VNTR Newsletter Nov 24, 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 100k+ investors and subscribers weekly to share the latest news, events, and articles from the global VC and startup ecosystem.
Scroll down to discover VNTR Community News, Upcoming Events, and the latest VC News and Reads.
VNTR COMMUNITY NEWS
Spotlight
.vntr domains: We’ve partnered with Freename to launch the .vntr Web3 domain names tailored to our community. Whether for personal or business use, you can now secure your own .vntr domain name and stand out with a unique online identity. Special Offer: Use the code VNTRBLACKFRIDAY at checkout to enjoy a 50% discount on .vntr domains. Offer valid until November 30!
Annual Corporate Partnership: As we gear up for our 2025 event series, featuring 200+ in-person gatherings designed to connect investors at major global tech conferences, we seek corporate partners to collaborate with us in delivering exceptional value to our global community of professional VC investors. We aim to partner with premium brands across various sectors, including tech services for investors, insurance, wealth management, luxury real estate, premium automotive, and lifestyle providers. Together, we will create a seamlessly integrated experience, offering our global members unparalleled access to the best partners and premium offerings. Discover our annual corporate partnership packages and connect with Yuri to discuss collaboration opportunities.
Corporate VC Club Membership: We are expanding the VNTR Club with our new Corporate VC (CVC) Club membership, designed specifically for active corporate venture capitalists. Join us to take your corporate VC to the next level and become a part of a thriving global community. Book your VNTR Club intro call with Robert. The membership offers a comprehensive suite of programs and services tailored to enhance your CVC activities and engagement:
Peer Learning: Gain insights and strategies from fellow CVC professionals.
CVC Co-Investor Community & Ecosystem: Build a robust network of co-investors and ecosystem partners.
Access to Innovation & Deal Flow: Leverage the VNTR global community to source innovative opportunities and deal flow.
Office Hours: Expand your network through startup or investor office hours.
Branded Investor Lounges & Roundtables: Partner with VNTR to offer branded investor activations at your annual summit and side events.
Thought Leadership & Brand Awareness: Enhance your VC presence and thought leadership.
Corporate Services for Portfolio Companies: Offer corporate benefits and services to investors' portfolio companies.
CVC Programming at VNTR Summit: Participate in dedicated programming at the VNTR Global Investor Summit 2025.
And Much More: we are working closely with our Club members to help them grow.
VNTR at Davos WEF 2025: This January, VNTR is bringing the global VC community together in Davos during the World Economic Forum for the 4th time with an exclusive series of three high-impact events designed to foster connections, insights, and opportunities among leading investors.
VNTR Fund of Funds: We are building our Fund of Funds team and looking for experienced General Partners to join and co-lead. The team is dedicated to deploying capital into top-tier VC funds within our global network. If you want to join the VNTR Fund of Funds team, please contact Yuri.
VNTR Podcast: In Episode 18, we met with Sebastien Borget, Co-Founder and COO at The Sandbox. We explored the Future of Gaming and best practices for investing in gaming companies. Tune in on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple. Stay updated with our latest episodes, and subscribe on your preferred platform to never miss insightful discussions.
Upcoming VNTR Events:
London: Nov 28 VNTR investor Luncheon
Munich: Dec 4 VNTR Investor Roundtable during ISPO Munich
Paris: Dec 5 VNTR Investor Roundtable at CC Forum Paris (Sponsorship packages)
Miami: Dec 6 VNTR Investor Roundtable during Art Basel (Sponsorship packages)
Abu Dhabi: Sponsorship packages
Online: Dec 18 VNTR Christmas Holidays Speed Networking powered by Airmeet
Manama Bahrain: Jan 15 VNTR Investor Roundtable Bahrain (Sponsorship packages)
More events available on the VNTR Platform
Contact Elise to sponsor VNTR events or join the VNTR Annual Corporate Partnership.
Follow us on Social media: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, and X.
