ground garden, you can’t attract and keep hummingbirds. Renee McLeod, a Certified Access Birding Outing leader who leads tours for the San Diego Bird Alliance and inclusive tours with EveryBody Birds San Diego, would beg to differ.
McLeod and her husband’s outdoor space is a large deck, which she’s outfitted with several feeders, a couple of birdbaths, platform feeders for other birds and some flowering shrubs. Not only does she get visits from hummingbirds throughout the day — although mostly in early morning and at dusk — there are times when more than half a dozen hit the bar together.
Over the years, McLeod has changed feeder types as she realized they were harder to clean, were getting moldy or were hard to fill.
“When we first started, we were using purchased powdered food, and we stopped doing that pretty quickly,” she said. “That stuff is not good at all, and just the regular sugar is great.”
In fact, you may find something called electro nectar for sale, with ingredients such as sucrose, potassium sorbate, citric acid, sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate.
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“I don’t think we need to feed birds anything except for just the sugar,” said McLeod. “They get all the rest of their stuff from tiny little gnats. In fact, when they’ve got a lot of babies, and we go to empty the feeder, it’ll have all these little, tiny gnats and bugs inside, and that’s because they’re dipping their beaks into the nectar with them into the feeder, and then going to feed the babies.”
After trying several types of feeders, McLeod settled on ones that are easier to fill and to clean. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Choosing a hummingbird feeder
How do you choose the right feeder? According to Mark Hocking, the former owner of California Backyard Birds in Encinitas (who still works there part-time), try to buy a feeder that has at least some red on it.
“They see red at farther distances, and it tends to be their favorite color,” he said. “You want to buy a hummingbird feeder that’s easy to clean, because you want to clean it thoroughly, and you want to clean it every third day, and to get all that gunk out of there. The sugars ferment and that’s bad for the bird — and it ferments faster in hot weather.”
McLeod recommends a simple-to-make sugar water solution for the feeder, using granulated sugar, not powdered food. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The sugar solution ferments, especially in summer heat, which is bad for the birds, so feeders should be cleaned out every third day, says Mark Hocking of California Backyard Birds in Encinitas. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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A hummingbird perches on a feeder on McLeod’s deck. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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McLeod recommends a simple-to-make sugar water solution for the feeder, using granulated sugar, not powdered food. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Look for feeders that have large necks that allow you easier access to clean inside. Try to find ones that have raised ports, not ones with replaceable flowers, because mold can get trapped in them. The ones with yellow flowers on the ports are also said to attract bees and wasps, so skip them.
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And look for units with water moats, either built into the feeder or that you can hang the feeder from. They prevent ants from crawling in. Just remember to keep the moat filled with water.
Cleaning the feeder
You’ll need scrub brushes to get inside the bottle for cleaning. There are different opinions on how to clean. Some experts suggest using distilled white vinegar, others a 9-to-1 ratio of water and household bleach. McLeod said she’s been cleaning her feeders for years with dish soap.
“I think the thing is to wash them,” she said. “The big thing is you don’t really need to disinfect them unless they get full of mold.” Examine for black dots inside and around the feeder. That could be mold.
Also scrub the threads of the bottle neck, the feeder section and its threads, as well as the ports. You can find tiny brushes that look like mascara wands to clean inside the ports. Rinse it all thoroughly and dry.
Filling the feeder
Once the feeder is cleaned and prepared, fill it with a solution of 1 cup water to a quarter-cup of granulated sugar (not powdered sugar, and not honey). The easiest way to dissolve the sugar is to measure and boil the water in a kettle and add it to sugar in a bowl. Stir and let it come to room temperature before filling your feeder.
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When you start out, just fill partway to get a sense of how many birds you’re feeding to avoid wasting the sugar water. One way to expedite feeding is to make a larger batch and store that in the refrigerator for up to a week. But again, bring the sugar water to room temperature before filling the feeder.
Placing the feeder
There are a few factors to keep in mind when selecting a spot to hang feeders: sun exposure, territorial behavior and safety.
“If you’re looking at a small space, keep it away from windows, because bird strike is a very common issue when they go into a feeder and they don’t realize how close that window is,” said Hannah St. John, conservation assistant with the San Diego Bird Alliance and coordinator for the 11-acre Anstine Nature Preserve in Vista. “There are decals you can put on windows so birds register it’s actually a solid surface.”
She added that if possible, keep feeders in the shade to keep the nectar from fermenting. If you put up multiple feeders and you find that you have territorial male hummingbirds (they’re the ones with all the color), place feeders as far from each other as possible and even blocked from one another.
A small fountain at McLeod’s home also serves as a stopping point for a lesser goldfinch. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Considering water needs
Another crucial component for hummingbirds is a clean water source. According to St. John, they enjoy water, not just for drinking, but also baths.
“Hummingbirds also might get pollen on their feathers, so maybe that’s a way to clean themselves off, but most birds do enjoy taking baths, and so they’ll splash around a bit, and then that will kind of help them realign their feathers, and they usually preen after a quick bath.”
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Some birds will come to still water, but moving water is attractive. Buy a fountain or place a small solar fountain in a flower pot saucer filled only an inch or so. Add rocks for perching. And clean it weekly to keep it free of debris and algae.
Most of your setup will start as trial and error. It takes patience when you start — and even as you continue. You may get a single hummingbird for a while, then a couple and then, hopefully, more. Then not as many for a few days. If there are males, you’ll see them driving off other males to protect what they see as their territory. Some may not return.
Some weeks you’ll need to fill the feeders daily and then think, “Where did they go?” But stick with it. You’re both witness to wildlife in all their behaviors — and because hummingbirds seem to be very tolerant of people, you can get truly up close and personal with them.
If you’ve been putting off a proper reset, consider this your nudge. Rancho La Puerta – the iconic fitness resort and spa nestled in the hills of Tecate, Baja California – has once again claimed the top spot on Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards list, earning the No. 1 ranking for International Wellness Retreat in 2026.
Eight Times at the Top
The Ranch doesn’t just show up on this list – it dominates it. Previous wins in 2013, 2014, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have earned it a hall of fame distinction in Travel + Leisure’s history.
Rankings are based on reader ratings across rooms and facilities, location, service, food, and value, so this is real-world validation straight from the people who’ve been there.
A Week at the Ranch
Set across 4,000 private acres of gardens, mountains, and meadows, The Ranch runs on a weekly stay format designed to help you slow down, move, and reconnect. The fitness program is broad – yoga, Pilates, strength training, water aerobics, Tai Chi, and guided hikes across more than 40 miles of trails.
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Three onsite health centers handle the spa side, offering a full range of treatments and therapies throughout the week. The food earns its own mention: nourishing, pescatarian-style cuisine built around fresh produce from the Tres Estrellas Organic Farm right on the property.
Rooted Since 1940
The Ranch was founded by spa pioneers Deborah Szekely and her late husband Edmond Szekely – two of the people most credited with shaping the modern wellness resort as we know it.
That foundation is still very much alive here: a focus on nature, community, movement, and nourishment that has kept people returning for decades.
See you there!
Rancho La Puerta has been drawing people in and keeping them coming back for over 80 years. Your first visit – or your fifteenth – awaits.
