Agritech and foodtech sectors suffer funding slump

Venture capital investments into agritech and foodtech start-ups plunged in 2022 amid rising interest rates and questions over the start-ups’ business models, raising the prospect for industry consolidation and increased M&A in the year ahead. Companies in the two sectors raised just under $30bn in 2022, down 44 per cent from a year before, according to preliminary analysis from corporate data group PitchBook. READ MORE

How Alumni Ventures Grew to Become America’s Largest Venture Fund for Accredited Investors

Many companies succeed based on their ability to address an unmet need or tap into a new opportunity. This is the case for Alumni Ventures, a venture capital firm with over 8,000 investors and $1 billion in capital raised, that has quickly grown to be one of the most active venture investors in the world and America's largest venture capital fund for individual investors. READ MORE

VCs Stockpiled Record Funds This Year. Where Will All That ‘Dry Powder’ Go In 2023?

Venture firms have continued to raise record funds in 2022, even as startups received far less money than they did last year. That poses the question: What will happen with all that dry powder in 2023?

Dry powder is as high as $1.3 trillion globally for private equity and $580 billion globally for VC, according to one estimate from James Ephrati of Lightspeed Venture Partners. The dry powder in 2021 was roughly the same, he said, but investors were putting money to work at a record pace. READ MORE

Why Private Equity Gets Valuations Right

With the S&P 500 down approximately 20 percent year to date, virtually every investor is feeling the pain of unrealized losses. Unfortunately for most investors, bonds have not provided the ballast for portfolios that they typically do. Interest rates have risen 300 basis points or so in 2022, leaving core bond portfolios down roughly 20 percent as well.

There has been nowhere to hide. Well, except maybe private markets. READ MORE

Venture capital deals slow down in the third quarter

The U.S. venture capital (VC) deals are slowing in the face of ongoing economic headwinds, according to the Q3 2022 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.

The quarterly report, produced by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), said deal counts fell across all stages in the third quarter. Deal counts dropped for the second consecutive quarter after reaching a record high in the first quarter of 2022. Further, the
total money invested reached a nine-quarter low this past quarter. This pullback was especially pronounced at the late stage, where nontraditional investors – the largest drivers of mega deals and the overall growth seen at the top of the market – slowed investment in VC-backed startups. READ MORE

How to Grow Your Startup in 202310 tips that will help you grow your business and attract venture capital.

As a startup founder, you are facing a global recession, a correction of the stock market, a corresponding correction of startup valuations, and venture capital investors who have slowed down and sometimes even stopped their investment activities. And while the VC industry is sitting on a record level of dry powder, you would be foolish to believe that the $290 billions of dry powder available (in the US alone) will be flooding the market as if there had never been a crisis. There are several reasons why venture capital investors won't just return to their pre-crisis funding behavior. READ MORE

Startup founders, this is how you get your first investor meeting

If you’ve read anything about pitching your company, you’ve probably come across advice that says that you need a warm introduction to an investor. Without a doubt, a good, friendly introduction — ideally from a founder they’ve already invested in — is the best way to get on the radar of an investor. But if you don’t regularly attend barbecues at the Sonoma mansions of venture capitalists, don’t worry — access isn’t the only way to raise money. READ MORE

The rules of VC are changing: Here’s what founders should be considering in the new era

Over the last several years, VC money has been abundant and relatively cheap. This created an environment where everyone’s motto became, “growth at all costs.” Seemingly, the recipe for a successful venture-backed company became very cookie-cutter: Raise capital every 18 months; invest heavily in go-to-market; grow revenue at a ‘standard’ rate that triples in year 1, triples again in year 2, and then doubles thereafter. READ MORE

Despite economic turmoil, private equity can still unlock value

Political turmoil, Covid-19, conflict in Europe, energy crisis, supply chain disruption, cost of living, inflation, interest rates: the backcloth to turbulent times in dealmaking. Buyer caution stands in contrast to high valuation expectations softening normal activity across geographies. Hardly a positive outlook then? Acknowledging the challenges economies face, there is another view. PE and other private asset managers have the firepower, drive and agility to unlock value despite the turmoil. READ MORE

Everyone Wants to Know What Private Assets Are Really Worth. The Truth: It’s Complicated.

It all started with an offhand remark from a CIO at a run-of-the-mill investment conference.

Speaking on a panel before an audience of institutional investors in New York, Rockefeller University investment chief Paula Volent noted that two of the endowment’s private investment managers held pieces of the same portfolio company — and that those managers had assigned that company completely different valuations. READ MORE