VNTR Capital News Feb 11, 2024 – News, Events, VC Reads
Venture Capital, Web3, and Private Equity – Feb 11 News, Events, and VC Reads
Hello friends,
Happy Sunday!
VNTR Capital Newsletter is delivered to 70k+ investors weekly to share the latest news, events, and articles from the global VC and startup ecosystem.
Scroll down for VNTR Capital Community News, Upcoming Events, and VC News/Reads.
VNTR CAPITAL COMMUNITY NEWS
Spotlight
VNTR Speed Networking — Join us on Feb 20 to connect with VNTR Members through 5-7 min one-on-one introduction meetings. Great opportunity to kickstart 10+ new relationships.
Major Events — Join us at the VNTR Investors Roundtable Doha on Feb 27 (side event to Web Summit Qatar) and VNTR Investor Roundtable Riyadh on March 5 in partnership with When Worlds Collide KSA edition (side events to LEAP Conference). We have a few sponsor slots available to present and connect with investors. Reach out to lukas@vntr.vc to learn more.
VNTR PRO Masterminds — Join our thematic VNTR PRO members' bi-weekly masterminds, where you can collaborate with like-minded investors, share deals, get feedback on ideas, review deals, learn about trends, and grow together as investors. Schedule an intro call with Sophia to customize your VNTR PRO membership and join the masterminds:
VNTR PRO AI Mastermind on Feb 21
VNTR PRO Web3 Mastermind on Feb 13
VNTR PRO FinTech Mastermind on Feb 15
VNTR Supercars Rally UAE — Join us for a 3-day / 3-night road trip - VNTR Supercars Rally from Dubai; we will travel together through the deserts and mountains on the UAE roads, enjoy interactive bonding activities, and create strong relationships with VNTR members. Apply to join (limited number of spots available)
VNTR LP Roundtables — GPs raising their new funds and wanting to connect with LPs can contact Julie. Limited Partners are invited to join us at our upcoming events:
Corporate Membership and Sponsorship — Corporates who want to connect and engage the VNTR investors community can join VNTR Corporate Membership and customize the activation activities to maximize ROI. Learn about Corporate Membership. Reach out to Lukas to join!
This week
London — Olya Sergeeva hosted the VNTR London investors roundtable with investors who visited London for ICE London.
Mexico City — We launched our Mexico City chapter this week with our first VNTR Roundtable in Mexico City on Feb 8, hosted by Gregorio Braga Santiago. Thank you, Yayem, for hosting us at your great venue in Mexico City.
Lisbon — We are hosting our first event in Lisbon this year, the VNTR Investors Luncheon, on Feb 16, with keynote speakers Logan Ryan Golema, CEO of SophiaVerse, and Grace The Robot.
Estoril — Join us as we convene with our Lisbon Chapter for a round of golf on February 15th, followed by a delightful lunch filled with engaging conversations.
Thank you to our Partners:
Perfect — Book your flights, hotels, and supercars for the VNTR Rally using the Perfect Personal Lifestyle app with premium concierge services. Empower your routine with integrated GPT technology for seamless access to luxury services and an effortless lifestyle. Enjoy personalized assistance with tasks, errands, and reservations, freeing up time for what truly matters. Join Perfect using "VNTR" code to get special discounts. Use Perfect via iOS, Android, WhatsApp or Telegram.
