April 2nd VC related events, news, articles for investors
Hello friends,
We hope you are doing well. Scroll down to view the news, upcoming events, and VC reads.
VNTR community is helping with humanitarian efforts in Ukraine:
Bas Godska, Managing Partner at Actrobator Ventures launched the Netherlands for Ukraine, raised more than 750k Euro, and brought 550+ refugees to a safe place in the Netherlands with new clothes and emergency cash. Donate Now
Eugene Malobrodsky, Managing Partner at One Way Ventures launched Operation Sunflower / Grains of Good Foundation, bought and delivered vests, rescued people, and provided humanitarian support in collaboration with NovaUkraine. Donate Now
Marina Marinkevich, Network VC is launching the Ukraine Spirit NFT collection, a charitable initiative created to support Ukrainians courageously defending their country, lives, and freedom. Each series of the NFT collections consists of five tiers, embodying one characteristic of the Ukrainian identity. The team is raising funds to launch the initiative. Contact Marina to Support
Do you have your humanitarian initiatives? Please share them with us and we will feature them with our community.
VNTR COMMUNITY NEWS
VNTR team attended 4 blockchain conferences in the past 3 weeks in Dubai (WOW Summit, Crypto Expo Dubai, AIBC, and World Blockchain Summit) and connected with 100+ investors.
We hosted two VNTR breakfasts in Dubai and connected 60 investors who focus on blockchain investments.
In April we will host 3 VNTR Breakfasts (Tel-Aviv, New Delhi, Monaco) to connect local investors.
VTNR Global investors' community and the Indian investors' community see a lot of new collaborations forming and the community helps members resolve their challenges and get peer support.
Want to join our team as a Regional Venture Partner to grow the VNTR investors community regionally and grow your personal network with our support? Please respond to this email to discuss.
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 5-6 - 0100 Conference CEE, Prague
April 12 - VNTR Breakfast Tel-Aviv
April 14 - VNTR Breakfast New Delhi
April 21 - Experiential Yachting Forum Monaco
April 22 - VNTR Breakfast Monaco
April 27-29 - TechChill 2022, Riga, Latvia
May 12-13 - EU Startups Summit 2022 May 12-13, 2022, Spain
June 8-10 - South Summit. Madrid, Spain (30% partner discount)
June 20-23 - Collision, Toronto, Canada
Check out VNTR's upcoming events
Want to co-host VC events or sponsor, respond to this email to discuss the opportunities.
VC READS
“Support Ukrainians program” Has Selected the First 8 Startups For Aid
Free Ukraine Foundation along with UVCA has launched a program aiming to provide aid for startups and specialists that are a part of the Ukrainian startup community and whose innovative business needs help right now. UVCA is helping companies from the most dangerous parts of Ukraine to relocate and continue their work having everything they need.
Slowdown In EU Startup Funding Announcements Persists
Funding announcements for startups in the European Union have slowed in the weeks following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. In the 33-day period since the Ukraine invasion began, EU startups have announced a total of 170 seed through late-stage funding rounds, collectively raising $3.2 billion, per Crunchbase data.
That’s a distinct slowdown over prior weeks. By comparison, for instance, in the 33-day period prior to the attack, EU companies announced 255 rounds, bringing in $5.1 billion. The recent slowdown follows a record funding period for European startups. Last year, venture funding to Europe, including both EU and non-EU countries, hit an unprecedented $116 billion, up an incredible 159 percent year over year.
Sequoia’s Leone Says Tech Investors Have Cut Activity
The ongoing tech downturn has caused late-stage venture capital funds to pull back activity as risks to the economy mount, according to a senior executive at Sequoia Capital.
Venture capital funds have gone from telling portfolio companies “run, run, run” to “stop, stop, stop,” said Sequoia Capital Managing Partner Doug Leone in an interview. With “prices sticking downwards,” there are “fewer investors and fewer founders as typical in a down-market cycle,” he said.
Geopolitical Tension And Market Uncertainty Will Not Diminish VC Aspirations
The worst of the pandemic may be behind us, but as the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine continues, there’s growing concern that this devastating – and likely protracted – conflict will hamper global growth prospects for a third successive year.
And while business headlines have been dominated by news of corporations and financial institutions cutting their ties with Russia and withdrawing from the region, some pundits are arguing that geopolitical risk poses an even bigger threat to the fortunes of the VC industry.