UPCOMING VC EVENTS
Dec 3-5 ISPO Munich, Germany
Dec 4-7 CC Forum, Paris, France (VNTR100EXEC complimentary General Admission pass, VNTR20VIP for 20% discount code for a VIP pass)
Dec 9-12 Abu Dhabi Finance Week, UAE
Dec 10-11 World AI Summit, Doha, Qatar
Jan 7-10 CES, Las Vegas, USA
Jan 15-17 CFC St. Moritz, Switzerland
Jan 20-24 World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland
Feb 3-6 4YFN, Barcelona, Spain
Feb 4-6 AI Everything Global, Dubai, UAE
Feb 5-7 Techchill, Riga, Latvia
Feb 9-12 LEAP, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Feb 18-20 Consensus, Hong Kong
Feb 23-26 Web Summit Qatar, Doha, Qatar
April 14-16 GITEX Africa, Marrakech, Morocco
April 23-25 GITEX Asia, Singapore
April 27-30 Web Summit Rio, Brazil
April 30 - May 1 Token2049, Dubai, UAE
May 12-13 Dubai FinTech Summit, Dubai, UAE
May 14-16 Consensus, Toronto, Canada
May 21-23 GITEX Europe, Berlin, Germany
May 27-30 Web Summit Vancouver, Canada
June 11-14 Viva Technology, Paris, France
If you would like to submit VC-related events, please get in touch with Yuri or Telegram @byuric
VC Reads and News
View curated VC news and articles on the VNTR Platform
The Week’s Biggest Funding Rounds: xAI And Anthropic Headline Big Week For AI (Again)
Just as the holiday season begins, a sleighful of companies unveiled large funding rounds. Of course, it was led by two well-known AI startups — including xAI, which had its second massive haul of cash in just six months.
What AI and Blockchain Will Look in 2025
Explore what AI and Blockchain could look like in 2025 with DeVis Live AMA, a unique livestream series brought by Vis Caeli in partnership with ICP and Igniteers. Experience real-time, unfiltered feedback from top investors, corporate leaders, and ecosystem experts as they tackle challenges faced by blockchain founders and builders.
5 New Unicorns Join The Board And 5 Exit In October
Five companies joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in October 2024, across sectors spanning AI, energy, robotics, fintech and professional services. These five added over $7 billion in value to the board, which now hosts more than 1,550 companies collectively valued at $5.3 trillion.
It’s Taking Longer and Longer to IPO. 13.6 Years Or More For The Next Batch.
So the best of the best in SaaS and Cloud are still on fire. Canva, Stripe, Databricks, ServiceTitan, Gusto, Wiz should all have epic IPOs in 2025 or maybe 2026.
But one thing is clear: it’s taking longer to IPO:
It used to take 10.4 years on average to IPO in SaaS. More on that data here.
The last 3 SaaS IPOs took 11.3 years to IPO (Klaviyo, Rubrik, OneStream)
And the current top of top performers below? 13.6 years
Market conditions continue to fuel European VC valuations recovery
The European venture capital market is showing clear signs of recovery, particularly in the pre-seed and seed stages, as growth continued through Q3 2024.
Across all stages, the median deal value is on course to exceed 2023’s full-year numbers, as improved market conditions and slowing inflation continue to buoy the VC ecosystem.
Here are six charts from PitchBook’s Q3 2024 European VC Valuations Report that show the current trends in European startup valuations.
Among Biggest Startup Funding States, California Gains While Massachusetts Declines
U.S. venture funding has ticked higher this year, led by the AI investment boom. But not all geographies have shared equally in the gains.
Among the biggest states for startup funding, California has seen by far the largest rise in total investment. Others — including Colorado, New Jersey and New York — are also up for the year, per a Crunchbase analysis of startup funding by state.
Some of the big venture hubs, however, are down. The standout here is Massachusetts, where startups have pulled in just over $10.7 billion in 2024 — well behind last year’s pace.
For a bigger-picture view, below we chart out funding totals for the eight states with $2 billion or more in venture funding so far this year.
