VNTR Newsletter July 21, 2024 – Venture Capital News, Events, VC Reads
Venture Capital, Web3, and Private Equity – News, Events, and VC Reads
Hello friends,
Happy Sunday!
VNTR Newsletter is delivered to 95k+ investors and subscribers weekly to share the latest news, events, and articles from the global VC and startup ecosystem.
Scroll down for VNTR Community News, Upcoming Events, and VC News/Reads.
VNTR COMMUNITY NEWS
Spotlight
VNTR Club Retreat: Join VNTR Club and Community members in Koh Samui, Thailand, from September 12 to 15 for an immersive 3-day VNTR Retreat. Connect with peers, share knowledge, learn, engage in outdoor activities, and participate in masterminds. Then, travel with us to Singapore for Token2049 week, where we will host two VNTR Roundtables and enjoy the Singapore F1 Grand Prix. Activate your free investor account to apply and learn about the VNTR Community and Club.
VNTR Podcast: Catch up with the latest episodes on YouTube, Spotify or Apple.
Sponsorships: VNTR partners with companies that provide value and unique benefits to VNTR investors. With over 200 events per year, newsletters, podcasts, personal introductions, and platform integrations, we provide exposure for your brand. Please contact Lukas or apply to explore how we can help your business thrive.
VNTR Syndicate: We have four active VNTR syndicate deals on the VNTR Platform and four Community deals shared by VNTR Club members for direct co-investments. VNTR provides accredited investors with exclusive access to growth-stage companies and premier VC funds through VNTR syndicate SPVs. Don't hesitate to get in touch with Gaurav if you have questions.
Coming 3 Weeks:
Online: July 23 VNTR Speed Networking
Online: July 24 VNTR Mastermind "Investor Mentoring" hosted by Gillian Muessig, Managing Director, Mastersfund, and Andrey Kostyuk, Co-founder, AAlchemy Ventures.
Kuala Lumpur: July 25 VNTR Investors Roundtable Malaysia during TechInAsia Conference.
Nashville: July 26 VNTR Investors Roundtable during Bitcoin2024. Thank you to Nashville Entrepreneur Center and The Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association for your support.
Paris: July 26-29 When Worlds Collide 2024 Summer Olympics Edition.
Auckland: Aug 8 VNTR Investors Roundtable (New Zealand Chapter gathering). Thank you, Gembot/Eccuity, for hosting.
Bengaluru: Aug 9 VNTR Investors Roundtable Bengaluru (India Chapter gathering)
Thank you to our Partners:
Paypolitan stands at the cutting edge of payment technology, operating as an innovative application that effortlessly merges conventional fiat currency and contemporary cryptocurrency transactions. As a fintech pioneer, Paypolitan is a first mover in Open Banking with over 2,000 connected banks in over 40 countries. Contact Nils to explore partnership or integration.
Perfect is a Personal Lifestyle app that helps you Book your flights and hotels and manage your 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.
Upcoming VNTR Events:
Aug 13 VNTR Investors Roundtable Toronto (Blockchain Futurist Conference)
Aug 14 VNTR Investors Roundtable Istanbul (Istanbul Blockchain Week)
Sep 4 VNTR Investors Roundtable Seoul (Korea Blockchain Week)
Sep 12 VNTR Investors Roundtable Dubai (Dubai AI & Web3 Festival)
Sep 26 VNTR Investors Roundtable Barcelona (European Blockchain Convention)
More events available on the VNTR Platform
Reach out to Lukas to sponsor VNTR events or join VNTR Corporate Membership.
