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Generative AI was the dominant theme of venture capital in 2023 and will likely continue to be this year. However, investment in the sector is likely to become more specialized.
A record $29.1 billion was invested across 691 generative AI deals last year, according to PitchBook data. This represents a 268.4% increase in deal value over 2022’s total. READ MORE
As Big Tech investments proliferate across emerging startups—advancing everything from AI to crypto to biotech—markets brim with promise of human progress through innovation. But when titans extend tentacles into rising potential competitors, what whispers echo from conference rooms with two-way mirrors? Emerging trends around influence through minority board positions should spur regulators to reassess antitrust frameworks developed long before today's complex web of strategic investments between dominant platforms and startups. READ MORE
Over the past four weeks, I’ve talked to hundreds of SaaS founders and there’s one recurring topic: The current funding environment. How do you address this tough situation? Do you cut costs or do you make a risky decision to keep spending and attempt to grow into the original valuation? READ MORE
My colleagues and I at Prime Movers Lab reviewed over 3,000 investment opportunities last year and are on pace to exceed that in 2022. In the process, we deployed more than $400 million across six sectors: transportation, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture and human augmentation. To accurately allocate capital across so many burgeoning sectors, every year, we run 25-plus squads, which are our internal teams that go deep on particular technologies and themes, such as lithium, orbital debris and cultivated seafood. The work of these squads, combined with the careful watching of public and private markets, have led me to a few predictions for where I see venture capital going the rest of this year. READ MORE
Money is everywhere in the world of venture capital. In 2021, U.S.-based startups saw a record $93 billion worth of funding in the seed stage. Since money is such a commodity, a lot of VC funds have pondered working with PR agencies to bolster their presence so as to not miss out on checks, either signed for the next big startup or received from a big name limited partner (LP). As alluring as press clips and media mentions in top-tier outlets may seem, venture funds are often not well positioned to make any of that media happen. Based on our experience at BAM, here are five reasons why venture funds should skip the PR agency: READ MORE
A decade ago, $20 billion would have been enough to fund roughly a third of all global venture funding for an entire year. Today, it’s the sum that just a single investor racked up for a single fund.
This morning, software-focused growth investor Insight Partners announced it raised over $20 billion for its 12th flagship fund. That’s more than twice the size of the 11th flagship fund, which closed about two years ago with $9.5 billion and ranks among the largest funds ever. READ MORE
There may be a shortage of semiconductors, but there’s no lack of venture funding to companies in the chip space.
While most of the talk around semiconductors revolves around disruptions in the supply chain, the industry actually saw an unprecedented amount of venture capital in 2021—as well as one of its biggest M&A years ever. READ MORE
The imbalances in today’s job market have become a familiar story.
Employers can’t fill an enormous number of jobs because they can’t find and attract employees with the requisite skills. READ MORE
With sky high redemptions, prices stuck well below NAV, and PIPEs not getting done, the SPAC market is not in a happy place. But, at least DWAC is crushing...? READ MORE
Today M3-Brigade Acquisition II Corp. (MBAC) became the latest SPAC to call off a merger when it cancelled its planned combination with Syniverse, marking the 9th deal to be called off since December. The company noted that due to the amount of redemption requests it received that they wouldn't be able to meet the minimum cash requirements for the deal.
Given that Syniverse is backed by Carlyle and counts other major players as investors, it was slightly surprising that more wasn't done to get this deal over the finish line, particularly as they were seemingly close with a shareholder vote scheduled for today. READ MORE
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has kicked off an ambitious regulatory agenda — and his agency is pushing forward with key measures focused on hedge funds and private equity.
The federal agency is meeting on Wednesday to consider three new rules: more disclosure from hedge funds and private equity funds, more disclosure regarding cybersecurity risks and attacks, and shortening the date on which stock transactions must be settled, a fallout from the GameStop saga. READ MORE
The financiers atop the growing $18 trillion field of private funds — hedge funds, private equity funds and others — would be required, under a new proposal from federal regulators, to provide investors with quarterly investment statements regarding fees and returns.
