VNTR Capital News March 3, 2024 – News, Events, VC Reads
Venture Capital, Web3, and Private Equity – March 3 News, Events, and VC Reads
Hello friends,
Happy Sunday!
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Scroll down for VNTR Capital Community News, Upcoming Events, and VC News/Reads.
VNTR CAPITAL COMMUNITY NEWS
Spotlight
New Record — This week, we hosted a total of seven offline events. We launched our chapters in Doha, Qatar, and Bucharest, Romania, while hosting our gatherings in Barcelona, Singapore, and Dubai chapters. We also hosted our first event in Denver with our partners SuperMoon, Cointelegraph Accelerator, The EdgeOf, and FlickPlay.
VNTR Syndicate — We offer a deal-by-deal basis investment opportunity into startups and VC funds as LP via the VNTR Platform. Those keen on becoming part of VNTR Syndicate can set up an investor account on VNTR and start co-investing with leading VC funds.
VNTR Supercars Rally UAE — Join us on April 19-21 in Dubai for a 2 day / 2 night supercars trip with VNTR PRO members. We will travel together from Dubai to RAK to Fujairah, enjoy interactive bonding activities, and create strong relationships with VNTR members. Apply to join (limited number of spots available). Learn about VNTR PRO membership.
VNTR LP — Limited Partners are invited to join us at our upcoming events to learn about the trends, new VC funds, investment opportunities and meet other LP peers who are investing in funds. Reach out to Julie to join VNTR GP LP Membership.
Corporate Membership and Sponsorship — Companies can join the VNTR community on a Corporate Membership and connect with investors and their portfolio companies. Learn about Corporate Membership. Reach out to Lukas to learn more and join.
VNTR Family Office Breakfasts — We invite Family Offices and active Limited Partners to join us in New York and San Francisco to learn about VC investments from pre-seed to Deca Corns with VNTR GP member, Igor Ryabenkiy, Founder and Managing Partner at AltaIR Capital:
This week
Riyadh — We are hosting our first VNTR Investors Roundtable in Riyadh on March 5 as a side event to LEAP to connect visiting investors. Partners: Synexis, Maca, GEMBlock, Lets Disrupt Digital, Nexus Hub.
Riyadh — Active Limited Partners can join us at the VNTR LP Roundtable on March 6, where VNTR GP Member, Dave McClure, Founder, and Managing Partner at Practical VC, will talk about "VC Secondary Market".
London — VNTR London Chapter will host an Exclusive VNTR investors Cocktail event on March 6 at a members-only London club. Priority is given to VNTR PRO members.
VNTR PRO Expert Session — Rhett Oudkerk Pool, VNTR PRO Member, will host an Online Masterclass on March 7 to explore the methodology of investing via SPAC deals (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) and why SPACs often provide higher valuations, less dilution, greater speed to capital, more certainty and transparency, lower fees, and fewer regulatory demands.
VNTR PRO Roundtables — Join our new VNTR PRO members only roundtables to allow our global members to connect online, share their current goals and get supported by other peers. Roundtables are an effective format designed to accelerate your growth journey with the backing of seasoned investors and their wealth of experience. Reach out to Sophia to start your VNTR PRO membership.
Reach out to lukas@vntr.vc if interested in presenting or sponsoring our upcoming events.
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 time for what truly matters. Join Perfect using "VNTR" code to get special discounts and VNTR experiences. Use Perfect via iOS, Android, WhatsApp or Telegram.
Synexis — Synexis transforms the startup and investor ecosystem with a cutting-edge blockchain- and AI-powered SaaS platform designed to elevate transparency, enhance visibility, and streamline due diligence and portfolio management. Our platform offers smart dynamic co-founder share distribution, effective commitment management, innovative intellectual property protection, and automated, immutable, timeline-driven reporting. Contact Dr Pavel Vinitsky to learn more.
Edge of: NFT Podcast, AI Podcast, and Outer Edge LA — A media, events, and tech venture, the Edge of Company launched in 2021 with the Edge of NFT Podcast and has since created the Outeredge LA (formally NFT LA) conference. Core topics and themes spanning across Web3 verticals, Web2 industries, emerging technology and the creator economy. Your thought leadership and brand is amplified with our Edge of NFT Podcast, Newsletters, Digital and IRL Events, Roadshows, Content Portal, App, Social Channels, and Partner Distribution Channels.