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UPCOMING VC EVENTS
July 25-27 Bitcoin2024, Nashville, USA
Aug 13-14 Istanbul Blockchain Week, Turkey
Aug 13-14 Blockchain Futurist Conference, Toronto, Canada (50% Discount using VNTR50)
Aug 21-25 Gamescom, Cologne, Germany
Aug 21-23 VCILAT, Santa Cruz De La Sierra, Bolivia
Aug 22-24 Coinfest, Bali, Indonesia (20% Discount using CA24VNTR)
Aug 28-29 WebX, Tokyo, Japan (20% Discount using discount_vntr)
Sep 9-11 IPEM Paris, France
Sep 11-12 Dubai AI & Web3 Festival, Dubai, UAE
Sep 11-12 TechBBQ, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sep 17-18 Asia PE-VC Summit, Singapore
Sep 18-19 Token2049, Singapore
Sep 24-27 Super Return Asia, Singapore
Sep 25-27 South Summit, Seoul, Korea
Sep 29 - Oct 1 Bitz & Pretzels, Munich, Germany
Oct 2-3 How to Web, Bucharest, Romania
Oct 7-13 San Francisco Tech Week, USA
Oct 14-18 GITEX Global, Dubai, UAE (Complimentary investor passes)
Oct 14-20 Los Angeles Tech Week, USA
Oct 15-17 Meridian by Stellar, London, UK
Oct 21-27 Mexico Tech Week, Mexico City, Mexico
Oct 22-23 Blockchain Life, Dubai, UAE (10% Discount using VNTR)
Oct 28-29 SWITCH, Singapore
Oct 28-Nov 1 Hong Kong FinTech Week, Hong Kong
Nov 11-14 Web Summit, Lisbon, Portugal
Dec 9-12 Abu Dhabi Finance Week, UAE
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
Four U.S.-Based Unicorns Joined The Board In June In The Lowest Monthly Count So Far This Year
The four new additions are U.S.-based and amazingly not tied to the generative sector. Each company also was well established — being around 8 to 9 years old by the time they were valued at a billion dollars.
Funding To European Startups Rose In Q2, Exceeding Investment To Asia For The First Time
Funding to European startups rose in Q2, reaching close to $16 billion. Overall, funding was up 31% quarter over quarter and 17% year over year, based on an analysis of Crunchbase data. Both early and late-stage funding was up — with a notable increase in late-stage funding. For the first time in a decade, quarterly funding to European startups was higher than in Asia. According to a recent Crunchbase report, Asia-based startups suffered their worst quarter since the final quarter of 2015, not helped by the tension between the U.S. and China.
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Cardurion Pharmaceuticals And Human Interest Nab Largest Raises
Eight startups raised $100 million or more this week as a biotech and financial services company led the way. In fact, the big rounds came from everywhere, including automotive, fintech and IT software. Notice anything missing? Yep, no huge AI raise.
Emerging managers in Europe raise more, on average, than US peers
Despite it being one of the worst times in memory to raise a VC fund, upstart investors in Europe are having a moment. More new VC firms are being launched than ever before — and more solo GP funds too. Emerging managers in Europe are also, surprisingly, raising more than their US peers on average, according to a new report published today by LTV Capital, a fund of funds. It’s tracked over 800 emerging managers raising around the world over two years — and thinks this boom of new funds is a sign of the times, and of Europe’s maturation as an ecosystem.
Cybersecurity Funding Jumps 144% In Q2
Venture funding to cybersecurity startups had its best quarter since Q1 2022 — surging 144% year to year — and seemingly building off a strong start to the year. The increase in venture dollars was mainly due to a significant jump in nine-figure rounds — illustrating that even as investors may be pulling back on investing in young startups, they are willing to double down on more mature companies looking for growth rounds.
Venture debt on track for a record year
The worst days look to be behind us. European startups raised €47.3bn in equity, debt and grant funding across 2,971 rounds from January to June this year, tracked by Sifted’s data team. Dilutive financing is slightly down compared to the second half of 2023, but higher than the same period last year. €18.7bn of that funding was debt. At the current pace, that figure will surpass 2022’s debt funding record of €28.1bn in Europe.
Latin American Startup Funding Rebounds After Deep Slide
Funding to Latin American startups rose in the second quarter, led by a resurgence in late-stage dealmaking. Altogether, companies in South and Central America raised $791 million in reported seed- through growth-stage financing in Q2 of 2024, per Crunchbase data. That’s a rise of 25% from the prior quarter and 17% from a year ago.
Venture’s asset growth has become an albatross around its neck
The venture industry grew rapidly over the past decade because it outperformed other asset classes. That size is now a liability, raising the bar for returns at a time when exits are hard to find. Cash distributions—the money flowing back to LPs—continue to decline as a share of assets, sinking to the lowest level since the global financial crisis.
