Venture debt lending in Europe is dominated by U.S.-based lenders, with all of the top 10 active debt providers being American funds and banks. Half of Europe's 10 largest debt rounds were provided by U.S. venture debt firms, with banks and private debt lenders funding the other rounds. More: - So far this year, there have been 88 publicly disclosed debt funding rounds, up from 57 in the entire last year.
- Top U.S. venture debt lenders include Silicon Valley Bank, Triple Point Capital, Atalaya Capital, SaaS Capital, and Liquidity Capital.
- Wall Street banks Citi, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan funded a third of the rounds.
- The majority of the startups are raising venture debt rounds to ensure liquidity and extend cash runways.
- Venture-backed startups have been advised by their investors to extend their cash runways to a minimum of 24 months.
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European venture capital-backed startups have acquired 173 startups so far this year. The cumulative value of the transaction is €1B. At the current rate, the M&A value is expected to cross 2021's total of €1.3B. More: - Most of the consolidation has occurred in the IT sector startups, accounting for 57.8% of the transactions.
- European IT startups were involved in 100 M&A transactions worth €525.8M.
- The largest deal in the IT sector was LandVault's acquisition of Admix, for which the former paid $300M.
- B2C and B2B startups accounted for 16.8% and 13.9% of the deals, respectively.
- Cash-strapped startups will likely face additional pressure as venture funding pullbacks continue, making them prime targets for acquisitions.
- Mature firms with cash reserves that are looking to increase revenue streams, acquire technology, and expand market share will be able to snatch up smaller firms struggling to raise financing.
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 A message from LAIKA If you’re trying to close deals, SOC 2 is probably a thorn in your side. What is it, and who cares? Your business needs SOC 2. But building compliance from scratch is complicated, time-consuming, and the cost can be crippling. Laika has you covered. Uncomplicate SOC 2 with our guide for growth-minded founders. In the guide by Laika you’ll learn: - What is SOC 2 compliance and why it matters for your startup
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Bilt Rewards, a rewards program for renters, secured $150M in growth financing. The funding quadrupled the New York-based firm’s valuation from its last fundraiser. Left Lane Capital led the current funding round. More: - Wells Fargo & Co., Greystar, Fifth Wall, Smash Capital, Prosus, and others participated in the funding round.
- Bilt Rewards creates loyalty programs and co-branded credit cards for property renters.
- The platform, which lets customers earn rewards points on rent payments, launched last year and is already profitable, according to CEO Ankur Jain.
- It also nabbed $60M in funding at a $350M valuation last year.
- Since last year the firm has processed $3B in annualized rent payments.
- It has 500,000 active members on its platform.
- Bilt will use the incoming funds to fuel growth and expand into multifamily and single-family rentals.
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Aimen Mir, the former head of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), thinks that venture capital firms are unlikely to reduce their investments in China, despite U.S. funding outflow restrictions placed by the Biden administration. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in mid-September with a view to restricting U.S. investments into Chinese emerging tech startups. Mir told Protocol that the executive order "is not likely to cause bilateral investment flows in VCs to dry up." More: - Investors backing emerging tech startups in the U.S. and China will likely revise their investment strategy and study the impact of the investments into the CFIUS risk profile.
- CFIUS updated its enforcement and penalty guidelines last week.
- However, Mir believes that the majority of the restrictions apply to emerging tech that could have military applications.
- Therefore, he expects that VCs that have steered clear of startups developing tech for military applications might be able to continue investing.
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 A message from IMPACT How much do influencers charge per post? Influencer marketing costs In 2020, the global value of influencer marketing was estimated at a whopping $9.7 billion, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. In a 2019 survey by Mediakix, 48 percent of marketers found influencer marketing return on investment (ROI) better than other channels while another 41 percent said the ROI was comparable. In this blog, you'll learn: - Different pricing structures per influencer based on the type and social media channel.
- US and global pricing tiers.
- The ROI influencer marketing can drive your business.
- Identifying the right fit for your influencer campaigns.
Read the blog
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Global insurance risk transfer platform Vesttoo entered the unicorn club with its recent Series C funding round. The firm was able to nab $80M in financing co-led by Mouro Capital and an undisclosed private equity fund. Currently, Vesttoo is valued at $1B, triple its Series B valuation of $300M. More: - The firm’s $15M Series B round in November 2021 was led by Mouro Capital and MS&AD Ventures.
- Gramercy Ventures, Black River Ventures, and Series A lead investor Hanaco Ventures participated in the current fundraiser.
- Sources informed Reuters that Goldman Sachs also participated in the funding round.
- The firm will continue its global expansion with the fresh funding.
- The New York- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based firm expanded to London, Hong Kong, Seoul, Dubai, and Tokyo last year.
- In addition, the firm intends to further develop its marketplace platform, expand product offerings, and grow its senior leadership team.
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Female Founders held the first close of its debut fund, Fund F, at $12.46M (€12.5M). The firm is targeting a $19.9M (€20M) final close for the fund. The Austrian firm will invest exclusively in startups that have at least one female founder. More: - The firm is looking to back 25 to 30 pre-seed and seed-stage startups over the next four years.
- Individual ticket sizes will range from $99,671 (€100,000) to $398,685 (€400,000).
- The firm intends to earmark half of the capital for follow-on investments.
- The firm will primarily invest in climate tech, femtech, health tech, fintech, insurtech, and HR tech sectors.
- Female Founders intends to be the lead investor in 30% of the portfolio startups.
Zoom out: - Other European countries have also launched new funds to back female founders.
- French VC firm Sista closed a $99.7M (€100M) fund, and German VC firm Auxxo closed a $15M fund.
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Quick Hits: - Get ahead of the holiday madness and gear up your influencer and affiliate strategy for success.*
- The former vice president of finance at Chery Jaguar Land Rover, Mike Smeed, moved into the managing director role at Jaguar Land Rover’s corporate venture capital arm.
- Canadian venture capital firm Greg Allen to its investment team.
- FTV Capital led a $110M equity funding into payments fintech firm ConnexPay.
- Emergency response data platform RapidSOS nabbed $75M in growth funding led by NightDragon. Participants in the funding round include BAM Elevate, Insight Partners, M12, Citi Impact Fund, Honeywell, and others.
- Resonai raised $20M in Series A extension funding led by Meitav-Dash, Blue Square Israel, and Irani Ventures. The funding brings the total raised under the Series A round to $30M.
- U.S.-based fintech startup aVenture launched a platform to make investing accessible to the public.
*This is sponsored content.
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Upcoming Events: - October 25 - Learn how leaders from Slack, Shopify, and Stripe are improving developer productivity, workflow, and collaboration in their engineering orgs. (Register Here) *
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- November 02 - AMA with Bill Glenn (Executive Chairman at Crenshaw Associates) (Register Here)
- November 09 - Synthetic data for more efficient, robust and ethical model development - Live AMA with Yashar Behzadi (CEO and Founder of Synthesis AI)* (Register Here)
- December 07 - Live AMA with Deividi Silva ( Head of Developer Relations at Gun.io) (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored listing.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | 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 and 1972 Fords. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
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