VNTR Newsletter June 30, 2024 – 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
2024 H1 results – We had a very productive Q1 and Q2 this year:
Activated 20,000+ investor-to-investor new connections globally
Hosted 76 offline events in 42 cities in 30 countries
Hosted 66 online events: Expert Sessions, Speed Networking, Community and Club Roundtables, Chapter Directors Roundtables, LP Roundtables, Masterminds Deal Overviews, and Investment Committees.
30 Active Chapters
New Mission: Build the World's Largest Investors Community
Rolling out new branding
Onboarded 2000+ investment decision makers on VNTR Platform
Launched VNTR Podcast
Rolling out a new website
Launched VNTR Club with new membership tiers (Individual, GP, Corporate)
Launched VNTR Syndicate to invest in startups and funds
Opened registrations to the Annual VNTR Summit in Lisbon on Nov 13
VNTR Chapters: We're seeking Chapter Directors (or Co-Directors) to launch the VNTR community in major tech hubs, including Los Angeles, Monaco, Riyadh, Shanghai, Chicago, Boston, Jakarta, Manila, Cape Town, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Seoul, and more. If you know any suitable candidates, please introduce them to Olya, our Head of Chapters Growth.
VNTR Podcast: Join us on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts for engaging interviews with venture capitalists and capital allocators. We aim to educate our global community on the best practices for investing in startups and funds. Interested in being a guest on the VNTR Podcast? Contact Elise to participate.
July Events:
Online: July 1 VNTR Expert Session with Club Member Nils Tharandt Ortiz, CEO at Paypolitan - The Evolution of Open Banking: Past, Present, and Future with Paypolitan
Brussels: July 09 VNTR Investors Roundtable during Ethereum Community Conference. Thank you to our partners, Bitget, Internet Computer, and Cointelegraph Accelerator.
Ulaanbaatar: July 11 VNTR Investors Breakfast Mongolia
Phnom Penh: July 16 VNTR Investors Dinner Cambodia
Mexico City: July 17 VNTR Investors Breakfast
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 our Partners:
Bitget is a leading global crypto exchange and Web3 Company serving over 25 million users in more than 100 countries. Committed to helping users trade smarter, Bitget offers a pioneering copy trading feature and other trading solutions, and inspires individuals to embrace crypto through collaborations with credible partners like legendary footballer Lionel Messi and official eSports events organizer PGL.
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 8 VNTR Investors Roundtable Auckland (New Zealand Chapter gathering)
Aug 13 VNTR Investors Roundtable Toronto (Blockchain Futurist Conference)
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.
Follow us on Social media: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, and X.
UPCOMING VC EVENTS
July 25-27 Bitcoin2024, Nashville, USA
Aug 21-23 VCILAT, Santa Cruz De La Sierra, Bolivia
Aug 22-24 Coinfest, Bali, Indonesia
Aug 28-29 WebX, Tokyo, Japan
Sep 11-12 TechBBQ, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sep 18-19 Token2049, Singapore
Sep 25-27 South Summit, Seoul, Korea
Sep 29 - Oct 1 Bitz & Pretzels, Munich, Germany
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
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
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Sila And Formation Bio Headline Huge Week Of Large-Money Deals
It was a huge week for startups raising big. A company had to raise nine figures to make the list this week and five raised $200 million or more. It’s unlikely the short week next week will see these kinds of rounds, so don’t expect the same type of dollar figures in the next seven days.
What Vinod Khosla says he’s ‘worried about the most’
Vinod Khosla is more popular than ever right now. The Sun Microsystems co-founder turned prominent investor — first at Kleiner Perkins and, for the last 20 years, at his venture firm Khosla Ventures — has always been sought after by founders thanks to his no-nonsense advice and his firm’s track record, including bets on Stripe, Square, Affirm, and DoorDash. But a $50 million gamble on OpenAI back in 2019 — when it was far from clear that the outfit would succeed on the scale that it has — put Khosla Ventures, and Khosla himself, squarely in the spotlight.
Fabric Ventures' $250M Bet on the Decentralized Web with Richard Muirhead
"This is a shift in the computing stack from Web1 to Web2 to Web3," says Richard Muirhead, Founder and Managing Partner at Fabric Ventures, in the new episode of “Web2+1 with VC” show. Fabric Ventures is a leading Web3 VC fund with $250M in AUM and 15 unicorns in its portfolio. Discover Fabric’s vision for investing in the Open Web and why blockchain is key to AI and pivotal for the future of technology. Dive into Richard’s visionary insights on the evolution of the internet.
What’s happened to Europe’s mega-deals?
Europe’s private equity mega-deals are in decline, making up a smaller share of the region’s deals as higher borrowing costs—compounded by a weak economic outlook—continue to bite. PitchBook’s 2024 European Private Capital Outlook: Midyear Update shows that, in line with analysts’ expectations, there have been just 15 mega-deals—transactions valued over €1 billion—worth a combined €32.7 billion (about $35 billion) so far this year. This represents just over one-fifth of the region’s overall deal value, a decade low.