Upcoming VNTR Events:
Feb 20 VNTR Speed Networking (online)
Feb 21 VNTR Online LP Roundtable (online)
Feb 26 VNTR Investors Roundtable Dubai (AIBC and GCC Forum ($200 Discount using VNTRGCC code) side event)
Feb 27 VNTR Investors Roundtable Barcelona (Mobile World Congress side event)
Feb 27 VNTR Investors Roundtable Doha (Web Summit Qatar side event)
Feb 28 VNTR LP Roundtable Doha (Web Summit Qatar side event)
Feb 29 - March 3 VNTR Investors Supercars Rally UAE
March 1 VNTR Investors Roundtable Denver (ETHDenver side event)
March 5 VNTR Investors Roundtable Riyadh (LEAP side event) cohosted with When Worlds Collide (KSA)
March 6 VNTR LP Roundtable Riyadh (LEAP side event) cohosted with When Worlds Collide (KSA)
March 10 VNTR Investors Roundtable Austin (SXSW side event)
March 21 VNTR Investors Roundtable Porto Alegre (South Summit Brazil side event)
March 27 VNTR Investors Roundtable Hong Kong (Wow Summit HK side event)
April 10 VNTR Investors Roundtable Paris (Paris Blockchain Week side event)
April 16 VNTR Investors Roundtable Rio De Janeiro (Web Summit Rio side event)
April 19 VNTR Investors Roundtable Dubai (Token2049 Dubai side event)
April 19 VNTR Investors Roundtable Miami (eMerge Americas side event)
April 24 VNTR Investors Roundtable Bangkok (Money 20/20 Asia side event)
April 24 VNTR Investors Roundtable Silicon Valley (Startup Grind Conference side event)
More events available on the VNTR Platform
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UPCOMING VC EVENTS
Feb 14-15 Africa Tech Summit, Nairobi, Kenya
Feb 20-21 Crypto360, Dubai, UAE
Feb 21-22 Step Conference, Dubai, UAE
Feb 21-23 The Money Show, Las Vegas, USA
Feb 23-24 NFT Paris, France
Feb 23-Mar 3 ETH Denver, Denver, USA
Feb 25-28 AIBC, Dubai, UAE
Feb 26 GCC Forum, Dubai, UAE ($200 Discount using VNTRGCC code)
Feb 26-29 Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain
Feb 26-29 4YFN, Barcelona, Spain
Feb 27-28 Finovate Europe, London, UK
Feb 28-29 FiNext Dubai, UAE
Feb 28-29 Investopia, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Feb 29-Mar 3 VNTR Supercars Rally UAE
Mar 4-7 LEAP, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Mar 6-7 MoneyLive Summit London, UK
Mar 6-7 Cloud Expo Europe, London, UK
Mar 8-16 SXSW, Austin, USA
Mar 19-20 CEE VC Summit, Warsaw, Poland
Mar 26-27 Wow Summit, Hong Kong
April 8-12 Paris Blockchain Week, Paris, France
April 18-19 Token2049, Dubai, UAE
April 18-19 EmergeAmericas, Miami, USA
April 23-25 Money 20/20 Asia, Bangkok, Thailand
April 23-24 Startup Grind Conference, Redwood City, USA
May 6-7 Dubai FinTech Summit, Dubai, UAE
May 9-10 EU Startups Summit, Malta
May 15-16 Next Block Expo
May 15-16 Echelon by E27, Singapore
May 22-25 Viva Technology, Paris, France
May 29-31 Consensus, Austin, UAE
May 29 -31 Gitex Africa, Morocco
June 5-7 South Summit, Madrid, Spain
June 17-20 Collision Conf, Toronto, Canada
July 10-11 World Business Forum, Singapore
If you would like to submit VC-related events, please respond to this email or Telegram @byuric
Check out VNTR Capital upcoming events
VC Reads and News
View curated VC news and articles on the VNTR Platform
State of Private Markets: Q4 and 2023 in review
During the rise and fall of an unprecedented bull market across 2021 and 2022, founders and investors had to navigate a wild ride of ups and downs. That volatility diminished in 2023. The startup ecosystem trundled along at a slow but steady pace, with activity near recent lows.
This new equilibrium involves fewer deals and fewer dollars. Total venture deal count on Carta was down 24% year over year in 2023, while cash raised by startups fell by 50%. But the fundraising that took place in 2023 proceeded at a steady pace. In each quarter, startups closed somewhere between 1,209 and 1,574 rounds and brought in between $12.8 billion and $20.3 billion in total capital.
Several facets of the fundraising scene shifted in 2023 in ways that will continue to impact founders and investors in 2024. Startups were forced to extend their runways longer than ever. Bridge rounds boomed in popularity. Series A valuations experienced a second-half surge. But the sort of seismic movements that shaped the venture landscape in recent years were fewer and farther between.