Edtech Investment Continues To Soar Even As Schools Return To In-Person Learning
Edtech has had a standout for two years. While many schools have returned to in-person instruction after virtual learning accelerated the adoption of education technologies, the sector still saw a spike in funding last year.
VC-backed companies in the education space raised more than $20 billion last year, up from around $14.6 billion in 2020, per Crunchbase data. The sector also saw a number of high-profile companies exit the public markets, with companies including Coursera, Udemy, and Duolingo doing initial public offerings.
Data obscures positive trends in VC dollars reaching women-founded startups
In 2021, $330 billion in venture capital was deployed, and only 2% of that number went to companies founded only by women and 15.6% to teams with both women and men on their founding teams, according to PitchBook data. In my view, the correct statistic is about 18%, not 2% — as we should take into account deals that had mixed-gender founding teams. Eighteen percent of $330 billion translates to $59 billion, or 25% of all venture transactions (e.g., deal count), and these three figures are the numbers that should be reported.
VC exits from Indian start-ups soar 10X to $14 bn in 2021
Anchored by a few marquee deals, the exits accounted for around 60 percent of the total exit value. This included BillDesk's acquisition by PayU for $4.7 billion, Paytm's $2.5 billion initial public offering (IPO), and Zomato's IPO debut of $1.3 billion.
VC exits through IPOs constituted a robust 40 percent of the overall exit value in 2021, while secondary sales were anchored by a few large deals, as per the report.
12 AgTech takeaways from 12 global agriculture experts
It is believed that the English accent changes every few miles in England. It is a rare Professor Higgins who understands the nuances of different accents and places them within specific London neighborhoods. Many of these differences are related to the historical development of English in the British Isles. Similar to accents, agriculture changes by region. Agricultural practices, challenges, and opportunities are different in, say, Iowa compared to India. There are differences at regional levels as well – for example, between east and west Nebraska.
VC bets on Web3/crypto startups grow over 25-fold to $500 mn in 2021
Investments in emerging technologies such as Web3 and cryptocurrency increased to over $500 million in 2021 from $20 million in the previous year even as consumer technology, fintech, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) continued to account for a substantial pie of the total venture capital (VC) investments by value, according to a Bain & Co report. Overall, India's VC funding touched a record $38.5 billion in 2021, growing 3.8 times over 2020, the report titled India Venture Capital Report 2022 showed.
Dubai to attract investors’ interest as a safe haven: S&P Global report
Dubai will continue attracting the interest of investors as a safe haven despite the economic fallout from geopolitical events, according to an S&P Global report. The report noted that Dubai’s property market is all set to consolidate gains this year from a rebound that began in 2021. “The market is set for a moderate increase in property prices, rents, and increased sales volumes this year,” analyst Tatjana Lescova wrote in the report. The S&P report noted that the gross domestic product of Dubai will rise by 2.5 percent in 2022, and 2 percent in 2023. According to the report, stronger oil prices will help Dubai achieve economic growth in 2022.
With Bigger Dollar Amounts Going Into Series B, Who’s Leading Investment?
Venture capital firms still dominate as investors in Series B rounds, with growth equity taking on a larger presence as rounds get bigger and bigger at this stage.
In a recent Crunchbase News analysis of the 2021 U.S. market, we found some big changes in Series B funding. Specifically, the data revealed that 1,200 unique startups raised funding at Series B this past year—about a third more than in each prior year since 2017. The amounts were also larger, more than doubling from $25.4 billion in 2020 to $55.9 billion in 2021.
European Venture Firm Atomico Raising $1.35 Billion in New Funds
Venture capital firm Atomico is raising $1.35 billion in new funds for investments to pursue bets as Europe’s technology sector surges. Atomico is raising $750 million for a growth fund and $600 million for a venture fund, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The funds have already held the first close, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Yuga Labs Goes Ape For A Large Round, Fintech Rules Again
This week was big for NFTs and corporate card and expense reporting platforms. While only one round broke the quarter-billion-dollar barrier—a “seed” round to a company that makes ape NFTs—investors spread their money around to data analytics, biotech, and cyber companies. However, fintech was the big winner again this week, as two companies raised $380 million combined.
