 VCs have already secured over $90B in capital commitments, about two-thirds of 2021's total, according to PitchBook data. While that puts them on pace for their biggest fundraising year in history, many managers are reporting difficulties securing their next vehicle. More: - The massive sums raised so far are largely attributable to the top 20 firms worldwide, while smaller firms are considering reducing the size of their next fund.
- That comes after many firms saw massive oversubscription of their previous funds.
- The problem lies in the fact that, while the pace of investments and capital collections have skyrocketed, distributions have lagged, due in large part to a poor exit environment.
- The median time between U.S. VC fundraises fell last year to 1.6 years from about 2.5 years in the middle of the last decade.
- Several major LPs were reported to have said that their 2022 VC budget may require a 30% reduction.
- That comes as lower public asset valuations have made their allocations even more overweight in venture and other private assets.
- That is, in turn, forcing LPs to reduce check sizes to their core GPs and walk away from smaller relationships.
- Samir Kaji, founder and CEO of Allocate, a platform for investing in venture funds, thinks that LPs will pump the brakes so hard that 2022’s total fundraising will not keep pace with last year’s, instead coming in at 2019 levels.
| |
Paddle raised a $200M Series D round to build out its platform providing the billing backend for SaaS products. KKR led the round with participation from previous backers FTV Capital, 83North, Notion Capital, and Kindred Capital. More: - The round also included debt from Silicon Valley Bank and valued Paddle at $1.4B.
- The funding brought the London-based company’s total raised to date up to $293M.
- Paddle works with 3,000 software customers in 200 markets, where it provides a platform for them to set up and sell their SaaS products in specific regions.
- The platform is targeted at B2B SaaS companies and is, of course, a SaaS offering itself.
- The payment service is priced at 5% with a $.50 fee per transaction.
- The company sees itself in direct competition with Apple and built an in-app payment protocol to rival that of the tech giant.
- It plans to charge 10% for transactions under $10 and 5% on transactions over $10, well below Apple’s 30%, according to a spokesperson.
- The company declined to disclose current revenues or specific usage numbers but reported that revenue growth has doubled over the last 18 months.
- It is run by Christian Owens, CEO and co-founder, who is a Thiel Fellow.
| |
 A message from EQUITYBEE What would you do if your workplace gave you the option to trade your year-end bonus for extra untraded stocks? That’s what happened at ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) last month. While we don’t know if employees danced when hearing the news (excuse the pun), understanding your employee stock options and what you can do with them is important for any startup employee with an options grant. Equitybee helps you understand your options and find out if you’re a good fit to receive funding in order to exercise them. Get a free funding offer
| |
The Pentagon has warned that startups seeking federal funding could need to be vetted in the face of Chinese state-sponsored targeting. According to a study, Beijing uses state-sponsored methods to identify and attract companies and founders who have received funding from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. More: - Specifically, eight case studies showed how founders who partook in the SBIR program later dissolved their companies and joined Chinese government talent programs.
- Recipients were also recorded taking venture capital from Chinese state-owned firms and working with entities that support China’s defense industry.
- The reports have circulated on Capitol Hill as lawmakers seek a five-year reauthorization of the SBIR.
- The bill is embedded in a larger push to boost U.S. competitiveness in the face of Chinese technological advances.
- Lawmakers are torn on whether to require vetting.
- Some see it as essential for the funding not to contribute to Beijing’s technological prowess, while others worry that pausing the program to introduce the new requirements could stifle innovation.
- The U.S. expects to distribute $3.9B in funding through the SBIR program during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
| |
Arianee, a provider of authentication certificates for luxury goods, raised $21M Series A. The round led was by Tiger Global with participation from Bpifrance, ISAI, Noia Capital, and Cygni Labs. More: - Paris-based Arianee was founded in 2018 and currently partners with brands including Printemps, Breitling, Groupe Casino, Vacheron Constantin, Paris Fashion Week, Panerai, and IWC.
- Using non-fungible tokens, the company replaces the authenticity tag included in the purchase of most luxury goods.
- As such, consumers can resell their purchases with greater ease.
- The tag is not tied to a name or email address but rather to a serial number and activation date.
- Brands can integrate Arianee’s features in their own apps to control the buying experience or use a white-label app.
- The round’s investors purchased shares in Arianee, as well as $ARIA20 tokens as well.