Upcoming VNTR Events:
March 11 VNTR Investors Roundtable Austin (SXSW)
March 21 VNTR Investors Roundtable Porto Alegre (South Summit Brazil)
March 27 VNTR Investors Roundtable Hong Kong (Wow Summit HK)
March 28 VNTR LP Roundtable Hong Kong
April 4 VNTR Investors Roundtable New York (NY NFT)
April 10 VNTR Investors Roundtable Paris (Paris Blockchain Week)
April 16 VNTR Investors Roundtable Rio De Janeiro (Web Summit Rio)
April 18 VNTR LP Roundtable Dubai
April 19 VNTR Investors Roundtable Dubai (Token2049 Dubai)
April 19-21 VNTR Supercars Rally Dubai (Token2049 Dubai)
April 19 VNTR Investors Roundtable Miami (eMerge Americas)
April 24 VNTR Investors Roundtable Bangkok (Money 20/20 Asia)
April 24 VNTR Investors Roundtable Silicon Valley (Startup Grind Conference)
May 7 VNTR Investors Roundtable Dubai (Dubai FinTech Summit)
More events available on the VNTR Platform
Follow us on Social media: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.
UPCOMING VC EVENTS
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 20 Investor Day, Paris, France
Mar 20-22 South Summit Brazil, Porto Alegre, Brazil (30% Discount using VNTR_30OFF_ATT or 10% Discount using VNTR_10OFF_BUS)
Mar 26-27 Wow Summit, Hong Kong (50% discount on Standard, Business and VIP tickets using WOWHK24VNTR50, Complimentary investor passes for VNTR PRO members)
April 3-5 NY NFT, New York, USA
April 8-12 Paris Blockchain Week, Paris, France (15% Discount using VNTR15, Startup Competition Application)
April 10 Empire Fintech Conference, NY, USA
April 18-19 Token2049, Dubai, UAE
April 18-19 EmergeAmericas, Miami, USA
April 19-21 VNTR Supercars Rally Dubai
April 23-25 Money 20/20 Asia, Bangkok, Thailand
April 23-24 Startup Grind Conference, Redwood City, USA (Startups Exhibition)
April 29-30 AIM Summit, London, UK
May 6-7 Dubai FinTech Summit, Dubai, UAE
May 7-9 FinTech Americas, Miami, USA
May 8-9 Blockshow + Blockdown, Hong Kong
May 9-10 EU Startups Summit, Malta
May 13-15 Podim 2024, Maribor, Slovenia
May 15-16 Next Block Expo
May 15-16 Echelon by E27, Singapore
May 20-21 SALT iConnections New York, USA
May 22-25 Viva Technology, Paris, France
May 27-31 CC Forum, 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
Qatar plots a $1B pipeline to VCs
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is launching a $1 billion venture capital fund of funds for international and regional venture capital funds, the sovereign wealth fund announced on Monday at the Web Summit. The program, according to QIA, seeks to attract international VC funds and startups to Qatar and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with a particular focus on the fintech, edtech, and healthcare sectors. Similar to typical fund-of-funds structures, QIA’s initiative will invest indirectly through other VC funds but also make targeted co-investments with participating funds. The sovereign wealth fund wants to bolster the number of startups and enhance the availability of VC funding within Qatar as it attempts to narrow the gap with more established ecosystems in neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
A Growing List Of Unicorns Haven’t Raised Funding For 3-Plus Years
Startups — much like cars — can usually go only so long before needing to refuel. How long, of course, will vary. Some go years before topping off again following a big fundraise. Others need to refill more frequently. The longer it takes, however, the less likely it becomes that fresh investment is forthcoming. That’s concerning given that for a growing list of U.S. unicorns, it’s been more than three years since their last fundraise, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows.
Europe remains hard to crack for North American GPs
A few years ago, setting up shop in Europe was the soup du jour for North American VCs. From OMERs and Lightspeed to Bessemer Venture Partners, the market attracted firms of all sizes, and the Spotify IPO seemed to wake up North American VCs to Europe’s potential to create outsized exits. VCs wanted to make sure they didn’t miss out on the next wave. But it’s unclear that they were able to catch it. Trends haven’t fully reversed since the happy days of 2021, but they’ve come pretty close.
The Difference Between Startup Valuation And Round Pricing
On Aug. 20, 2011, Marc Andreessen published the definitive manifesto for a generation of technologists and investors, with “Why Software Is Eating the World.” It kicked off an era of immense enthusiasm for software startups, coinciding with a period of historically low interest rates. The pace of investment accelerated over the next decade, and without sifting too finely through recent history we can reflect back on a quote from Andreessen’s essay: “Too much of the debate is still around financial valuation, as opposed to the underlying intrinsic value of the best of Silicon Valley’s new companies.”
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Fervo Energy And Glean Lead The Way In Another Strong Week
After two crazy weeks where we saw 18 raises of $100 million or more, this week saw a slight slowdown but was still relatively strong when it came to big-dollar deals. Five companies raised nine-figure rounds, but none hit $250 million. The quintet that did raise big were from three of the usual sectors — biotech, energy and AI — however one was from a sector we don’t normally see — a vertical farming agtech startup.