Although the proposal requires these firms to provide only basic information to investors, the proposal was described as a “sea change” in federal regulation because the Securities and Exchange Commission largely has steered clear of mandating disclosures for such investments. READ MORE
Hedge funds and other nontraditional investors are pumping more money than ever into venture capital deals — driving valuations to new heights, according to PitchBook.
Early-stage valuations, which includes series A and series B, have gotten so high that they are beginning to resemble the late-stage valuations of previous years. In 2021, the median early-stage pre-money valuation reached $45 million, a 50 percent increase from 2020, PitchBook said in its annual U.S. VC valuations report. READ MORE
Shifts in how people think about food, investing and even changes brought about by COVID-19 have led to more money—and more deals—in the agtech sector than ever before.
Last year was a record year for agtech, with nearly $5 billion invested in the sector in 440 funding deals to VC-backed startups, according to Crunchbase data. That far outstrips the $3.3 billion invested in 422 deals in 2020. READ MORE
In the business world, there is a slight but important distinction in the terms incubator and accelerator. The terms are often used interchangeably, but technically, an incubator is for earlier-stage startups, and the term accelerator pertains to existing companies that desire to accelerate growth. Incubators and accelerators assist business leaders in the quest for success, including how to raise capital, which often involves connecting with VC (Venture Capitalist). READ MORE
Venture capital has grown exponentially over the past decade, and it’s not showing any signs that it’ll be slowing down in 2022.
In 2021 alone, VC mega-deal activity reached a total deal count of 784 and generated a cumulative deal value of $182.4 billion — a record high, according to a PitchBook analyst note published this week. In 2011, the deal count was at 46 and the total deal value was only $10.4 billion. READ MORE
Geoff Chapin started a very cool company in a very hot space.
C-Combinator, which launched last year, tackles at least two major problems at once. Every year, mountains of seaweed amass on Caribbean beaches and slowly rot, creating not only a tourism-alienating stench but also methane gas, which contributes to global warming. The company scoops up the seaweed and turns it into a variety of products that might otherwise be petroleum-based, including emulsifiers and a kind of natural leather.
You might think that a tech company with a sustainable end product that is also actually preventing greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere would be catnip to venture capitalists, those highly specialized middlemen, lavishly compensated to invest other people’s money in companies who rave a lot these days about “climate tech.” And you might be right, but Chapin hasn’t pursued the VC path. READ MORE
It seems there’s news every day about startup funding reaching record highs, new unicorns being minted and tech firms going public. There’s no question that we are in the middle of a long-running and accelerating venture bull market.
All of this impresses upon us that every indicator in startup funding points up and to the right: Venture firms have more dry powder, deal sizes are growing rapidly, valuations are soaring and investment terms are more founder-friendly than ever. And all that is indeed happening. READ MORE
Venture capital activity reached new highs, through the first three quarters of the year, according to the Q3 2021 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor released today.
Annual records in deals, venture capital fundraising, and exit values were set, according to the report, through just the first three quarters of 2021.
For the quarter, venture capital firms poured in $82.8 billion into 3,518 deals, the report found. That brings the total year-to-date numbers to nearly $240 billion invested into nearly 13,000 deals. In 2020, the prior annual record for investment, venture firms put in $166.4 billion. READ MORE
When the SEC changed its crowdfunding regulations in 2020 to allow companies to raise up to $5 million — a big bump from the previous $1 million cap — more startups embraced the method to raise early-stage capital. The change also sparked a debate. While many founders championed the new crowdfunding regulations, saying the strategy allows them to set their own terms and have more control as the business gets off the ground, others in the industry argued that having the guidance of a venture capital firm from the beginning is critical. Almost two years later, many founders are realizing they can have the best of both worlds and raise rounds that include a sleeve for each, as originally reported in Midas Touch newsletter. READ MORE