Mapped: Millionaire Migration in 2024
The United Arab Emirates is set to attract the most millionaires in 2024, while China and the UK are expected to lose the largest number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs).
This graphic shows the top 10 countries projected to have the highest net inflows or net outflows of HNWIs in 2024. HNWIs have a liquid investable wealth of $1 million or more. All figures come from the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2024.
Healthcare fundraising activity outpaces other sectors
Despite adverse conditions for emerging managers seeking new capital, healthcare fund managers have been recent outliers thanks to their fundraising abilities. Healthcare private equity funds have been exceeding their capital-formation goals, raising about 114% of initial target sizes dating back to early 2023, according to PitchBook data. By comparison, funds focused on all industrial sectors that are targeting up to $5 billion hit 94% of target.
Funding To Autonomous Driving Startups Surprisingly Starts To Move Again
For the first four months of the year, it seemed like funding to autonomous driving startups — once a super hot sector — was slowly driving off a cliff. However, since then venture funding has kicked into another gear. Through April, less than $800 million was raised by startups in the autonomous driving industry, per Crunchbase data. However, since May 1 nearly $2.7 billion has come pouring into the sector — mainly through a handful of big deals that seem to show investor interest is not stuck in reverse.
Accel turns to rural India in hunt for future unicorns
Accel, one of the most prolific e-commerce and marketplace investors in India, is making a contrarian move by turning its focus to smaller towns and villages in search of future unicorns. The venture firm argued on Wednesday that these areas, which it refers to as “Bharat,” represent a significant market ripe with opportunities for entrepreneurs even though many startups have struggled to make inroads in these regions. “There’s a perception that rural means poor. But if you look at what the top 20% to 30% is spending there, it’s quite significant. We estimate it’s north of $250 billion,” Accel partner Anand Daniel told TechCrunch in an interview. The firm claims that the top 20% of these untapped markets spend more per month than about half of the population in urban cities.
5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed In June: AI Eye Checks, Voice Diagnoses And New Social Media ‘Friends’
Summer is here and the time is right to maybe read a little less tech news and have some fun.
If that’s the case, you may have missed some intriguing capital raises this month. No worries, we have you covered with what caught our eye — starting with an eye-related startup.
Leaner Times Persist For Alt Protein Funding
Lab-produced meat may be one of the weirder sectors for startup innovation. But in terms of funding and hype trajectory, it’s about as typical as it gets. The investment heyday for the space roughly coincided with the peak of the bull market. Cultivated meat companies pulled in over $1.6 billion in 2021 and 2022, per Crunchbase analysis. Leading names like Upside Foods, Believer Meats and Good Meat consumed over a billion between them. That generous funding streak coincided with a period of heavy investment in plant-based meat and dairy substitutes. The heaviest private funding recipient, fake meat unicorn Impossible Foods, raised nearly $2 billion. And rival Beyond Meat had a roughly two-year run as a stock market darling following its 2019 IPO.
As Spain gets its latest VC fund, Southern Europe appears to be on a roll
While startup valuations have plummeted since the bull run of 2021-2022, a factor that’s hit the European startup ecosystem particularly hard, there’s one region of Europe where the correction has slightly worked in its favor: the South. Evidence for this was apparent during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, as time and time again your TechCrunch reporter bumped into Northern European VCs scouting startups on the “Iberian peninsula” (Spain and Portugal). These young companies bring a killer combination that VCs love: significantly lower operating costs and far less punchy valuations.
Germany’s most active VCs investing at seed and below
German VC got off to a slow start in 2024, with 375 deals made across all stages in the first six months of this year, compared to 712 in H1 of 2023, according to data platform Dealroom. And while seed funding was hot last year — with bigger funds that wouldn’t previously have considered early stage investing swooping in — there have been half the number of pre-seed and seed cheques signed so far this year compared to H1 2023. But who are the investors signing the most pre-seed and seed deals in the last 12 months?
The art of the boomerang
Private equity’s newest favorite acquisition target isn’t a bird or a plane—it’s a boomerang. A quarter of the take-privates that occurred in the first three months of 2024 were what we call boomerangs—when a PE firm buys a listed company shortly after it has gone public—and we can expect to see more of them. After a lag in Q4 2023, take-private activity picked back up in 2024 with $16.3 billion in deal value across 20 take-privates—five of which were boomerang stocks, according to PitchBook data.
China in Venture Capital winter, 'worst' IPO exit market in decades
Stagnant initial public offerings and geopolitical tensions have created a challenging venture capital environment in China, forcing companies and investors to look elsewhere for opportunities. During the first six months of the year, the total value of mainland China's IPOs has plummeted 84% on the year to 32.5 billion yuan ($4.48 billion), while only 44 companies went public, down 75%. Despite the dismal showing so far, he kept his full-year forecast for China IPOs at 139 billion yuan to 166 billion yuan, as it was already halved three months earlier.