Interview: Getting inside an LPs mind
Ryan Akkina: How MIT Builds Their Venture Fund Portfolio & How MIT Approach Direct Investing
Ryan Akkina is a member of the Global Investment Team at the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo), which is responsible for managing MIT’s endowment and pension plans. Ryan has invested in the likes of Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, a16z, Greenoaks and Initialized to name a few. Ryan also leads many of MITIMCo’s direct co-investments including most notably into Coupang and Rippling.
Bitcoin ETFs set for ‘even bigger wave’ in next few months
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) could soon see an “even bigger wave” of institutional capital once the “major wirehouses” offer Bitcoin (BTC) ETF trades, according to Bitwise. “I think there’s an even bigger wave coming in a few months as we start to see the major wirehouses turn on,” Bitwise’s CIO Matt Hougan explained in a Feb. 29 interview with CNBC, adding that the first wave of Bitcoin ETF interest has primarily come from retail, hedge funds and independent financial advisors. “So we’re going to see the next wave of institutional capital coming,” said Hougan, who referred to the ETFs as Bitcoin’s “IPO moment.”
How many years does it take the average startup to get to each venture stage?
Quite a bit longer these days.
Took a look at the average years from incorporation to each venture round from 31,000+ primary fundraises on Carta since 2015.
You can see the average time drifting upwards year over year before rising steeply in the most recent 2 years.
Why every Company Needs A ‘GenAI Innovation Layer’
If 2023 was the year of generative AI experimentation, 2024 is the year of implementation. Companies in every sector know they need to add generative AI applications and frameworks to their tech stack this year — or get left behind. If the idea of becoming an AI-first company feels daunting, you are not alone. Even the largest enterprises are still figuring out how to weave generative AI into their everyday businesses.
Spain’s biggest bank broadens its VC footprint
Spanish bank Santander is poised to buy a third of Madrid-based venture capital firm Seaya—significantly expanding its VC exposure and climate investor credentials. According to reports first made by Spain’s La Infomación, the bank will also invest in the firm’s €300 million (about $324 million) cleantech-focused Andromeda fund. Santander already has a decent VC track record. In 2014, the bank created Santander Innoventures, its fintech-focused VC unit that backed, among others, PayPal‘s payments system Zettle. The unit then spun out in 2020 to create Mouro Capital, with Santander doubling its allocation from $200 million to $400 million.
Atlanta, Boston And Bay Area Lead Way In Dramatic Funding Decline To Black Startup Founders
As venture funding to Black-founded U.S. startups plummeted last year, many areas that have in the past served as strong pillars for such investment saw serious declines in those numbers. Overall, funding to Black-founded U.S. startups totaled only $705 million last year — marking the first time since 2016 that the figure failed to even reach $1 billion, Crunchbase data shows. Funding to Black-founded companies dropped 71% — greatly outpacing the overall decline in overall U.S. startup funding, which fell 37% last year, according to Crunchbase data.
Amazon Aggregator Thrasio Files For Bankruptcy Protection After Raising Billions From Investors
Thrasio, a startup that rolls up third-party sellers on Amazon, on Wednesday said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and entered a restructuring agreement that includes reduced debt and fresh capital. The bankruptcy filing marks a dramatic reversal for Thrasio, which once bore a $10 billion valuation after raising $3.4 billion from investors including Silver Lake, Oaktree Capital Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Thrasio is the largest among a group of businesses known as “Amazon aggregators” that buy and consolidate third-party sellers on large e-commerce platforms. Other similar businesses that have raised millions from investors include Perch (more than $908 million in total funding), Elevate Brands ($372.5 million), Branded Group ($150 million) and Boosted Commerce ($137 million).
Unlocking opportunities: The rise of VC secondaries in democratizing venture capital
Secondaries are getting increasingly specialized, as seen in the many news headlines reporting a surge in credit, infrastructure and real estate secondaries transactions. Investors are expressing heightened interest for secondaries strategies that can provide an entry point into asset classes with which they aren’t familiar with. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that secondaries have also reached a more nascent (and niche) asset class: venture capital (VC). While the VC market has grown significantly over the past decade, it has remained an asset class that is perceived as difficult to access. The secondaries toolkit has offered risk-averse investors –such as pension plans – the ability to add the asset class to their portfolios.
Why VCs are investing in startups that help other startups shut down
In one of the VC world’s greatest ironies, investors have lately been clamoring to back startups that are helping other startups shut down. So whether a VC-backed startup is succeeding or shuttering, investors themselves are finding ways to make returns for their limited partners while also helping founders move on more quickly.
And with an estimated 90% startup failure rate, there appears to be no shortage of potential customers for companies who specialize in unwinding other companies. As one seed-stage investor recently bemoaned on X, “Wind downs are sad, emotional and hard enough. Add the legal, financial and logistics work and it doubles the pain.