Does Europe Need More ‘Founder-VCs’?
“Europe needs more VCs with experience founding a startup.” It’s a common sentiment in a market known for risk-averse investors focused on “number crunching,” which makes the idea worth further scrutiny. In theory, the greater risk-appetite of founder-VCs would benefit founders by relieving pressure on due diligence. However, while raising money could get a little easier, the same is true for other startups competing for that capital. It might expedite the process, but it won’t necessarily change outcomes.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund roars with $4B gain; Arm lockup nears end
The VC ecosystem may still be in a downturn, but SoftBank’s Vision Fund appears to be on the rebound. The Japanese conglomerate’s tech investment arm reported a $4 billion gain in the last three months of 2023, the division’s largest quarterly return in almost three years. SoftBank said its strong performance was driven primarily by the increasing valuation of TikTok owner ByteDance—which grew annual revenue 30% to $110 billion in 2023—and the climbing stock prices of its publicly traded investments, including ridehailing service Didi. This was the third quarter of positive returns for the investment unit, which includes Vision Fund 1, Vision Fund 2 and SoftBank’s Latin America strategy.
The 10 Biggest Rounds Of January: Generate Capital, Recurrent Energy Top First Month Of Year
Sometimes January can be slow as everybody is coming off their holiday hangover. But that wasn’t the case last month, as 13 companies all snatched rounds of $100 million or more. 1. Generate Capital, $1.5B, renewable energy: If the name looks familiar, that’s likely because this company has made the list before. Early in 2023, the San Francisco-based green infrastructure investor and operator raised $1.1 billion, per SEC filings and reports. That raise came just about 18 months after it raised $1 billion in 2021.
Most-Active US Investors: Andreessen Horowitz And Sequoia Lead Slow Start To Year
It’s a new year, but it seems no investor wanted to go too big in investing in too many U.S.-based startups.
Only one investor that was not an accelerator — Andreessen Horowitz — made 10 deals or more in January.
While many firms completed deals in January, most were in the four- to five-deal or fewer range. And one firm on this list making deals for U.S.-based startups isn’t even in the U.S.
We’ll see if the big firms quicken their pace as the year rolls along, but let’s look at who did invest in January.
Welcome to the ‘Bitcoin Era’ on Wall Street
After much delay, spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have burst on the scene. BlackRock’s IBIT is now the fifth largest ETF (of all) by inflows this year, with rival funds not far behind. It’s not yet clear whether this rate of growth can keep pace and match the bullish predictions set by firms like Standard Chartered Bank and Fidelity for meteoric end-of-year ETF valuations, but it is obvious that bitcoin ETFs are here to stay. The question is how will Wall Street approach this newfound way to gain bitcoin exposure, and will regular investors want a piece of the action?
The Sudden Repricing of Startups in Early 2024
We’re entering a new pricing environment for software: AI vs non-AI. It’s only happened in the last few weeks.
Recent earnings have pushed some of the most important companies to all-time highs.
OpenAI reportedly working on next big product: A ChatGPT that can use devices
OpenAI is reportedly developing an autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) assistant system capable of assuming control of a user’s device to perform tasks. The potential new product was first reported by The Information, citing a source familiar with the matter. While details are scarce — OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s requests for comment and clarification — it stands to reason that the next logical step beyond generative AI systems such as ChatGPT would be action agents.
PitchBook VC Dealmaking Indicator
The PitchBook VC Dealmaking Indicator leverages deal-level data to quantify how startup-friendly, or investor-friendly the capital raising environment is. The Indicator incorporates PitchBook’s deal term, deal attribute, fundraising, and deal flow data to compose an indicator which compares early-stage, late-stage, and the new venture growth stage deal dynamics. (For in-depth analysis, click here.) Higher Indicator values reflect a more investor-friendly dealmaking environment, and lower values a more startup-friendly one. Below we see that since 2010, the scales have tipped decidedly in favor of startups.
