March 19th VC related events, news, articles for investors
Hello friends,
We hope you are doing well. Scroll down to view the upcoming events, news, and reads.
VNTR investors community is actively supporting humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
Please donate and support the various organizations that are actively providing help in the region:
Feel free to share additional organizations with us and we will feature them in next week's newsletter.
VNTR NEWS
We are in Dubai until March 26th to meet with the local investors' community. In the past week we met with 50+ investors and hosted VNTR Breakfast on March 15th with 30 guests. We are hosting another VNTR Breakfast on Monday, March 21st, and lots of one on one meetings are planned for the coming week during AIBC Dubai and World Blockchain Summit Dubai.
If you plan to be in Dubai this month, join the VNTR Crypto Dubai March 2022 Telegram group to connect with other attendees, get updates and plan activities together.
VNTR INVESTORS COMMUNITY
VNTR investors community Dubai is growing with 10 new investors who joined us from Dubai to co-invest, collaborate and support each other
We are expanding in the Indian market with recruiting efforts for Bengaluru Regional Partner who will help us build the VNTR investors community in the region. We would appreciate referrals to super-connected individuals in the VC world.
Want to join our team as a Regional Venture Partner? Please respond to this email.
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 21 - VNTR Breakfast Dubai (March V2)
March 20-23 - AIBC Summit Asia, Dubai, UAE (25% partner discount: Investors25AIBC, 100% investor passes available, ask for discount code)
March 20-22 Money 2.0, Dubai UAE
March 23-24 World Blockchain Summit, Dubai, UAE
March 29-31 ETH Dubai, UAE
April 21 - Experiential Yachting Forum
April 22 - VNTR Breakfast Monaco
April 27-29 - TechChill 2022, Riga, Latvia
June 8-10 - South Summit. Madrid, Spain (30% partner discount)
June 20-23 - Collision, Toronto, Canada
Check out VNTR upcoming events
Want to co-host VC events or sponsor, respond to this email to discuss opportunities.
VC READS
3 Tips For Investors Looking To Deal Source In Europe
U.S. investors are increasingly stepping in to make big deals in Europe. But deep pockets alone won’t win over European startups—investors need to consider cultural nuances too.
The United States and Europe are only a few hours away, but in the investment sense they’re two very different worlds.
The Metaverse and NFT Boom Is About to Go Bust
The world is already getting bored of the apes. Over a year ago, the landscape of the online world was altered forever when Beeple’s ‘Everydays — The First 5000 Days’ digital artwork sold at a first-of-its-kind auction for $69,346,250.
Microsoft dives into Web3 with investment in Ethereum co-founder’s start-up ConsenSys
Blockchain start-up ConsenSys has raised $450 million in a new round of funding that more than doubles its valuation to $7 billion.
The cash injection was led by ParaFi Capital, ConsenSys said Tuesday, with Microsoft, Japan’s SoftBank, and Singapore’s Temasek also joining as new investors in the company.
Just how wrong were those SPAC projections?
Why are companies that went public via SPACs struggling so much? Did they catch a headwind from changing market conditions that previously helped push them forward? You bet.
The pitch was pretty simple: This neat, young company is going to combine with a SPAC, raise a bunch of cash, and then grow like all hell. So what actually happened? Not that.
What is Pre-Seed Funding?
Launching a startup requires one thing: capital. Without capital, the chances are a startup will fail before it ever gets a product to market. There are several funding stages, and much of the terminology can confuse first-time founders.
Luno launches investment arm to back over 200 fintech and crypto/web3 startups yearly
Luno, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), today announced that it is launching Luno Expeditions, an early-stage investment arm to back fintech and crypto/web3 startups globally.
The fund will leverage DCG’s seven-year experience of backing web3, DeFi, and crypto startups as it looks to expand its investment activity to reach more early-stage businesses at pre-seed and seed.
Indian start-ups bag $2.5 bn PE/VC funding in Feb this year
Indian start-ups received $2.5 billion worth of private equity (PE)/ venture capital (VC) investments in February 2022 across 85 deals, as compared to $1.1 billion worth of investment in February 2021 across 61 deals, according to a report by IVCA-EY.
Start-up investments accounted for 44 per cent of all PE/VC investments in February 2022. Overall, PE/VC investments in February 2022 have touched $5.8 billion across 117 deals, this includes deal types such as credit investment, private investment in public equity, buyout, start-up/early stage, and expansion/growth capital.