Dutch decline: Mapping the Netherlands’ VC ecosystem
The Netherlands saw a significant drop in venture capital dealmaking in 2023, although signs of recovery appeared in the last quarter of the year. The country recorded 516 deals worth a combined €2.3 billion for the year, according to PitchBook’s Q4 2023 Netherlands Market Snapshot, down from 615 rounds totaling €3.2 billion in 2022. However, deal count ticked upward in Q4 to stand at 117 and deal value remained stable. Early-stage rounds were the most prevalent, although both the late stage and venture growth grew their share of overall deal count in 2023. The Netherlands saw only a handful of mega-deals, including biotech startup VectorY Therapeutics’ €129 million (about $140 million) Series A and energy transition company EIT InnoEnergy’s more than €140 million round.
Public PE firms ride rising tide of private credit
Private credit may be a silver lining for the largest PE firms, especially when their bread-and-butter buyout businesses face a challenging environment. Private credit portfolios held by seven listed PE managers—KKR, Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, Ares Management, The Carlyle Group, Blue Owl and TPG—produced a median gross return of 16.4% for 2023, according to PitchBook’s latest US Public PE and GP Deal Roundup. In comparison, their PE strategies achieved a median gross return of 9.8% for the same period, which is below the double-digit returns that investors had been used to for much of the past decade.
Drop In Venture Funding To Black-Founded Startups Greatly Outpaces Market Decline
Venture funding to Black-founded U.S. startups last year totaled only $705 million — marking the first time since 2016 that the figure failed to even reach $1 billion, Crunchbase data shows. The decline in capital to Black-founded companies greatly outpaces the overall decline in startup funding. While total venture dollars in the U.S. fell 37% last year, funding to Black-founded startups dropped a staggering 71%, according to Crunchbase data. Last year’s total investment in Black-founded startups in the U.S. marks the lowest amount since such startups raised only $582 million in 2016. The drop in total dollars also meant Black-founded startups received their lowest share in the venture market since at least 2016, per Crunchbase.
The Anna Karenina Principle For Tech (Or, How To Cultivate A ‘Happy Family’ For Your Startup)
Whether you’ve read the novel or not, you’ve likely heard the opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” In other words, there’s only one way to be happy, but there are infinite ways to be unhappy. It’s an idea that captures the truth of many relationships — and many startups. Who knew Tolstoy translates so well to tech. In my career so far, I have invested across a variety of verticals, stages and geographies — from fintech to software infrastructure, incubation to IPO, and from the U.S. to Latin America and Asia. With every context switch comes a fresh set of considerations.
Celebrity Crypto Backers Hit Pause On Startup Deals
Things haven’t worked out well for promoters of FTX. The company is in bankruptcy, its founder is in jail, and its venture backers have written off the investment.
Celebrities who endorsed the company are also regretting their choice. Beyond the reputational damage and shortfall in expected compensation, they’re also defending themselves in what could be a costly class-action lawsuit.
Given this state of affairs, it’s not surprising to see stars most closely tied to the crypto craze, and FTX in particular, pulling back on their startup entanglements. They’re investing less, promoting less and mostly staying away from Web3.
The VC betting on the future of nightlife — and the startups doing it
Nightlife may not be the most obvious target for venture funding. But the venture capital investment unit of German liquor company Mast-Jägermeister plans to prove the two go together like a dance floor and a beat. Best Nights VC launched in 2021 and operates with an evergreen funding cycle, writing cheques between $300k and $1m. It has already invested in 14 companies across Europe and the US that it believes are ushering in a new era of nightlife and entertainment.
As Techstars retools, some former staffers say it lost focus on what made it successful
Well-known accelerator group Techstars announced a slew of changes to its operations this week, including the shuttering of some of its city-based programs.
Social media channels were lit with criticism from former members, who argued that the famed startup accelerator has lost focus on the very thing that historically made it so successful: city-based operations in areas not swarming with other such programs. And one former Techstars managing director (MD) told TechCrunch that the move away from local fundraising for city-based accelerator programs was an error.
5 Reasons Launching A Fintech Startup Has Become So Challenging
The fintech industry recorded its highest year ever in terms of investment value in 2021, but the market has been a lot more challenging for the past two years. Fintech startups have needed to adapt to this new reality, where explosive growth is no longer the priority, and companies that cannot demonstrate a clear path to profitability are struggling to raise follow-up funding. This doesn’t mean launching a new fintech venture is impossible. It means that the rules have changed. Here are five reasons why the landscape has become more challenging.
In A Latin American VC Winter, 6 Reasons For Optimism
Latin America was the fastest-growing venture capital market in the boom of 2021, dispelling historical neglect by investors. Leading up to it, the past decade showed record highs in startup creation, funding and growth.
That boom gave way to a bust, a characteristic cycle in developing economies: we’ve been facing a startup winter for two years.