While private equity assets themselves are set to break records in 2021, one of their derivative products — secondaries — also had an unprecedented year. READ MORE
Venture capital invested a record $30 billion in crypto in 2021
Venture capital funds poured a record $30 billion — more than every other year combined — into crypto investments in 2021, Bloomberg reported.
The report, which cited PitchBook data, said the sky-high number is nearly four-times the 2018 record of about $8 billion, in part thanks to investors funding "anything and everything" in crypto. READ MORE
More venture capitalists are hatching startups
Venture capitalists are known for spotting and investing in promising upstarts, but an alternative approach is growing in popularity: incubating.
Why it matters: With startup investments pricier and competition stiffer, some investors are setting up startup studios or incubating companies — a trend that's expected to continue accelerating.
The big picture: The recent public listings of companies like Snowflake and Hims have put incubation and startup studios back in the spotlight. READ MORE
Venture Capital And Its Relationship With Bitcoin
With the printing press in overdrive, there is an ever-increasing amount of fiat looking for a home. In order to avoid being debased and lose purchasing power, capital allocators are charged with finding investments that can outperform the rate of monetary inflation. Thus, more and more capital is being allocated further out on the risk curve. Enter venture capital. Venture capitalists provide financing to startups and early-stage businesses. Since 90% of early-stage businesses fail (according to Investopedia), venture capital is certainly well to the right on the risk curve. READ MORE
Are venture capitalists misunderstood?
The last few years have been tough on the reputation of venture capitalists. Poor governance, discrimination, and malpractice have dogged major companies financed by VCs, which have frequently been characterized as enablers of a reckless, fake-it-till-you-make-it culture among startups. In a critical essay published in the New Yorker in November 2020, author Charles Duhigg called VCs “increasingly avaricious and cynical” and accused them of becoming “co-conspirators with hype-artists, handing them millions of dollars and encouraging their worst tendencies.” Duhigg argued that contemporary VCs are exercising less discretion than their predecessors. Instead of getting their hands dirty to craft promising ideas into viable companies, they are spraying money around as if they were making “trading-floor bets.” READ MORE
The ‘art’ of VC startup valuations is a forgery
Venture capitalists frequently say that valuing startups is “more art than science.” If that’s true, then it’s absurdist art, because most seed-stage businesses have no value. READ MORE
From the Bench to Biotech Venture Capital
In the world of venture capital (VC), every investment is a gamble.
At the time of investment, investors can’t know for certain whether a product will do well in the market. In some cases, they can’t even be sure a product is technologically feasible. Both risks are present for VC firms investing in biotechnology companies, where it’s common to invest in companies long before they have fully developed a product. READ MORE
Celebrity SPACs Leave Famous Winners Looking More Like Losers
Betting on flashy names like Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Shaquille O’Neal and Martha Stewart to boost blank-check companies this year left investors mostly in the red. READ MORE
Why every VC should spend a month with an accelerator
Startup markets around the world are heating up, and more investors are competing against each other for the best deals. In the scuffle, VCs are turning to scouts to do the legwork, but that has meant being yet another step removed from their founders. Investors have already been signing the dotted line without meeting entrepreneurs in person. READ MORE
What Are Pro Rata Rights And Has The Growth Of Venture Changed Them?
With more companies raising series Es, Fs and even Gs that eclipse half a billion dollars, now may be a good time to look at pro rata rights and how the investing world has changed for early investors.
While pro rata rights in the venture capital world are nothing new, as 2021 has seemingly rewritten the book on venture investment in terms of structure and money invested, it is interesting to think about the future of such rights. READ MORE
Investors Warming To Nuclear Fusion
Although much of the talk about clean and environmental tech focuses on topics such as climate change software, electric cars and new battery technologies, investors seem to have found a new favorite in a concept that has been talked about for a century. READ MORE
The Shortest-Lived Public Companies Of The Past Decade
When a company goes public, it’s generally intended to be a permanent move. But sometimes, a business’ time on the public markets is short-lived.
That’s the case for a couple of venture-backed companies that went public in 2020 and 2021. They’re not alone—and there could be more companies delisting as large companies flush with cash look to make acquisitions. READ MORE
The World’s Biggest Startups: Top Unicorns of 2021
Many entrepreneurs start businesses around the world, but only the most successful new companies become “unicorns”—the biggest startups with a valuation above $1 billion.
Some unicorns are little-known companies making quiet but impactful strides in software, healthcare, automotive, and other fields. Others have already become well-known industry leaders, like aerospace manufacturer SpaceX and game developer and publisher Epic Games. READ MORE
Private equity's climate footprint gains focus
Look for carbon emissions from companies held by private equity to come under increasing scrutiny, a new report finds.
Driving the news: MSCI, the investment research and data firm, is out with its list of trends and topics to watch in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space. READ MORE
The ‘Democratization’ of Private Equity
Partners Group has led the way in making private equity accessible to a broader array of investors beginning with the launch of a closed-end fund in 2009 that requires a minimum investment of only US$50,000 instead of US$250,000 or much more. READ MORE
How Does A Startup Get A Premium Valuation? Here Are The Key Drivers
Having advised technology companies on M&A and capital raises, for the last 15+ years, I often get asked about drivers for achieving premium valuation — when a company trades better than their industry group peers.
Below are some factors that help technology companies achieve premium valuation. While every company is unique and has its own attributes and dynamics that ultimately drive valuation, the points below can help companies focus on factors affecting valuation as they focus on their next round of funding or exit. READ MORE
Why Are SPAC Targets So Young?
Every time it seems like the SPAC bubble has burst, a slew of companies say they’re going public via a blank-check merger.
After experiencing a slowdown earlier this year, SPAC deals are still happening and the number of companies going public through a SPAC make up a significant portion of the overall total of companies that went public this year. READ MORE
Silicon Valley’s share of US VC funding falls to lowest level in more than a decade
In 2014, more than 40% of U.S. seed- and early-stage venture dollars went to Bay Area startups.
But that was a long time ago. READ MORE
European VC investments outperform U.S. ones—and have over the past two decades
Silicon Valley immediately springs to mind when people think about the heart of technology innovation.
But it turns out that investors looking for returns from fast-growing tech startups might be wiser to start hunting for those in London, Berlin, Stockholm, or Madrid. The returns from European venture capital investments have exceeded those from similar investments in the U.S. in every time period for the past two decades. READ MORE
November Smashes Another Record As Financial Services Leads In New Unicorn Creation
As we head into the final months of 2021, global funding is not showing signs of slowing down. In fact, November set another new record for global venture funding, with $65 billion raised.
Global funding in 2021 has topped $580 billion as of the end of November, compared to $335 billion in funding for 2020. Last month was also the third month this year to peak at over $60 billion. READ MORE