Your Custom Text Here
The decline in North American venture funding is getting more pronounced.
Startup financing fell across all stages in the second quarter of 2022, with the drop most extreme at the latest stages. While North American investment levels remain high by historical standards, they’re down sharply from their peak late last year. READ MORE
Global funding slowed dramatically in the second quarter of 2022 as investors shied away from later-stage funding bets. It also marked the first quarter with a significant drop in funding since the beginning of 2020.
Funding reached $120 billion, the lowest amount recorded for a single quarter since the beginning of 2021, Crunchbase data shows. READ MORE
The S&P 500 -- down 20.6 percent since the beginning of the year through June 30 -- suffered its worst first half since 1970. That has wiped out $9 trillion in stock market wealth and slashed the prices that VC are willing to pay to own a stake in a private company -- for example, Klarna's valuation could be down 87 percent, noted Bloomberg.
Such drops in stock market valuations spooks VCs because they kill investors' appetites for initial public offerings (IPOs). No IPOs means that VCs lose a key avenue for earning a profit on their risky startup bets. READ MORE
One easy complaint to make when it comes to venture capital is that it’s mostly not. Venture-ous, that is. It’s definitely capital. READ MORE
When the IPO window is wide open, companies try to jump through. It’s an opportunity that attracts startups across stages, even some that might, under less buoyant market conditions, have waited. READ MORE
The growing number of large LPs entering the private equity market is proving a double-edged sword for GPs, with more managers now facing institutional levels of scrutiny and calls for greater regulation.
Among LPs surveyed for Private Equity Wire’s latest Insight Research Report, one third said that trust in their GPs has increased over the past five years, with 20% saying it had decreased. READ MORE
Naturally, with VC and PE funding showing no positive signs, company leaders and entrepreneurs now have to go back to their boardrooms, evaluate fundamentals correctly, and maintain an adequate standard of profitability READ MORE
A rout in the stock market is causing troubles for private equity as valuations fall, The Wall Street Journal wrote Monday (July 4) — and many companies are delaying their plans to go public.
The valuations aren’t down all the way across the board, though venture capitalists say the situation is worse for a lot of companies. Investors are becoming more selective. READ MORE
The longer a bear market drags on, the better the chance that pain will spread beyond stocks. So with the US bear market entering its seventh month, it’s not too soon to think about what other risks might be lurking. Private equity is at the top of the list. READ MORE
It is no secret that the funding environment for startups is changing. While money felt very easy and cheap over the last couple of years, 2022 is on a very different trajectory. Given this change in the funding landscape, companies may need to ask themselves, and their investors, questions that they could previously overlook. One of those key questions concerns the availability of reserved capital for their company. READ MORE
Venture capitalists are singing a different tune amid a widespread market meltdown. Blitzscaling, lighting cash on fire, and delusions of grandeur are out; capital efficiency, solid unit economics, and otherwise boring businesses are in. READ MORE
Tejas Hullur had been posting regularly on TikTok for about eight months before he partnered with a company for his first brand deal.
Venmo reached out to Hullur, who creates videos about ways to make money online and how creators build careers online, in April 2021 and asked for his rate. The payments giant wasn’t the first brand to contact Hullur, but it was the first partnership he wanted to do, and he was unsure of his rate. Venmo offered $1,000, and he negotiated it up to $1,500. READ MORE
Venture capital deal activity has cooled off as the technology sector faces a downturn brought on by rising interest rates and profitability concerns.
VC firms, meanwhile, are hoarding capital on the sidelines. READ MORE
Even as some analysts warn of “a death spiral for SPACs,” United Gear & Assembly, Inc., a subsidiary of United Stars Holdings, Inc., announced plans to go public via a SPAC acquisition by Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp. Upon closing of the $350 million merger, Aesther will change its name to EVGT LTD and its common stock is expected to be listed on Nasdaq, under the symbol EVGT, and its warrants listed under EVGTW. READ MORE
ESG considerations in private equity have come about quite recently because, as the opposite of listed companies, non-listed companies are less subject to non-financial disclosures. Thus, ESG concerns were mostly limited to socially responsible investments in which they are a core principle. READ MORE
The economic sanctions that have been imposed following the war in Ukraine pose an intricate set of challenges for private equity (PE). Sanctions are driven by foreign policy and national security officials rather than regulators, so the landscape can change quickly and in the most unpredictable ways. READ MORE
The global supply chain needs an upgrade, and private equity firms are attempting to offer a helping hand.
The last three years have seen a steady rise in US PE deal value in supply chain tech as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the rise in ecommerce combined to reveal weaknesses such as a lack of data and analytics and outmoded technology. READ MORE
Toys R Us is long gone, but its former private equity owners still can't shake it.
Driving the news: A U.S. bankruptcy court judge has ruled that a creditor lawsuit can proceed against a group of the bankrupt retailer's former top executives and directors, including partners of Bain Capital and KKR. READ MORE
On the face of it, the cybersecurity sector is doing just fine. Demand for cybersecurity products remains high as cyberattacks continue to blight both public and private-sector businesses, and investor enthusiasm for all things cyber-related remains strong. READ MORE
House lawmakers are looking to hold venture capital firms accountable for fostering ‘tech bro culture’ in financial technology services, with data showing that the vast majority of companies the firms invest in are owned by white men.
Lawmakers at a House Financial Services subpanel Thursday blasted private equity firms for leaving minorit-y and women-founded businesses behind, and discussed ways to turn the tide as capital injections into the sector continue to surge. READ MORE