| | | | | | | Presented By Fidelity | | | | Axios Pro Rata | | By Kia Kokalitcheva · Apr 16, 2022 | | Welcome back — and thanks for reading our Saturday edition for the past year (as of last weekend)! Today, we're diving into the latest PitchBook data on venture capital in the U.S. - 🚨 Reminder: Feel free to send me tips or comments by replying to this email or on Twitter @imkialikethecar.
Today's newsletter is 808 words, a 3-minute read. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Venture dollars recede after pandemic boom |  Data: PitchBook. Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios The numbers are in: Venture capital deployment in the U.S. slumped in Q1, per the latest PitchBook data. Why it matters: This is largely a knock-on effect of the public market pullback that kicked off late last year. Companies are rethinking near-term public listing plans, and investors are recalibrating deal sizes — particularly when it comes to late-stage funding. By the numbers: U.S. venture investments hit $70.7 billion in 2022's first quarter, down from $95.4 billion in the previous quarter, and from $77 billion year-over-year. - VCs invested across 3,723 deals, per PitchBook. (There's also an additional estimated 1,099 unreported deals, though they're not expected to impact the overall value significantly.)
- Mega-deals (those above $100 million) slowed to $36.6 billion, from $58.1 billion the prior quarter and $44.2 billion YoY.
- Globally, VC funding also decreased in Q1, dropping 19% quarter-over-quarter to $143.9 billion, per data from CB Insights.
What they're saying: "The top 10% of deals drive such an enormous proportion of deal dollars every quarter ... some of those deals not happening is going to impact the overall dollars," PitchBook venture analyst Kyle Stanford tells Axios. Yes, but: Q1 numbers are still higher than pre-2021 levels, and VCs currently have a record level of dry powder — capital they'll have to deploy. - Median valuations at all stages have remained stable or grown, per PitchBook. (Recall from a couple of weeks ago, a venture-limited partner told Axios he hadn't yet seen the valuation discipline that fund managers in his portfolio had promised.)
- Biotech and fintech startups have also seen deal sizes and valuations continue to grow, as those industries draw booming interest.
- And: "Even if mega deals slow down, it's gonna be the second-highest year for mega deals," predicts Stanford.
What we're watching: Whether public listings pick back up, and at what pace VCs deploy their newly raised funds (the pandemic years contracted those cycles thanks to a startup boom). - Nontraditional investors like crossover funds (hi, Tiger Global!) are also a bit of a wildcard as some pull back their investments in pre-IPO companies — though Q1's numbers aren't showing that quite yet.
|     | | | | | | 2. Spreading (a little bit of) the wealth around |  Data: PitchBook. Table: Thomas Oide/Axios News of Silicon Valley's death has been greatly exaggerated... Startups in the Bay Area raised $28.2 billion in VC funding throughout this year's first quarter, representing 39.9% of U.S. funding, per Pitchbook. - That's up from its 35-38% range during 2021.
The big picture: Even as Silicon Valley remains the undisputed top startup financing hub, a number of emerging hubs around the country like Austin, Denver, and Miami continue to attract more dollars and slowly grow their piece of the venture pie. - New York City in particular is solidifying its position as the second-largest tech center in the country, with $10.2 billion in total venture dollars this past quarter (or 14.4% of total funding).
- Los Angeles has also continued to amass more startups and venture dollars, putting it in the third spot with $6 billion, or 8.5% of all funding.
What we're watching: Venture funds are also consolidating within those hubs, further cementing their local ecosystems and ability to sustain market ups and downs. | | | | | | | | 3. Female founders: The good and the bad news |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | One of the casualties of this past quarter was female startup founders, who took in a smaller portion of U.S. fundraising dollars, per PitchBook data. Zoom in: Capital to female-founded startups declined to 15.6% of all financing, from 17.1% in 2021. All-female-founder teams dropped to 2% from 2.2%). - The number of funding rounds raised by female-founded startups dropped to 24.2% of all deals, from 25.7% in 2021 (all-female teams, however, rose to 6.9%, up from 6.6%).
- After hitting all-time records last year, VC investment into startups with at least one female founder dropped this past quarter to $10.7 billion across 836 deals, down from about $17 billion across roughly 1,300 deals in the prior quarter.
Yes, but: There's still some good news. - First financings for female founders remain at last year's levels, while the number of late-stage deals as a share of all deals is growing. Female founders are also raising more early-stage venture dollars in proportion to overall capital.
- And while NYC dropped to second place (to the Bay Area) when it comes to total dollars raised by female founders since 2019, it remains the top location by deal count.
| | | | | | | | A message from Fidelity | | You prep for your IPO — Fidelity has your back at every step | | |  | | | | Fidelity Stock Plan Services can provide equity compensation and management solutions that keep your momentum going — to and through life as a public company. Why it's important: Together, you can create equity comp solutions that work throughout your company's journey. | | | | | | 📚 Due Diligence | - VC distributions are down 90% in Q1, says Industry Ventures, an LP in 450 funds (TechCrunch)
- The biggest VC firms are managing a lot more moolah than you thought (TechCrunch)
- Global Venture Funding Fell Last Quarter For The First Time In A Year. How Significant Is That? (Crunchbase News)
| | | | | | | | 🧩 Trivia | | As Dan covered at the beginning of the week, GOP members of the Senate Banking Committee just introduced what they call the "JOBS Act 4.0." - Question: Name one thing included in this proposal that could impact VCs. (Answer at the bottom.)
| | | | | | | | 🧮 Final Numbers |  Data: PitchBook. Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios - Non-traditional investors (NTIs) and crossover funds have visibly pulled back last quarter.
| | | | | | | | A message from Fidelity | | You lead the way through IPO — Fidelity backs you all the way | | | | | | | | Fidelity Stock Plan Services can provide equity compensation and management solutions that support you through your company's journey. Why it's important: Together, you can create equity comp solutions that keep up your momentum — to and through life as a public company. | | | | 🙏 Thanks for reading! See you on Monday for Pro Rata's weekday programming, and please ask your friends, colleagues, and data nerds to sign up. Trivia answer: The proposal could expand the definition of "qualifying investments" (though not digital tokens), double the number of LPs allowed in a VC fund raising $50 million or less, change public company reporting requirements to semi-annually, let gig economy companies give equity compensation to contractors, and extend investor accreditation to those who pass an SEC-designed test. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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