3 Dozen Tech Firm Founders Launch VC Fund To Grow Africa's Next Unicorns
From Nigeria’s Interswitch, Andela, and Flutterwave to Senegal-based mobile money provider Wave, Africa’s technology landscape has seen the emergence of several unicorns — private companies with a valuation of over $1 billion — in recent years, buoyed by increasing venture capital (VC) being poured into disruptive firms operating in the region. According to data from Partech, a U.S.-based VC firm, Africa-focused firms together raised a record $5.2 billion from 681 equity rounds in 2021, an increase of 264% from the $1.4 billion venture capitalists gave in 2020.
Digitizing The Kitchen: VCs Turn Up The Heat On Restaurant Tech Investment
Investor appetite continues to grow for “restaurant tech” companies as more restaurateurs digitize their ordering, payment, and delivery systems. And next on the menu is the sector’s biggest tech challenge—the kitchen.
“Digitization of the kitchen is a sexy concept right now because there’s a lot of pain there in the industry,” said food tech investor Adam Struck, founder and managing partner of Struck Capital.
The Post-Pandemic Geography of the U.S. Tech Economy
Even as the U.S. seems to be getting back to some semblance of normal, the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic continues to reshape the ways Americans live and work. The rise of remote work gives people of means and education the freedom and flexibility to consider a broader range of places. Some believe the pandemic is also upending the geography of innovation, with techies, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists shifting away from superstar hubs like San Francisco and New York to up-and-coming ones like Austin and Miami.
The World’s Billionaires, by Generation
From Warren Buffett to Elon Musk, this graphic shows the world’s billionaires based on their top sectors, residence, and net worth.
Everyone is going to launch a fund that backs other funds
Investors have long invested in other investors as a way to get exposure to ambitious, speedy smaller funds (and access to hot deals before their neighbors notice).
In a four-story apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, a very small company is implementing a very big idea: Electrify every building in the United States by leasing landlords the necessary equipment to make the transition.
BlocPower is a Brooklyn-based start-up that has “greened” more than 1,200 buildings in New York City and has similar projects in two dozen other cities. It uses a lease-to-own platform, offering landlords and homeowners green heating and cooling systems, electric appliances and solar panels. It installs the equipment and manages its upkeep. Landlords make monthly payments that cover those costs and offer returns to investors.
Two ultra-fast delivery startups shut down in one week
Fridge No More, a startup that offered fast delivery with no fee regardless of size order, told employees this week that it was shutting down after a deal with a potential buyer fell through.
The closure was the second in the span of a week by an ultra-fast delivery service in New York City after failing to secure a deal or financing, leaving hundreds unemployed.
After the pandemic made on-demand delivery startups a lifeline for many Americans, the New York City landscape became crowded with startups offering ultra-fast deliveries. Fridge No More launched in October 2020, followed by competitors Jokr, Gorillas, and Buyk, which came in September 2021. A month later, Philadelphia-based GoPuff entered the city, followed by Istanbul-based Getir in December. Their fight for consumers brought rich discounts and splashy marketing, but the long-term potential of the business model remains unclear.
The Market Minute: After Record Venture Boom, It’s Suddenly A ‘Mad Rush To Grab Capital’
Fundraising for a startup now is quite different than it was even six months ago.
While 2021 was a record year for venture investment, a perfect storm of inflation worries, turbulent public markets, and geopolitical disruption have prompted more VCs and their limited partners to become skittish, making fundraising difficult for some startup founders. Early Crunchbase data shows that global venture funding in February dipped $10 billion month over month, though is still up significantly year on year.
Can Europe improve its resilience by understanding US investors?
In changing times, we need to succeed in forging our path through the ambiguity of complex and changing systems. Europe can learn two things from investors in the US. And then, do its magic. 1. Good investors communicate a long-term view 2. US education system fosters the interchange of thought across different areas of knowledge
The growth of BNPL and the importance of being FCA-ready
More than 15 million people in the UK have already used Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and the sector is growing fast, already more popular than credit cards with the under 30s. And as new regulations are likely to impact this sector before the end of the year, will BNPL providers be FCA-ready, when it comes to any potential debt recovery?
Whilst the majority of purchases through BNPL tend to be on lower-value consumer items, it’s the combination of purchases through multiple credit providers and the overall increase in retail spending which causes the biggest concern for debt industry experts.
What Chinese tech CEOs are telling Beijing
The Chinese style of lobbying, in the form of “two sessions” proposals, is more open but less effective and helpful in deciphering what tech companies and Beijing want.