The Coming Wave of Startup M&A

To say it has been a tough time to be a startup founder over the past two years is an understatement. We all know that venture capital funding has been down, valuations are down, interest rates are up, and the predicted merger boom has yet to materialize (although deals are still happening). Throughout the summer, there were many news stories about a purported wave of startup shutdowns that have resulted from the economic rollercoaster we have been on, warning those numbers could increase as we move into late 2023. READ MORE

Global Venture Funding In Q3 2023 Falls Again Despite Late-Stage Rebound Led By Huge AI Deals

Global venture funding in the third quarter of 2023 reached $73 billion — up a bit quarter over quarter and down 15% from the $86 billion invested in Q3 2022, Crunchbase data shows. 

Despite the uptick quarter over quarter, this is the second lowest quarter since funding started to slide in 2022. The startup world is now five to six quarters into the current funding decline, Crunchbase data shows.  READ MORE

How Private Equity Firms Can Protect ‘Treasure Trove’ From Digital Threats

Cybersecurity risks are omnipresent. September’s hack of MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment showed just how vulnerable companies can be, no matter how large or small.

Institutional asset owners and asset managers, and private equity firms especially, are uniquely positioned to be victims of cyberattacks, with “treasure troves of sensitive information,” as one technology manager put it, there for the taking. Any cybersecurity incident can have drastic consequences for the firms, their portfolio companies and their sensitive information. READ MORE

U.S. venture capital exits revive while fundraising, deals still in doldrums

U.S. venture capital exit values appear to have staged a bit of a comeback in the third quarter, while fundraising and total transaction values faltered, PitchBook-National Venture Capital Association's U.S. Venture Monitor showed.

There was a total of $35.8 billion worth of exits in the third quarter, up from a combined $6.6 billion in the second quarter and an increase from $16.4 billion in the third quarter of 2022. However, there were fewer exit transactions in the third quarter (216) than in the second quarter (256) and the year-earlier quarter (298). READ MORE

Trends in Growth Equity Financing in an Uncertain Economy

The current economic climate has been challenging for privately held companies seeking to raise growth capital. Several factors have contributed to the recent contraction in fundraising, including high interest rates, reduced access to capital, a decline in valuation multiples, and an unfavorable outlook for exits.

Given this market environment, companies seeking to attract new capital have increasingly had to conduct down rounds, equity financings at lower company valuations than in prior rounds. Our Goodwin Deal Database indicates the percentage of down rounds has risen steadily for six quarters. READ MORE

Increasing Your Startup’s Chance Of Getting VC Funding In A Recession

Is a recession coming? While some sources predict that a recession is on the horizon and others say signs point to “no,” what we know for sure is that businesses are adapting to bear the brunt of economic changes, real or imagined. Businesses are feeling the effects of fear, even while inflation is dropping and the stock market is rising.

Despite some healthy economic indicators, venture capitalists are still wary about allocating funds, because there is no telling what the future holds. With fewer VCs providing funding, fewer startups will be able to take their first mass-market breath. READ MORE

We are liars, hypocrites and egoists. We are VCs

A nice pair of sneakers, Brunello Cucinelli vest, an expensive car and a cry for help in their eyes — that's how I'd describe a typical venture capitalist on their path to becoming a partner one day.

In public, we position ourselves as superheroes supporting world-changing startups. In reality, it's a male-dominated, materialistic culture marked by burnout and cynicism. 

We have only ourselves to blame for the misery we suffer and spread. We are sinners, and here are our gravest sins. READ MORE

Private Equity Indigestion Relief Is Meant to Hurt

Helping an investor cash out of a gummed-up buyout fund used to be a niche business. Now it’s mainstream. So-called secondary funds, which offer to buy unwanted private equity holdings, have become widely accepted. It would be a shame if normalization overshadowed one of the key reasons they have flourished — to remedy seemingly ill-disciplined investment in private markets during the era of easy money. READ MORE

Venture capital spring is here

As the summer winds down, American venture capital is enjoying a new spring.

Though venture investment remains depressed compared to recent heights, green shoots are emerging quickly for those paying attention. Good deals are back. And from inside the world of venture capital, a pervasive, privately acknowledged sense of “investment thesis” disarray among experienced investors is a counterintuitive signal of an impending massive startup dawn. READ MORE

FTC Challenges Private Equity Roll-Up Acquisition Strategy

A recent U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) antitrust lawsuit against a private-equity owner of a large anesthesiology practice in Texas demonstrates that the FTC has begun to implement its more aggressive focus on the perceived competitive harms caused by certain “roll-up” acquisition strategies.

Private equity firms commonly employ roll-up strategies involving the serial acquisition of multiple companies in a single market and consolidation under a single entity. This strategy is frequently seen, for example, in the health care industry. According to the proposed Merger Guidelines released by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the FTC on July 19, 2023, “a firm that engages in an anticompetitive pattern or strategy of multiple small acquisitions in the same or related business lines may violate [the antitrust laws], even if no single acquisition on its own would risk substantial lessening of competition.” READ MORE

Angel Investors: An Answer To The Lack Of Venture Capital Funding For Women

Despite the progress made by women in business over the past several decades, women entrepreneurs still have a more challenging time raising capital than their male counterparts. According to PitchBook, in 2022, companies founded solely by women garnered just 2.1% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in the US.

However, there is hope for women seeking funding for their startups in the form of angel investors. Speaking with Loretta McCarthy, Co-CEO of Golden Seeds, a discerning group of investors seeking and funding high-potential, women-led businesses and creating lasting impact, who stated that angel investors are “popping up everywhere.” READ MORE

Party rounds fall out of favor with VC downturn

Party rounds have been a controversial topic in the venture industry, but the economic downturn will likely limit their use.  

In the last decade, the average number of investors per round had been increasing steadily, reaching a peak in 2021 at 5.84 per deal, according to PitchBook data. At the same time, party rounds—deals in which smaller amounts of capital are raised from multiple investors in the double digits with no lead—also grew in number. READ MORE