Eye On AI: Despite Need, US-Based AI Chipmakers Not Seeing Investor Love
Last week AI private market investors likely rejoiced when it was reported data center startup Astera Labs was preparing for a potential March initial public offering. The Santa Clara, California-based startup provides data and memory connectivity solutions for some of the biggest chipmakers in the world, including Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. It raised a $150 million Series D led by Fidelity Management and Research that values the company at nearly $3.2 billion.
What revamped long-term fund rules mean for private markets
This week, an often-overlooked form of private markets investment vehicle has been hitting the news: the European long-term investment fund. For the unfamiliar, ELTIFs are not new. They were introduced by European regulators in 2015 to increase the amount of non-bank financing available to companies—and to facilitate long-term investments in things like infrastructure projects—by reducing the regulatory obstacles that typically limit the number of investors in traditional closed-end funds.
DeFi Shouldn't Have to Worry About the SEC’s Expanded Broker Rule
Many are concerned that a recently passed effort to expand the definition of a broker-dealer will severely hamper the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry — mostly due to a typical lack of clarity involved in the rule-making process. Is there something actually to worry about? In short, on Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a rule that will require more firms that "routinely work with securities" (like hedge funds and market makers) to register as dealers and submit to the stricter oversight that entails. The rule was originally suggested by the U.S. Treasury Department to fix liquidity problems in the Treasury bond market by addressing the regulatory gap that formed with the rise of electronic trading.
Meet the most active investors in Canadian startups
Canada has emerged as a major player in the global tech scene. Ecommerce giant Shopify got its start in Ottawa. Cohere, a generative AI competitor to OpenAI, is headquartered in Toronto. Kik, which offers a messaging app, and Hopper, the developer of a travel booking app, are also based in Canada. VCs invested $8.5 billion across 850 deals in Canadian startups in 2023, a decrease from $9.9 billion invested across 1,313 deals in 2022, according to PitchBook data. But the longer-term trend is sharply up—just three years ago investors pumped only $4.5 billion into Canadian startups.
Are Airdrops Effective Marketing?
Airdrops. That magical term seems to excite crypto users and spark endless discussions about on-chain interaction. In recent years, airdrops have added significant liquidity into the crypto market and took numerous promising projects to new heights. Today, it's common to say we're entering into "airdrop season" as a number of new and existing protocols and projects on chains including Ethereum layer 2s, Solana and Cosmos look to build engagement by promising or hinting at an airdrop. But have you ever wondered why airdrops have gained such popularity in the saturated crypto space? Why do they work so effectively amidst other fleeting trends? What even defines a well-executed airdrop campaign?
Adam Neumann is trying to buy back WeWork
Adam Neumann, who co-founded flexible workspace provider WeWork in 2010 and notoriously stepped down nine years later, is attempting to buy the company out of bankruptcy, according to multiple reports. In a letter published by The New York Times today, lawyers for Neumann, his latest startup Flow Global Holdings LLC, and “their affiliates” wrote that they were dismayed with “WeWork’s lack of engagement even to provide information” in response to efforts to be able to make an offer to buy the company. The letter disclosed that Neumann, Flow and affiliates were partnering with investors such as Dan Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point and “others.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seeks as much as $7 trillion for new AI chip project
Altman has long talked of the supply-and-demand problem with AI chips — many AI giants want them, but there aren’t enough to go around — and that it limits OpenAI’s growth. He’s considering a project that would increase global chip-building capacity, according to a Thursday evening report in The Wall Street Journal, and is reportedly in talks with different investors, including the government of the United Arab Emirates.
Altman could need to raise between $5 trillion and $7 trillion for the endeavor, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing one source. CNBC could not confirm the number. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.
PE funds see short-lived revival
Private equity fund performance bounced back in early 2023, after negative returns at the end of 2022. But the recovery may have been short-lived. The asset class marked a one-year horizon IRR of 6.6% in Q2 2023, a promising improvement from the -1.5% annual growth rate in Q4 2022, according to PitchBook’s latest Global Fund Performance Report. What’s more, the industry’s performance improved quarter-over-quarter with one-year IRR jumping 5.7 percentage points from Q1 to Q2 2023.
