April 24th VC related events, news, articles for investors
Hello friends,
Happy Easter! We hope you are enjoying your weekend!
VNTR COMMUNITY NEWS
We launched a series of bi-weekly VNTR Investment Committees where we invite pre-selected startups to present to VNTR Community investors. This week we hosted two early-stage neo-banks that are going through VNTR Capital due diligence and will be presented to VNTR Syndicate members for co-investment. Our next Investment Committee is scheduled for May 11th at 6 pm Dubai time.
On April 27th we will host a VNTR Expert Session where we will learn about investments in Longevity startups with Garri Zmudze, General Manager at LongeVC.
May 2022 is going to be an active month with 4 VNTR Breakfasts, we scheduled the 3rd VNTR Breakfast in New Delhi on May 26th. The other 3 locations will be shared in the coming week.
Want to host us in your city or sponsor, reach out to @byuric on Telegram.
Join our online community to participate in our upcoming events, connect with other investors, and co-invest? JOIN VNTR COMMUNITY
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 25-27 - VON3, from Web2 to Web3
April 27 - VNTR Expert Session - Investments In Longevity Startups (Zoom)
April 27-29 - TechChill 2022, Riga, Latvia
May 11 - VNTR Investment Committee (Zoom)
May 12-13 - EU Startups Summit 2022, Spain
24-27th - Wolves Summit, Wrocław, Poland
May 26 - VNTR Breakfast New Delhi
June 1-2 - Emerge Conference, Yerevan, Armenia
June 7-8 - Arctic 15 Startup, Helsinki, Finland
June 7-9 - Money 20/20 Europe
June 9-12 - Central Asian Venture Forum, Almaty, Kazakhstan
June 8-10 - South Summit. Madrid, Spain (30% partner discount)
June 20-23 - Collision, Toronto, Canada
July 19-20 - Venture Summit West, Silicon Valley
Check out VNTR's upcoming events
Want to co-host VC-related events, share events, or sponsor reach out to yuri@vntr.vc or Telegram @byuric to discuss collaboration opportunities.
VC READS
Global Venture Capital Investment Slows, but Market Remains Strong
Global VC investment during Q1’22 reached $144.8 billion, higher than all, but the four consecutive record-breaking quarters have seen during 2021 – making for a robust result, despite the decline, according to the KPMG’s Venture Pulse report, covering Q1’2022. The quarterly report, published by KPMG Private Enterprise, analyses key VC deals and trends globally in key jurisdictions around the world. While total investment remained strong, the number of VC deals dropped considerably – from 10,775 deals in Q4’21 to 9,349 in Q1’22 – as geopolitical and economic factors combined to create a storm of uncertainty in the market. The Russia-Ukraine war, rising inflation and interest rates, turbulence in the global capital markets, ongoing supply chain challenges, and surging cases of COVID-19 in a number of jurisdictions likely contributed to a slowdown in deal-making activity as VC investors enhanced their caution and focused more on due diligence.
Despite Growing Crypto-Corn Numbers, Sector Not Immune To Macro Trends
Crypto sometimes seems like the darling of venture capital—impervious to a slowdown as rounds and valuation only go up. However, while a dozen unicorns were minted in the crypto space so far this calendar year, venture dollars dipped in Q1 compared to both the previous quarter and last year’s first quarter. According to Crunchbase data, the first quarter saw VC-backed companies in the crypto space raise about $5.1 billion—less than the $6.6 billion that cascaded into the sector in Q4 of last year, and also less than the $6.3 billion seen in the first quarter of 2021. However, the market also does not appear to be falling apart. Venture funding globally was down in the first quarter, as fears of interest rate hikes, inflation, and geopolitical tensions heated up. Also, Q1 still saw significant deal flow on par with any quarter, and actually saw more venture dollars than either of the middle quarters of last year.
‘Decentralized’ web3 startups find out the hard way there’s no safety net
When the Vietnam-based outfit behind the crypto game Axie Infinity was hacked last month - hackers stole upward of $625 million in Ethereum from its blockchain, with the FBI now pointing fingers at a North Korean state-sponsored group as the culprit - questions quickly arose around who, exactly, would make the company’s customers whole.
The outfit later said it would use its own balance sheet funds, along with an injection of $150 million in the capital led by Binance, to make up the difference, but the episode, along with a newer lawsuit lodged earlier this month against three venture investors in the crypto token exchange Uniswap, has raised questions about who is protected against what in a more decentralized world where web3 startup companies are building atop blockchains like Ethereum and Solana.
