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| Hey Insiders, Here are the latest stories: - Investors ask GHG data from startups to derisk climate tech investments
- Active investors increase deal-making pace in Q3
- Fresh from the split with Sequoia, HongShan is pursuing global investments
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Some investors are asking their portfolio startups to submit detailed greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) data in a bid to derisk climate investments. The data helps investors safeguard against future regulations and understand their progress toward their net-zero targets. The news comes against a backdrop of increased GHG data disclosure requirements mandated by European regulators. Investors are asking portfolio companies for Scope 1 and 2 emissions data, with some asking for life-cycle assessments (LCA) as well. More: - Early-stage VC firm Prithvi Ventures is doing an LCA investment of every startup as a condition of the investment.
- The firm has roped in analytics firm Boundless Impact to conduct the assessments.
- Westly Group collects ESG metrics from portfolio startups annually, per principal Shaun Chaudhuri.
- Chaudhuri added that it is now common for investors to ask for emissions-related data as part of their due diligence process before signing a term sheet.
Q: Does asking for emissions-related data put additional pressure on portfolio startups, or is it a catalyst for them to make more significant strides toward achieving their net-zero goals? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | Four of the most active post-seed stage investors participated in the same or more deals in Q3 compared to Q2, per Crunchbase. 
What the numbers say: Global venture funding touched $73B in Q3, up 7% QoQ. Despite the slight uptick, funding still remained 15% lower than the same period last year. Relevance: Andreessen Horowitz took the honors for being the most active investor, making 20 investments in the recent quarter. A16z participated in notable recent funding rounds such as Databricks' $500M Series I, Genesis Therapeutics' $200M Series B, and Inceptive's $100M Series A fundraisers. Insight Partners was the second most active investor, participating in 16 VC deals in Q3, chief among which was AI writing tool Writer's $100M Series B round. Insight was the most active lead investor, leading funding rounds into nine startups. What happened: Despite topping the charts in deal count, Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Sequoia Capital edged out A16z and Insight Partners in the total amount invested. Where to see the impact: Many seed-stage investors reduced their deal-making pace in Q3, mimicking the global trend of a drop in seed-stage funding, which has been weaker than funding for other stages. | | | |
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| 3 | | Chinese VC HongShan reportedly has $9B capital available to deploy in startups, sources informed the Financial Times. The firm, which recently split from Sequoia Capital, is pursuing global investment opportunities due to a slowdown in the domestic economy. More: - Sources told the Financial Times that HongShan could pursue foreign companies that are targeting the Chinese market or overseas startups founded by Chinese entrepreneurs.
- An unnamed HongShan investor said, "He's made no attempt to hide the ball on his ambition to do something similar in the US and Europe ... I wouldn't be surprised if he opens an office in the Bay Area."
- Shortly after splitting from Sequoia, HongShan opened an office in Singapore and applied for a capital markets services license.
- The firm is reportedly scouting for investment opportunities in Europe's EV and battery sector.
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| 4 | | VCs invested $1.5B in Indian startups in Q3 2023, per data from Tracxn viewed by TechCrunch. The venture dip continued in the recent quarter, which ended with a 54% lower total than the $3.4B raised at the same time last year. 161 deals were completed in Q3, down 71% compared to Q3 2022's tally of 592. More: - At the current rate, funding could dip below the $1B quarterly mark by the end of this year.
- The current quarterly funding total is a tenth of the $10.9B deployed in Q4 2021 and $11.8B invested in Q1 2022.
- Indian startups have raised $8.2B in the first nine months of this year, less than half of the $19.8B raised in the same period last year.
- Indian startups closed out the year 2022 with $24B.
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| 5 | | VC firm SYN Ventures held the first close of its Seed Fund I at $75M. The firm described the fund as "the largest cyber seed dedicated fund domiciled in the United States." The firm will invest in seed-stage cybersecurity startups developing transformational and disruptive technologies. More: - The new fund brings the firm's total assets under management to over $600M.
- SYN Ventures will hold the final closing of the fund later this quarter.
- The firm has invested in cybersecurity startups such as Accurics, Carbon Black, CyberGRX, QueryAI, Refine Intelligence, Revelstoke, and Synqly.
- The firm also announced that Marcio Lempert joined SYN Ventures as a venture partner.
Zoom out: - Last year, the firm closed a $300M fund to invest in early-stage startups in the cybersecurity sector.
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| 6 | | Today's Funding: Data - Low-code data transformation platform Prophecy raised $35M in Series B funding led by Insight Partners and SignalFire. J.P. Morgan, Singtel Innov8, Databricks Ventures, and DallasVC participated in the round.
Energy - Clean energy technology platform Perch Energy secured $30M in Series B funding from Nuveen.
Insurtech - Digital insurance platform Matic extended its Series B funding round with $20M in additional funding co-led by IA Capital Group and Cultivation Capital. The round consists of $17M in equity funding and a $3M credit facility.
Semiconductor - Embedded flash memory solutions developer Floadia raised $7M (1.05B yen) in Series D funding from Inbata, Cypress Capital, and Japan Finance Corporation.
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- Sony Group earmarked $10M to invest in early-stage gaming, music, film, and content distribution startups in Africa through its newly launched Sony Innovation Fund: Africa initiative.
- Norwegian early-stage investor Katapult has invested in 23 climate tech startups across 13 countries.
- LaPhair Capital Partners is looking to raise $100M capital for its flagship Alpha Fund I.
- AI-powered speech recognition startup Deepgram has laid off 20% of its staff, or around 20 people.
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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