Sustainability-Focused Startup Equity Funding Fell In H1 2024
Those of us who follow climate change news are used to seeing the bad tidings outweigh the good. We’re slogging through what’s shaping as the hottest summer on record. Glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. And fossil fuel consumption continues to grow. Now, here comes another grim data point: Equity funding to startups focused on cleantech and sustainability is down this year.
More zombies, less info: Study warns about consequences of private credit growth
The “meteoric rise” of private credit into a market potentially larger than the combined size of syndicated loan and bond markets has significant consequences for corporate governance, corporate valuations, and distress, among other issues, according to an academic paper. The article, entitled “The Credit Markets Go Dark,” by Jared Ellias and Elisabeth de Fontenay, discussed the recent reversal of dispersed ownership in corporate debt toward private credit, a trend the authors describe as “de-democratization and consolidation.”
Google In Talks To Buy Cyber Startup Wiz For $23B
The somewhat stagnant M&A market may be about to get a jumpstart. One of its biggest ever involving a venture capital-backed startup. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for approximately $23 billion. The deal, which would be Google’s largest ever, was first reported in The Wall Street Journal.
Trump’s VP candidate JD Vance has long ties to Silicon Valley, and was a VC himself
Former President Donald Trump picked Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate on Monday, as he runs to reclaim the office he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020.
Vance, who’s best known for his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” spent years as a venture capitalist before leaving the industry when elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022. After graduating from Yale Law School in 2013, Vance moved to San Francisco, where he was a principal at Mithril Capital, a fund co-founded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan. Mithril raised two funds, a $540 million and an $850 million vehicle in 2013 and 2017, respectively.
The summer of consolidation
New York City’s oppressive heat slows everything down—M&A, fundraising, news—and pushes everyone out—to the Hamptons, the south of France and the Jersey Shore. The lull creates a perfect point for reflection, a midyear moment to step away from the day-to-day and take a look back at the trends that have propelled the market forward over the past six-ish months.
Hot biotech stocks have LPs eyeing hybrid venture vehicles
Hybrid venture vehicles are nothing new, but blended public and private vehicles may be gaining an edge. Investors tracking the performance upturns in healthcare stocks are no longer content to sit on their venture laurels. They’re hungry for exposure to public markets. While it’s too early to select the winners and losers of this post-COVID-19 cycle, it’s late enough to pick up a pattern: LPs have backed a number of $1 billion-plus biotech funds. And, with that much capital at their disposal, those larger managers almost must turn to stock trading—or at least hang onto late-stage venture stakes through their IPOs—to deploy ready dry powder.
6 healthtech ideas VCs want you to pitch in 2024
VCs have had an up-and-down relationship with healthtech in the past couple of years. While investors have remained fairly bullish on biotech companies, the sheen has come off digital health startups — with funding in the sub-sector dropping further than European tech as a whole in 2023 and remaining low into 2024. But several VCs recently told Sifted they think investment will begin to pick up in the next year. And there’s real excitement around the potential of AI and the rise of preventative care to positively impact struggling healthcare systems.
Web3-AI: What’s Real, and What’s Hype
The Web3-AI space is one of the hottest in crypto, combining great promise with significant hype. It almost feels heretical to point out the number of Web3-AI projects with multi-billion dollar market caps but no practical use cases, driven purely by proxy narratives from the traditional AI market. Meanwhile, the gap in AI capabilities between Web2 and Web3 continues to widen alarmingly. However, Web3-AI is not all hype. Recent developments in the generative AI market highlight the value proposition of more decentralized approaches.
Financing roundup: LatAm H1 dealmaking, fintech rounds, Wayra edge investment, and more
Dealmaking in Latin America fell 26% by volume and 16% by value year-on-year in January-June, according to TTR Data.
That represents 1,242 transactions with US$33.5bn in disclosed value, including M&As, venture capital investments, private equity and asset acquisitions.
Over 630 of the transactions in Latin America were M&As and 314 were venture capital deals, mostly involving startups. According to TTR, private equity deals fell 8% year-on-year to 85, while venture capital deals were down 37%.