Rivian CEO Warns of Looming Electric-Vehicle Battery Shortage
Chief Executive RJ Scaringe is warning that the auto industry could soon face a shortage of battery supplies for electric vehicles - a challenge that he says could surpass the current computer-chip shortage. Car companies are trying to lock up limited supplies of raw materials such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel that are key to battery making, and many are constructing their own battery plants to put more battery-powered models in showrooms. “Put very simply, all the world’s cell production combined represents well under 10% of what we will need in 10 years,” Mr. Scaringe said last week while giving reporters a tour of the company’s plant in Normal, Ill. “Meaning, 90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist,” he added. The CEO’s comments are the latest alarm bell to go off across both the auto and battery sectors with executives worried that the fast-rising demand for electric-vehicle parts and a shortfall of critical materials and production could result in an acute supply crunch.
Amazon Primes New $1B Fund To Invest In Companies Working On Logistics And Supply Chain Issues
Amazon has a new $1 billion venture fund to invest in companies working in the customer fulfillment, logistics, and supply chain sectors. Its new Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund comes amid record venture investment into the shipping and logistics management space prompted by snarled global supply chains. “We see an opportunity to look beyond our own experience and empower companies that are developing emerging technologies in customer fulfillment operations, logistics, and the supply chain,” Alex Ceballos Encarnacion, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide corporate development, wrote in a blog post. “We know there are companies out there that share our curiosity and excitement to invent. Whether our investment helps them grow or leads them to work with Amazon or both, we’re excited to help advance these technologies as online shopping becomes even more important to people who are looking for more convenience and time savings.”
Venture Capital funding into SaaS firms to touch USD 6.5 billion this year
Venture Capital investments will continue to flow into SaaS (Software as a service) companies and are projected to reach $6.5 billion this year, a 55% increase compared to last year’s investments. Investments in Indian SaaS grew 3X to over $4.2 billion in 2021.
A report by Chiratae and Zinnov said that 90% (15 out of 17) of SaaS start-ups have been accorded the unicorn status in the last four years. Companies such as Amagi, Uniphore, Hasura, and Darwinbox have turned unicorns recently.
India is expected to leapfrog China and become the second-largest SaaS nation by 2026. Also, Indian SaaS has garnered a lot of interest from international VCs over the years. Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman, Chiratae Ventures, said, “India is a global SaaS leader and with over 35 SaaS companies in our portfolio like Uniphore, which recently raised $400 million and others like Pixis, Hevo Data, Healthplix, CropIn, Pando, Deepfence, and Squadcast that are valued over $3.5 billion and last year overall raised $600 million.”
France's VC ecosystem has been on a steep upward trajectory over the past five years as a countrywide desire to become more startup-friendly has resulted in a robust network of entrepreneurs, investors, and talent. In Europe's second-largest VC hub by capital invested, the amount raised by startups rose by 328% from 2017 to 2021, according to PitchBook data. In 2021, French startups amassed €10.7 billion, more than double the amount raised in 2019. As the ecosystem matures, the country's VCs are also becoming more prolific both in France and abroad. We've compiled a list of the 10 most active VCs from France by deal count since the start of 2017.
VC fund Antler opens India residency for entrepreneurs
Early-stage venture capital firm Antler’s India unit has launched a cohort-based program - Antler India Residency - for aspiring entrepreneurs. It will bring together about 60-70 individuals from business and engineering backgrounds to participate in an 8-week-long programme. During the residency, Antler India would enable participants to meet their future cofounders.The fund’s partner, Rajiv Srivatsa, told ET that inability to meet one's cofounder is one of the main reasons why startups don’t launch. Antler expects 8-10 companies to be born out of each cohort, which will have the chance to receive $270,000 for a 9% stake. The funds will help new startups make at least five-six iterations of an early product-market fit, he said.
U.S. Venture Capital Is Pouring Into Canadian Enterprise Tech Startups
U.S. investors are pumping cash into Canadian information-technology startups, which last year raised a record $13.6 billion in venture capital, more than double a previous high set in 2019, according to researcher PitchBook Data Inc. Many are being drawn north by thriving tech hubs in places like Toronto and Vancouver, where in recent years Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Microsoft Corp. Intel Corp., and Uber Technologies Inc. have either opened or expanded offices and research-and-development campuses, say startup founders and investors. That, in turn, has fostered a growing pool of skilled tech workers, who are becoming increasingly scarce in the U.S., they say. Canada’s homegrown tech workforce also is benefiting from engineers, coders, and software developers leaving Silicon Valley and other U.S. hubs, many taking advantage of remote-work opportunities, a lower cost of living, and more open immigration rules, they say.
