After several years of investors pouring record sums into the local startup scene, the stock market crash in 2022 and rising interest rates have begun to slow the flow.

Massachusetts startups raised $4.9 billion in 238 deals in the first quarter, up from $7.9 billion in 285 deals a year earlier, according to a report released Thursday by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. Despite the 38% drop, the amount raised in the first quarter of 2022 was still higher than any quarter prior to 2021.

Among the local companies that attracted support in the first quarter, battery startup Factorial Energy raised $200 million, health AI company ConcertAI raised $150 million, climate technology company Verdox snagged $80 million and robot maker RightHand Robotics got $66 million.

The decline has been more pronounced among mature startups closer to IPO, while investors remain enthusiastic about younger startups, said Neeraj Agrawal, general partner at Battery Ventures in Boston.

One of the main reasons is that public tech companies, including Boston stalwarts Toast, DraftKings and Hubspot, have seen their stock prices crash over the past six months. More mature startups are seen through the same lens, while younger startups are valued more for their far-reaching potential.

“More [private] companies will have to accept that there is a new valuation… dictated by public procurement, and we are going to have to live with that,” Agrawal said.

However, following the typical seasonal pattern, deal flow appears to pick up again in April. This week, fast-growing crypto startup Circle Internet Financial raised $400 million in new funding, and retail software developer Salsify raised $200 million in a deal that valued the $2 billion company.

Salsify chief executive and co-founder Jason Purcell said he noticed a change from a year ago in the mood of some investors.

“I think we were lucky,” Purcell said. “Some investors who maybe invested three months ago were maybe a bit more risk averse today. It didn’t ultimately impact us, but I would definitely say it was tighter.

Others have suggested it’s too early to tell. “There doesn’t seem to be much of a slowdown,” said Jamie Goldstein, founder of Pillar VC in Boston, which focuses on crypto, AI and biotech startups.

The drop in transactions was less pronounced in other parts of the country, according to the PitchBook-NVCA report. Nationwide, startups raised $70.7 billion in 3,723 deals in the first quarter, down 8% from $77 billion and 4,282 deals last year, which was a all-time high for fundraising in the first quarter.

But the difficulties of the stock market make it more difficult for startups to go public. Just three Massachusetts companies went public in the first quarter, collectively raising $527 million, according to data from Ernst & Young. All three were biotech companies and all debuted in the first week of January. While the first quarter is often slower for IPOs, the decline has been more intense this year. A year ago, seven Massachusetts companies raised $1.1 billion publicly during the same period.

For venture capital funds, the first quarter also marked a slowdown. The Massachusetts-based funds raised $4.9 billion, up from $8.2 billion a year ago. Bain Capital announced its first crypto-focused fund in March and Spark Capital announced two funds totaling over $2 billion in February.

A new target for some funds that can acquire already public companies: buy startups that have merged with special purpose acquisition companies. Their stock prices have fallen by 60-80% in some cases.

The funds “walk around shopping at bargain prices to buy some of these [SPAC-merged companies] discounted, pennies on the dollar, and just start picking it up,” said Adrian Mendoza, founder and general partner of Mendoza Ventures in Boston.

Aaron Pressman can be contacted at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @ampressman.