Is The IPO Market Back In Business?
It’s difficult to determine who is watching the IPO market closer: investors or startups. From a high level, the consensus appears to be that with interest rates set to recede at some point in the first half of 2024, coupled with the resiliency of the U.S. economy and recent GDP and inflations numbers, the IPO market is back in business. Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman recently explained while at the Consumer Electronics Show that close to 100 companies have recently filed confidentiality with the SEC for initial public offerings and plan to list on Nasdaq — suggesting a major rebound for the IPO market.
Dave McClure on Delivering a 60x & 40x Fund and Founding 500 Startups
Dave McClure sits down with David Weisburd to discuss his journey into venture capital, including luck, his investment strategy, and the challenges he faced breaking into the industry. He provides an analysis on his two 40x+ funds, 500 Startups, and the misalignment between LPs and GPs.
European VC female founders dashboard
Venture capital funding overall has surged in recent years, but the numbers haven't leapt forward for female founders at the same pace. Last year, companies founded solely by women garnered just 1.8% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in Europe. But that number doesn't tell the whole story. VC funding for female-founded or co-founded companies in Europe has been trending up in recent years, and 2021 saw the creation of several women-led funds, incubators for female founders and more new companies. We took a deep dive into European investment trends for women in VC over the last 14 years, diving into deal counts by country, industry and stage.
Space Infrastructure Stayed Aloft In Tough Funding Climate
The past few quarters have been a sluggish period for funding to scads of startup technology sectors. Spacetech, however, is not one of them. Last year, investors poured more than $4.6 billion globally into startups in the space travel and satellite categories, as well as space-related aerospace sectors, per Crunchbase data. Supersize rounds went to companies developing everything from satellite networks to space stations. Space infrastructure was the hottest area, per Chad Anderson, managing partner at early investor Space Capital, who calculated that last year’s investment totals were second only to the 2021 peak. He attributes the enthusiasm to broader bullishness around defense tech and sectors with government funding.
Why Latin American SaaS startups are different from their US peers
Hipster coffee shops in Budapest often look the same, as if they were in Portland, Oregon, or São Paulo, Brazil. That’s one of the effects of globalization: Some trends have become ubiquitous. But take a closer look, and you’ll soon realize that even things that look the same can actually come in different flavors. Take SaaS, for instance. No matter where you are, buying software in a box is a thing of the past. But the SaaS businesses that are enabling this shift are dealing with a different set of rules depending on where they are based, which leads them to divergent paths.
How VCs can assess and attract winners in a landscape that’s now crowded with AI startups
Felicis, the 16-year-old Bay Area-based early-stage venture firm, has a reputation for investing globally. Indeed, firm founder Aydin Senkut — who spent a handful of years at Google as a product manager in its earlier days — was born in Turkey and talks often of the hustle he sees in founders around the world. Felicis is also known for the very strong track record it has established over time, with early bets on some breakout companies, such as Notion, Canva, Adyen, Cruise, Flexport and Shopify, to name just a handful. Still, the firm isn’t content to rest on its laurels, apparently. Instead, Senkut and team often appear at — and also sometimes sponsor — industry events to which founders flock, and such was the case last week at a StrictlyVC event, which the firm volunteered to anchor as a partner.
Despite global frenzy, investor enthusiasm in China’s AI startups wanes
In 2023, the global frenzy around artificial intelligence, fueled by the advent of ChatGPT, swept across the world. In China, where OpenAI’s chatbot is unavailable, startups and tech incumbents scrambled to develop their own AI models and applications, drawing upon the foundational pieces of the American upstart. Individual AI fans accessed ChatGPT through a web of black market vendors, keeping their accounts alive through often unauthorized virtual private networks. At a glance, generative AI is in full bloom in China, but a closer look suggests otherwise. Despite the hype, venture capitalists haven’t been as enthusiastic about the nascent technology as one might assume.