The Emerging Unicorn Board: Meet 300 Companies That Could Be The Next Billion-Dollar Startups
Crunchbase News is launching The Crunchbase Emerging Unicorn Board, a curated list of startups on the path to achieving billion-dollar valuations, also known as unicorn status.
The startups on our Emerging Unicorn Board are private companies valued at $500 million or more, but less than $1 billion. They could well become the next billion-dollar private companies listed on The Crunchbase Unicorn Board, our list of the most highly valued startups in the world. Powered by Crunchbase’s comprehensive data, the Emerging Unicorn Board is continuously updated. We hope this data and our analysis serve as resources for readers to track and understand the funding landscape around these fast-growth companies on the path to unicorn valuations. The board currently hosts more than 300 companies. This cohort of emerging unicorns has altogether raised more than $53 billion over time and is collectively valued at more than $200 billion.
Investment funds in Portugal – challenges, and opportunities
According to Transactional Track Record (TTR), transactions in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), PE, and VC continued to increase in Portugal, reaching 560 in 2021 up in volume (+32%) as well as in value (+2%). Looking at M&A deals, the market remained dominated by the real estate (RE) and technology sectors. If the RE sectors remained solid in 2021 with 86 disclosed transactions, note that the activity in the technology sector increased by 93 % with 110 transactions. A successful year for the tech sector, a period during which as many as four new start-ups achieved the status of a unicorn: Feedzai, Remote, Sword Health, Anchorage Digital.
Q1 US venture capital trends in five charts
The first quarter of 2022 showed signs of a slowdown in US venture dealmaking and exits compared to last year's record highs. While the public market volatility of the past few months is expected to have a trickle-down effect on other venture metrics in coming quarters, the start of 2022 also suggests the onset of a healthy recalibration period for both startups and venture investors. US VC-backed companies raised $70.7 billion across an estimated total of 4,822 deals in Q1, marking the highest number of closed transactions in any quarter on record. Even though the Q1 deal value was lower than every quarter in 2021, the number still exceeded pre-2021 quarterly totals dating back to 2010. PitchBook analysts say that VC deal activity will likely see a delayed reaction to the public market slowdown—a trend to watch closely in the next quarter.
a16z debuts new crypto research team led by Columbia, Stanford researchers
In the world of crypto, where vast amounts of investment are pouring into young and scrappy teams building uncharted technology, it’s increasingly the VC firms who are investing heavily in research to sweeten their sell to early teams with plenty of offers on the table. The venture firm Andreessen Horowitz announced that it was building out a dedicated crypto research team led by faculty from Columbia and Stanford. A blog post from a16z GPs Chris Dixon and Ali Yahya notes that the research team will be tasked to “work along with the founders in our portfolio on solving some of the hardest problems in web3.” The organization will be led by Columbia’s Tim Roughgarden and Stanford’s Dan Boneh. Joining the founding team are Harvard’s Scott Duke Kominers, Meta’s Valeria Nikolaenko, author Joseph Bonneau and researcher Benedikt Bünz.
Blockchain Gaming Usage Explodes 2,000% in a Year: DappRadar
Blockchain-based game playing increased 2,000% since Q1 of 2021, equating to 52% of all blockchain activity, according to the recent DappRadar x BGA Games report. Blockchain games attracted 1.22 million unique active wallets (UAW) in March of this year, with Axie Infinity being responsible for 22,000 of those in spite of the $615 million Ronin Bridge hack. A rise in popularity of play-to-earn non-fungible token (NFT) games on Ethereum sidechains has been a big contributor to growth, with platforms like Crazy Defense Heroes, Pegaxy, Arc8, and Aavegotchi spurring a 219% increase in Polygon's gaming activity since the start of 2022. Activity on the likes of BSC and Ronin, on the other hand, has dropped off since the end of last year as users attempt to minimize risk on more volatile chains. Across the sector, a total of $2.5 billion of funding was raised in Q1 of 2022, up 150% from the year-ago quarter. Animoca Brands was among those with investments, raising $360 million at a $5 billion valuation as it cements itself as one of the leading Web 3 brands.