10 of the most exciting digital health startups of 2024, according to VCs
In the post-COVID world, VCs say it’s not as easy to get excited about investing in digital health. Deal activity in healthcare IT was relatively flat in Q1 2024 at 74 total deals, valued at about $1 billion total, up only 3% from the year-ago quarter, according to PitchBook data. Still, promising startups have grabbed investors’ attention this year. TechCrunch spoke with about a dozen healthcare VCs about the companies they think have the most promising future. While recently formed AI-driven startups that are solving staggering administrative challenges in the U.S. healthcare system dominated their recommendations, they also mentioned several slightly older, non-AI-focused businesses.
Robotics Startups On The Rise In 2024
So far, 2024 is shaping up as a not-so-shabby year for robotics startup funding. Developers of workplace robots, robotic surgery technologies, and even humanoid models have all raised large rounds in the past six months. The artificial intelligence funding boom has also helped boost the space, with investors backing big deals at the intersection of AI and robotics. Altogether, robotics startups have pulled in over $4.2 billion in seed through growth-stage financing this year, per Crunchbase data. That puts funding on track to exceed last year’s muted levels, albeit still below its cyclical peak, as illustrated below.
How Europe's largest innovation system is bridging the early-stage investment gap
It took almost two decades, but when molecular biologist Dr Laura Soucek had a breakthrough in the lab, she saw an opportunity to revolutionise cancer treatment around the world. Her research had focused on developing an inhibitor that would target Myc, which cells express when they need to divide, and is a “huge culprit in cancer”. Myc allows cancer cells to proliferate, thrive and even resist treatment.
Europe breaks another record for VC investment in Gen AI
Europe is seeing yet another record year for investment in generative AI startups as total venture capital funding in the region nears €2 billion. In the first six months of the year alone, €1.9 billion ($2 billion) has been invested in the space across 61 rounds, according to PitchBook data, up 18.7% from 2023’s annual investment total of €1.6 billion. At the current pace, the total deal count is also on course to at least match that of last year.
The Prize for Owning Web3 Distribution Is Enormous. Here’s Why It Won’t Go to Big Tech
For more than a decade, the blockchain industry has struggled with a self-determining question: how do we go mainstream? The quest for the killer app or company that suddenly moves the masses to cryptographic infrastructure has proven to be a daunting task. But unlocking product-market fit here represents more than a win for the consumer: it will signal a profound shift in how the internet is structured and governed for our lifetime. So who will be the powerhouse distributor of Web3, controlling the wallets and app store of the future?
Eye On AI: OpenAI Goes On A Buying Spree As AI Looks To Open Up M&A, IPO Markets
It may be the big funding rounds that grab the headlines when it comes to the startup world, but for investors it’s the exit that actually matters. For the past few years the M&A market for startups has been slow — and the IPO pipeline nonexistent. However, just as AI is taking over venture, perhaps it is doing that for the M&A and IPO markets. OpenAI — which reportedly has doubled annualized revenue to $3.4 billion — opened up its wallet the past few days to make two deals happen. The creator of ChatGPT first bought search and analytics startup Rockset last week. The San Mateo, California-based company had raised nearly $118 million in capital, per Crunchbase. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
We’re Closing $30M+/year in SPVs as a Solo GP, Why Would I Ever Start a Fund?
I started in the syndicate ecosystem as a GP in 2020. Notably I was an LP in multiple syndicates for several years prior, participating in my first angel syndicate in 2018. At the time I had just finished a stint working for three years at an investment bank in San Francisco and was starting an MBA. I was five years out of undergrad and at the time was considering either attempting to get into private equity (PE) or break into venture capital (VC). I had interest in both, but wasn’t sure.
Investcorp announces real-world asset tokenization fund
Investcorp, a global asset manager, announced a partnership between its Strategic Capital Group (ISCG) and Securitize, a firm specializing in asset tokenization, in a June 26 press release. The tokenized fund will provide qualified investors with exposure to ISCG’s general partner staking strategy, a method of private equity investment that invests in asset management firms directly by acquiring minority interests in those firms rather than investing in the underlying funds those firms manage.
A big mistake LPs make when assessing GP commitment %’s
The GP commitment is often a key heuristic in evaluating fund managers alignment. Occasionally, it serves as a key reason for a pass/go (it shouldn’t be the key reason, but that's for another day).
The way GP commits are typically presented are as a % of a fund. I.e. a 2% GP commitment of a $100MM fund is $2MM. The higher the number, the more alignment the GP has, in theory.
Every DePIN Has a Story
The charm of a DePIN project is in its origin story. For many of us, DePIN is about scratching that metaphorical itch that comes from the quirks and gaps in business and society. During my tenure at Helium, one of the significant challenges we faced was incentivizing hosts to plug in our hotspots. While it was easy to get friends and family on board, achieving widespread adoption in 2013 seemed nearly impossible.