First Israeli-Emirati VC fund Synaptech Capital launches
The business relationship between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has flourished since the historic signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, which marked the normalization of relations between the two countries. In the intervening years, more and more business partnerships, start-ups, and ventures have sprouted in the newly defined space – and they are now joined by the first Emirati-Israeli venture capital fund, Synaptech Capital. The fund aims to raise $100m. as its first move, will invest in Israeli and Emirati start-ups developing cybersecurity, smart city, insure-tech, fintech, and public safety technologies. It intends to relocate them to the fund’s Abu Dhabi incubator, and later create a corporate innovation hub for regional businesses to develop and collaborate.
The (Metaverse) Land Rush Of 2022 Is On
Last week, banking giant HSBC made headlines when it agreed to a partnership with The Sandbox, a San Francisco-based startup, to acquire a plot of virtual real estate in its metaverse. That announcement came on the heels of JPMorgan Chase creating a lounge in Decentraland a different metaverse world—that even featured a picture of CEO Jamie Dimon just last month.
While other brands also have opened stores or showrooms in different metaverses, when banks normally not the quickest of adopters—move in, it may be time to take notice.
A look at all 35 international fintech startups at YC’s winter 2022 Demo Day
As more banking, e-commerce and insurance startups work to improve the way business is done in emerging countries, it should come as no surprise that this winter’s Y Combinator batch is rife with related efforts. There are 35 companies this year, just over double the amount in the 2021 winter batch and up from 18 in the summer program, according to the organization’s directory.
What you’ll notice about this year’s cohort is the prevalence of companies from Nigeria, Indonesia, and Argentina, all areas that have seen an abundance of venture capital funding into fintech in recent years, though nearly every country at this point is attracting investor interest. Indeed, according to CB Insights, global fintech funding reached a record $132 billion in 2021, more than two times the amount related companies raised in 2020 and accounting for a whopping 21% of all venture dollars.
China’s EV upstarts are building their own investment powerhouses
The investment game going after automotive startups is getting more competitive in China with not only established venture capital firms joining the fray but also industry veterans. Two mobility-focused funds that recently closed new rounds have the backing of the country’s leading electric car-making upstarts.
India’s Stiff Crypto Tax Legislation Becomes Law
Indians will begin paying a capital gains tax of 30% on crypto transactions in just one week after the nation’s Parliament passed a controversial tax proposal on Friday. In addition to the capital gains tax, Indians transacting with crypto will also have to pay a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS), and taxes on crypto gifts, with no ability to take deductions for losses. India’s crypto taxation law will now take effect on April 1. The crypto industry had fought against this bill after the taxes were first proposed in February, supplementing meetings with lawmakers with a change.org petition and an online campaign. There was some hope the capital gains tax or TDS might be eased, but neither happened.
Multicoin Capital: How to Be a Contrarian
The trick to being a great venture capitalist is being non-consensus and right. Multicoin Capital is a perfect example. We explore how the fund reasons from the first principles and remains disciplined.
Debt Financing Could Heat Up As Venture Capital Slows
It’s much too soon to proclaim the demise of venture capital raises as the market seems to be in the midst of an adjustment, but debt financing seems to be popping up in the news more. Earlier this week, corporate card and expense automation startup Ramp announced a $750 million raise at $8.1 billion—$550 million of which was debt financing backed by Citi and Goldman Sachs. Earlier this month, banking service provider Mercury announced it will launch its own venture debt offering—looking to lend more than $200 million this year and up to $1 billion over the next two years—following other fintech brethren like Brex into the debt offering realm.
Some ‘Crossover Investors’ Ramp Up While Others Scale Back Amid Market Wonkiness
The trend of public market investors increasingly backing startups has been going on for a few years now. Entities such as Tiger Global Management and Insight Partners–not traditional venture capitalists–have invested in some of the most high-profile startups in the world. Tiger, for example, is the most prolific investor in unicorn companies, according to Crunchbase data.But with inflation worries and geopolitical issues rocking the public markets, at least some of these “crossover investors” have pulled back on investing in startups during the first quarter of 2022, while others have ramped up their pace, according to Crunchbase data.
The Future of Digital Cash Is Not on the Blockchain
WHEN YOU HEAR the phrase “digital cash,” what comes to mind? Perhaps a payment app, like Venmo, that you use in situations that used to call for paper bills, like paying back a friend for dinner. Or maybe you think of cryptocurrencies. After all, the original Bitcoin white paper is titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” But none of these digital payment options are really like cash. Unlike paper money, they require both an internet connection and a bank account to use. Above all, they lack what has long made cash the preferred medium of civil libertarians, dissidents, and criminals alike: privacy. The only kind of money that leaves no paper trail is paper.