All the new first-time European VC funds of 2024
Fundraising in 2023 was not easy, for founders or VCs. Sifted tracked just over 40 new first-time funds that announced a first or second close in 2023 — compared to over 60 in 2022.
Will 2024 be rosier? We’re not too sure. Limited partnerships are still waiting for more established funds to return capital, the public listing market is still on ice and the mood music remains muted.
But those dogged VCs who do succeed in closing a fund in 2024 we’ll list right here.
Venture funding in Europe fell to $45B in 2024, says Atomico
Funding for European tech appears to have stabilized in 2024 after dropping precipitously in 2023, but the signs continue to point to more tough times ahead, according to the latest State of European Tech report.
The annual survey, produced by European VC firm Atomico, notes that startups in the region are on track to raise $45 billion this year. While far from the 50% drop of 2023, the figure is still down by $2 billion compared to a year ago. Atomico originally projected $45 billion for 2023; it has since revised 2023 up to $47 billion.
Accel-KKR catapults into secondaries with $2.2 billion fund
Technology-focused private equity shop Accel-KKR marked its official entrance into the secondaries game this week.
The firm closed its AKKR Strategic Capital fund with over $2.2 billion in commitments, tacking itself onto a laundry list of multi-billion dollar secondaries funds that have closed over the past few years, as general partners clamber to fulfill their LPs’ demands for cash back on their investments.
In 2023 VCs returned the lowest level of capital to their investors since 2011
It’s no secret that the venture capital industry is facing a liquidity crisis as IPOs and other exits remain few and far between after 2020 and 2021’s record-breaking years. Now, we have numbers that show just how bad it’s gotten.
In 2023, the U.S. VC industry invested $60 billion more into startups than it collected back in returns, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing PitchBook data. That is the largest deficit recorded in PitchBook’s 26 years of data. The data also found that U.S. VCs only returned $26 billion worth of shares back to their investors in 2023, the lowest total since 2011.
Will Exit Market Open Up For Crypto Startups As Market Surges?
The crypto market has remained red hot after the election, as many feel a change in the White House will bring along a friendlier environment for digital currencies.
Could the upsurge also awaken the long-slumbering M&A market for crypto startups, especially as funding has dipped in the sector for a few years and many private companies may be looking for a lifeline?
The M&A dealmaking environment has never really taken hold for VC-backed startups in the sector. The high point for the market was 2022, when only three dozen deals were completed, per Crunchbase data.
The French family offices investing most in tech
France has no shortage of wealthy individuals and families. With the French startup scene booming over the past few years, several of them — from luxury conglomerate LVMH to telco billionaire Xavier Niel — have taken to investing in tech.
Family offices — private companies that handle the investments of high-net-worth individuals and families — are increasingly appearing on startup cap tables, with some developing a dedicated tech strategy. Agache, the family office that controls the wealth of LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, launched a VC-focused branch in 2017 dubbed Aglaé Ventures.
A poll carried out by the French association for family offices (AFFO) found that in 2023 private equity — both direct investments in startups and indirect investments in VC funds — was the preferred asset of family offices, representing nearly a quarter (23%) of the money deployed.
Defense Tech Hits New Highs In 2024
Last week, defense and critical infrastructure tech startup Chaos Industries raised $145 million in a Series B — more than doubling its Series A from just last year.
The funding round was just another sign of how defense tech investment has exploded this year. The sector already has taken in more venture dollars than ever before and investment is showing few signs of letting up as defense systems become more dependent on tech, conflicts around the world heat up, and many expect a likely uptick in the Department of Defense’s budget after the recent election.
Through mid-November, defense tech startups — defined as those in the military, national security and law enforcement sectors — have raised just under $3 billion in 85 rounds, per Crunchbase data.
Genetic Testing Delivers Startup Hits And Misses
When submitting a genetic test, one usually has a desired outcome in mind. That doesn’t mean the results will bear it out.
Investing in DNA testing startups is much the same. Over the years, startup investors have poured billions of dollars into companies in the space. To date, the results have delivered both huge successes and flops.