- Arianee uses the Ethereum blockchain and a side-chain called the POAnetwork for its tokens.
| |
 A message from AFTERPAY Shoppers love Buy Now, Pay Later - but what about merchants? There’s no denying that Buy Now, Pay Later is here to stay - especially with Gen Z and Millennials comprising 32% of total US retail spend. But how much lift is BNPL actually driving across the metrics that merchants care about most? It turns out - quite a lot: Afterpay merchants have seen strong increases in key business metrics: - Increased average order value - Shoppers who use Afterpay spend +40% more than those who don’t
- Increased frequency - Shoppers who use Afterpay shop +50% more frequently than those who don’t
- Increased scale - Afterpay has a network of over 19 million global customers, and Afterpay.com drives over 1 million daily referrals from their site to Afterpay-accepting merchants
Every day, more and more customers are asking who accepts Afterpay. And more and more merchants are responding, “Who wouldn’t?” Sign up with Afterpay
| |
 Today’s Funding 💸 Biotech/Health - BlueWind Medical (Park City, Utah), RENOVA iStim implantable tibial neuromodulation device: $64M B+ led by ConvaTec.
- AskGene (California/China), immunotherapies for cancers and autoimmune diseases: $20M A led by.
- BioGenCell (Netanya, Israel), treatments for severe limb-threatening ischemia: $16M Seed led by Marius Nacht.
- InxMed (Nanjing, China), therapies targeting stroma microenvironment and solid tumor resistance and metastasis: $15M B+ led by Hyfinity Investments.
- Mika (Germany), prescription DTx for all oncological indications: ...
Want to read about all of today’s funding in one place? The funding roundup is only available to free users on Mondays and Fridays. Upgrade to Inside VC Premium for either $10/month, or $100 billed annually, to receive the full list in every issue! For a limited time, we are offering a 14-day free trial. Click here to sign up! | | | |
Quick Hits - From 5x to 10x, VC growth stage revenue multiples have doubled in the past year, according to the 2022 Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report.*
- Last year’s top IPOs, including Coinbase, Robinhood, Rivian, UiPath, Marqeta, and Toast, have lost at least 65% of their value so far in 2022. Of 53 tech debuts, only three are trading above their offer price. NOTE: Inside.com's founder and CEO, Jason Calacanis, is an investor in Robinhood.
- Grindr, the LGBTQ+ dating app, will go public via SPAC at a $2.1B valuation, including debt. The merger with Tiga Acquisition Corp. will provide Grindr with $384M in fresh funding.
- With a $100B valuation, Chinese fast fashion startup Shein is now worth as much as SpaceX and is the third-most-valuable startup in the world. Read more about the most expensive startups here.
- Unified open banking API provider Yapily will acquire German competitor finAPI for an undisclosed sum. The London-based company will be able to take over finAPI’s business in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.
- The average salary for a startup CEO has jumped to $150,000, a 7.9% increase in pay from 2020. While companies with less than $2M in funding pay their chief exec $106,000 on average, companies with over $10M raised offer nearly $200,000 on average.
- Same old marketing automation not cutting it these days? Get our eBook and power up your customer experiences*
*This is a sponsored post.
| |
Upcoming events at Inside - May 10 - Giving Voice and Intelligence to Digital Characters with David Colleen (SapientX) (Register Here)
- May 10 - Venturing in VC - Episode #18 with Nik Talreja (Sydecar) (Register Here)
- May 11 - Building Last-Mile Startups: Underground Delivery with Garrett McCurrash (Pipedream Labs) (Register Here)
- May 12 - Making Metaverse Dating a Reality (Register Here)
- May 18 - Need To Know NoCoder: Jatin Arora (Utilize) (Register Here)
- May 19 - Understanding Fractionalization (Register Here)
- May 24 - Meet Our Fund 3 (Register Here)
- May 31 - Ethereum Merge with Anthony Donofrio (Ethereum) (Register Here)
- June 01 - Selling Consumer Goods in Web3 (Register Here)
- June 09 - Empowering Content Creators with No Code (Register Here)
- June 15 - Need To Know NoCoder - Artem Harutyunyan (bardeen.ai) (Register Here)
- June 16 - Future of the Art Market (Register Here)
- June 23 - The Future of Open-Source Software Security (Register Here)
- June 30 - HR Strategies to Retain Remote Employees (Register Here)
| |
 |  | Inside VC's writer/curator Stephen currently lives in Berlin and is pursuing a Master's degree in philosophy. He otherwise spends his time trying his hand at recipes from India and Southeast Asia, escaping it all at the kickboxing gym, and offending aural sensibilities with his band. |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
| |
No application fees. Seamless setup with any e-commerce platform. It’s simple and easy to get started with Afterpay. | |
Comments
Post a Comment