Why the inventor of the iPhone will not be investing in the metaverse
Tony Fadell, the engineer who helped invent the iPhone, founded Nest and now runs an investment firm that has backed more than 200 startups, has strong opinions, and is not afraid to shout about them. Here are two for starters: Europe is going to lead the climate tech revolution and investing in the metaverse is a harmful “diversion of resources”.
The world, says Fadell, is experiencing a “Holy Shit moment” as it grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, a “horrifying, devastating war” in Ukraine and looming environmental disaster.
But, ever the optimist, Fadell says that these massive challenges also create extraordinary opportunities. A new generation of purposeful startups is inventing creative solutions to problems that will not only improve our planet but may turn into trillion-dollar businesses, too.
“Everything is going to change over the next 20 years,” he says. “Every product you use today will be changed.”
VCs Are Scaling Up Climate Software Investments
Climate-focused software startups were a hot area for early-stage investment last year. Now it appears companies are graduating rather quickly to larger rounds and much higher valuations.
That’s the broad finding based on a spate of recent large rounds for companies working on carbon tracking, sustainable investment tools, and other areas at the intersection of climate and software. Using Crunchbase data, we curated a list of 27 climate-focused software companies funded in the past year. Collectively they’ve pulled in more than $1.3 billion. See the full list of companies below: Now, the sums going into climate software aren’t huge as a portion of venture capital investment overall. Rounds for the 27 companies on our list, for instance, account for less than a quarter of a percent of total venture funding.
7 Tips for Startup Founders From an Entrepreneur Who Turned VC
The biggest asset any startup has is its team. The product may change, the market and the regulations as well, but if your team members are able to adjust to new circumstances, if they don’t panic, and can work in situations of ambiguity, that means your startup is sustainable. Invest your time, money and expertise in building up strong relationships with talented professionals around you. No matter what crisis happens, your team of like-minded people will be there for you. That means a little give and take. Do not forget to be open to criticism. It is hard, but the people you work with need to feel valued and listened to. That is why they want to be able to be open and sincere with you. VCs will challenge your leadership qualities as well as pay close attention to the atmosphere between the team members.
India becomes a global investment hub for digital shopping
With the backing of global investors for e-commerce companies, India has become the second-largest global venture capital investment hub for digital shopping companies in 2021 after the US. The Indian e-commerce segment registered a whopping growth rate of 175 percent and reached $22 billion from $8 billion in 2020. The US which attracted $51 billion in investments came first followed by China at third position with $14 billion and the UK at fourth position with $7 billion according to the London & Partners analysis of Dealroom investment data. The data also indicates that the US and India are two of the world's leading hubs for digital shopping companies with high levels of global investment and unicorns. The reason for this kind of investment may be attributed to the increasing demand for online purchases during a series of lockdowns across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic.
European venture capital firms focus on FinTechs
European venture capital firms continued to invest the majority of their funds into fintech in the first quarter of the year, according to new research. Data from Dealroom, reported by Sifted, showed that $8.62bn (£6.63bn) was put into Finechs in the first three months of the year, making it the most lucrative sector — a trend seen in every quarter of 2021. In contrast, $3.05bn was put into the second most attractive sector, health. Overall, European venture capital firms invested $27.7bn across 1,800 funding rounds in tech firms across Europe in the first quarter of the year, up from $27.3bn from the previous quarter and $23.6bn in the first quarter of last year.
The great streaming service shakeup
Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings shocked the streaming world this week by announcing that, after years of saying absolutely not to the idea of an ad-supported tier, Netflix will almost definitely be launching an ad-supported tier. And CNN’s new streaming service, CNN+, appears to be imploding just three weeks after launching — kind of like Quibi but even more wild because CNN is a legacy brand with a stable of reliable content and Quibi was, well, Quibi. All this goes to show: It’s hard out there for streaming services.
DMCC breaks another record by registering 665 new companies in Dubai in q1 of 2022
DMCC – the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – welcomed 665 companies to its Free Zone in Dubai during the first quarter of 2022. This represents DMCC’s best first quarter since its inception over twenty years ago, with a 13% year-on-year increase, and a 25% increase compared to the five-year average
US venture dollars recede after the pandemic boom
The numbers are in: Venture capital deployment in the U.S. slumped in Q1, per the latest PitchBook data.