Your Custom Text Here
Call me an optimist, but when everyone is saying how bad times are to raise capital and how bad the economy is, I prefer to see the opportunity.
In the ever-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, timing is crucial, and going against the crowd is essential. Good companies can come out of difficult times — remember that Uber and WhatsApp both came out of the 2008 recession. READ MORE
Startup funding in the second quarter of 2023 declined by over half its value since last year, falling to $10 billion. PitchBook Lead VC Analyst Kyle Stanford sits down with Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the environment for companies seeking venture capitalist support funding.
"There's 51,000 private VC-backed companies right now and then there's also... maybe about half as much capital, and so these companies are trying to find a way to move forward," Stanford says on the struggle to access capital funds. READ MORE
U.S. securities regulators today will vote to approve a Private Fund Advisers rule that's a far cry from what was first proposed 18 months ago, in a major win for private equity industry lobbyists.
The big picture: This was set to be the most significant piece of new private equity regulation in decades, with the SEC playing catch-up to an asset class that now manages trillions of dollars. READ MORE
Venture capital (VC), long regarded as the pulsing heart of innovation and entrepreneurial risk-taking, is on the brink of transformative change. When VC industry giants like Mike Moritz from Sequoia step back, it underscores an impending shift in the rhythm of venture capitalism.
Challenges such as inexperienced general partners (GPs) and hurdles in fund-raising have nudged the sector into a period of introspection and self-reinvention. Likewise, technology innovation is impacting VC as much as the companies that VC supports. READ MORE
Companies that successfully raised money in their Series A funding rounds a couple of years ago are now facing challenges in securing fresh capital. According to Silicon Valley Bank, of the more than 350 biotech companies raised Series A financings between July 2020 only 102 achieved successful Series B rounds last year.
Initial public offerings (IPOs) followed a similar trend, with an impressive 182 companies collectively raising nearly $30 billion in 2020 and 2021, according to BioPharma Dive, while 2022 saw just 47 biotech IPOs raised a total of about $4 billion and the first half of 2023 saw fewer than a dozen. READ MORE
When we think of venture capital, what comes to mind are traditional venture capital firms like a16z or Sequoia.
We don’t usually think of large corporations like Verizon, Pfizer, or Salesforce as venture capitalists. But they are. READ MORE
If you are a startup founder raising a venture round this year, you’ll get a lower valuation than you might have in 2021 or 2022. New data from CB Insights details that there have been sharp valuation declines across nearly every startup stage around the world.
But you probably know that already. A more interesting question to ask, then, is if deal volume is going to shrivel across stages, too. Sure, it’s useful to know what the new norm is for, say, seed-stage or Series B deals, but it’s far more important to understand how quickly the later stages of the venture market are contracting. READ MORE
After nearly two years, the tech IPO market may finally be reawakening, setting the stage for a broader rebound in 2024.
Two expected IPOs in particular will be closely watched by the long backlog of heavily-funded startups waiting in the wings to make their market debuts: Arm Holdings and Instacart. READ MORE
Late-stage venture capital deals can be highly competitive and require significant capital commitments, making them challenging for average investors to access. Some argue that institutional blue-chip venture capitalists in the last few decades, focusing on these low-risk, later-stage deals, actually hinder innovation rather than encourage it. This might have led to a shift in the venture capital industry toward a resurgence of traditionalists. In fact, the 2023 Midas List celebrates investors who adhere to VC's core principles, focusing on early-stage investments and demonstrating unwavering belief in their portfolio companies. READ MORE
SVB Financial Group, the bankrupt former parent of Silicon Valley Bank, is close to rebuilding a venture capital business it lost when federal regulators took over during a meltdown and transferred the bank to First-Citizens Bank & Trust, a lawyer said in court Tuesday. READ MORE
Venture Capital thrives on innovation, driving both technological advancements and economic growth. However, as the world becomes increasingly interconnected yet geopolitically uncertain, VC investors must adopt a strategic approach to mitigate potential risks. But there are at least three important things you can do as a VC to minimize risk and thrive within a complex geopolitical landscape: analyse geopolitical risk, build strategic partnerships, and diversify your portfolio. READ MORE
Hybrid work environments — where employees go to the workplace at least once a week — are on the rise among knowledge workers. But while such arrangements may be popular, they also present plenty of complexities in areas from meeting planning to IT security.
Startups are on it. In the past couple years, developers of tools aimed at employers with hybrid workforces have raised hundreds of millions in venture and growth funding. And while funding to the broader human resources category is down sharply this year, we are seeing some investment activity around the hybrid theme. READ MORE
The continued influence and scale of private equity (PE)-backed corporate takeovers has increased many companies’ interests in learning about the long-term incentive (LTI) strategies that PE firms adopt and implement for their portfolio companies (PortCo).
WTW has conducted its first-ever survey of PE firms and their portfolio companiesOpen in a new tab to determine common plan designs that are established by PE firms at the time of their investment. This follows an August 2022 articleOpen in a new tab, which explained WTW’s findings based on publicly disclosed initial public offering data reported by PE-backed portfolio companies. READ MORE
As startup fundraising appears to be stabilizing after a few tumultuous years, there’s one topic which has reliably featured in that conversation: dry powder.
“Dry powder” refers to the amount of money that limited partners have committed to venture capital funds. Rather than being delivered upfront, that capital is requested in increments by VCs during the first few years of a fund in order to meet funding obligations to founders. That estimated number stood at around $580 billion at the end of 2022. READ MORE
Global venture funding in July 2023 was the second-lowest monthly total since the reset began more than a year ago, Crunchbase data shows. With the slowdown now in its fourth or fifth quarter, it increasingly looks like the startup ecosystem is undergoing a top-to-bottom reset, from seed through late-stage startups and all the way to the investors that back them.
Global venture funding in July 2023 totaled $18.6 billion — down about 20% month over month, and 38% compared to the $29.8 billion invested in July 2022. READ MORE
U.S. venture investors had already pulled back from China before President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order aimed at curbing American investment in sensitive technologies developed by its biggest global rival.
At the same time, China-based investors have kept their investment pace in the country steady since 2021. READ MORE
As valuation continue to compress at venture-backed companies, even early-stage startups have begun to feel the pinch.
During the 2022 market downturn, early-stage companies — those at series B or earlier — held up better than their late-stage counterparts, reaching a median valuation of $45 million in the third quarter of 2022, up 50 percent from the highest quarterly figure before 2021. One reason for this is that early-stage startups are further removed from potential exits, so the impact from the heightened volatility in public markets is less severe than that experienced by late-stage companies. READ MORE
The White House is briefing TikTokers about the war in Ukraine. A Twitch streamer’s PS5 giveaway sparks a bonafide riot. A 25-year-old YouTuber from North Carolina is one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
If you underestimate the power of internet personalities, you’re not paying attention. READ MORE
President Biden on Wednesday proposed an effective ban on U.S. venture capital and private equity investments into Chinese tech companies, via an executive order aimed at bolstering national security.
Why it matters: This is the end of unfettered globalization in venture capital and private equity.
Details: This is the so-called "reverse CFIUS" rule that's been expected since last year, and its implementation is subject to a comment period and rulemaking by the U.S. Treasury Department. READ MORE
In the ever-changing landscape of the tech industry, even the most promising startups can find themselves in a precarious financial situation. For many early-stage tech entrepreneurs who raised capital in the golden era of 2021, the winds have shifted, and the market is now down.
The revenue multipliers that once buoyed their ventures are now significantly lower, and investment criteria is more stringent. Those who did not reach profitability will struggle to secure additional external funding. READ MORE