On the flop front, one of the more high-profile disappointments for investors has been genetic testing provider 23andMe. The company announced last week it will lay off around 40% of remaining staff and wind down its clinical trials.
Play It Cool: Chasing Heat vs. Being Contrarian in Venture Capital
We hear often that venture capital is built on being contrarian. After all, venture is predicated on the power law: a small number of investments will drive most of the returns. This is a business of outliers.
StepStone and Primary crunched the numbers and found that both “good” and “great” performing funds have loss ratios around 50%. In other words, every 1 in 2 investments will return less than 1x.
If you’re wrong half the time, you’d better be really right when you are right. And the data proves that out: “great” funds get 90%+ of their returns from 10x+ investments—big home runs.
Sequoia marked up 2020 flagship VC fund by 25%, with no exits
Sequoia Capital, one of the world’s largest venture firms, marked up its 2020 flagship US venture fund by 24.6% in the 12 months ended in June, defying expectations for funds that deployed capital at the height of the 2020-2021 tech bull market.
Sequoia Capital US Venture XVII, which opened in 2020 and closed on about $808 million two years later, has been marked up almost 30% in the last two years, according to a PitchBook analysis of a report by the Regents of the University of California, an LP in several Sequoia funds.
Funding falls, venture debt has a record year and the US is poaching talent: the state of European tech 2024
Funding continues to fall, venture debt has had a record year and the US is poaching European technical talent, according to Atomico’s State of European Tech report 2024.
The 10th edition of the report is more reflective than usual, looking back over the previous decade of European tech, as well as the past 12 months.
The headline from the past 10 years is one of growth: VC funding in 2024 alone is projected to eclipse all the investor dollars picked up between 2005-2015.
The picture from the past 12 months is less positive. Early-stage rounds have suffered, the IPO market still looks bleak and the gender funding gap is widening at some stages.
Startup Speed Is Sine Qua Non For Startup Success. Here’s How To Achieve It.
While many factors influence startup success, speed often emerges as a decisive element. Unlike established companies that can afford deliberate, hierarchical decision-making, startups operate in an environment where rapid execution is essential for survival.
People who have experienced “Startup Speed” intuitively know it when they see it, but speed is almost always tangible and can be observed in the wild with a little effort.
AI Will Eat Services
PCs, the Internet and Smartphones all changed how work is done, and expanded the TAM for software to nearly $1Tn. Today, AI is rapidly expanding the TAM for software from productivity enhancement to the work itself, opening up a TAM that’s over $10Tn. This will lead to new types of business models, like cloud led to SaaS, or the internet led to social media companies. We believe AI led services – a strong technology product with humans in the loop – will dramatically change how services are delivered. Many of these will be built in the coming decade, and disrupt the services industry!
PE investment in India loses momentum
Investment activity in India’s private equity market has started to slow this year, with both dealmaking and fundraising set to come in below 2023’s total.
As of the time of writing, there have been 195 deals in the country this year worth just over $18 billion across all deal types, tracking well below last year’s total of nearly $30 billion invested across 218 deals.
Two of the year’s most notable deals have been in infrastructure. The biggest deal of 2024 is Brookfield Asset Management‘s acquisition of ATC India, the loss-making India operations of US telecom towers operator American Tower Corp. , for $2.5 billion.
AI Agents Can Help Crypto Become the Currency of AI
Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming one of the most significant paradigms in the new era of foundation models. By agentic, we refer to AI systems that can not only produce outputs but also execute actions in a given environment. Consider automation scenarios like responding to emails, interacting with a database, calling an API, or performing physical tasks in an embodied AI setting such as robotic tasks.
Unlike previous automation paradigms, agentic AI has the potential to enable agents to achieve semi- or full autonomy within their environments. We can envision a near future where tens of millions of semi-autonomous agents become integral to business and personal ecosystems. Crypto assets could serve as a fundamental representation of the world these AI agents interact with.