Tech and life sciencecompanies have raised nearly $1 billion in fundraising in 2019.Medical office device companies led the fundraising activity, withAxonics Modulation raising $127 million, Laboratory for AdvancedMedicine raising $86 million, and Swift Health Systems raising $45million. The activity is a sign that medical device companies aregrowing as a result of their location between San Diego and LosAngeles.

"The medical device market is experimental by nature, sofundraising is the oxygen to the lifeblood that is innovation,Scott Wetzel, EVP at JLL, tellsGlobeSt.com. "Orange County has a long-standing history ofinnovation in the medical device sector and is home to companieslike Edwards Life sciences, Abbot Laboratories, Glidewell, Johnson& Johnson and ICU Medical. Orange County's healthy medtechfoundation has paved the way for a bright future."

The growth of these firms and this fundraising activity, whichwill inevitably fuel future growth, is translating into big winsfor the real estate office market. "Medtech companies contributedto 500,000-plus square feet of new leasing in 2019.  Andthis doesn't factor in the 25,000-plus employees who work in OrangeCounty," says Wetzel. "We expect these numbers to followthe money. The US saw $130 billion in venture capital investmentsin 2019, surpassing $100 billion for the second year in a row. Andmedtech gobbles up a significant portion of this money."