 Lightyear's QoQ early-stage deals led Lightspeed has been the lead investor in 25 early-stage deals in startups between seed and Series B stages in the first half of this year. The total value of deals led in the first quarter amounts to $647M across 17 deals, followed by $285M across eight deals in the following quarter. Lightspeed’s participation in early-stage deals has increased since last year, when it led 13 and eight deals in Q1 and Q2 2021, respectively. More: - In July, the firm announced its largest fund to date totaling $7B, of which $2B has been earmarked for early-stage investments into Seed to Series B stages.
- The firm has doubled its allocation for early-stage firms, up from the $890M earmarked under its previous $4B funds.
- The rounds led by Lightspeed with the highest funding include Zapp’s $200M Series B fundraising and Payhawk’s $100M Series B extension round.
Zoom out: - Several other notable venture capital firms have also announced dedicated funds recently for early-stage investments, including Andreessen Horowitz’s $2.5B Fund VIII, New Enterprise Associates’ $2.3B Fund 18, and Founders Fund’s $1.9B Fund 9.
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 Half yearly deal values of VC funding for female-led startups Venture funding to Europe-based female founders declined in H1, down to pre-2021 levels. According to PitchBook, European and Israeli startups with one or more female founders raised $6.6B across 765 deals, down 2.9% and 23.9% YoY, respectively. The number of deals for startups with only female founders remained flat YoY; however, the number of rounds fell 10%. More: - Female-founded startups accounted for only 0.8% of the approximately $50.5B of venture capital raised by European startups in H1, down from 1.1% reported last year.
- Male-only founded startups accounted for 86.7% of the total venture capital raised, up from 85% reported last year.
- Late-stage female-founded or co-founded companies were hit harder by the downturn in venture funding, receiving $3.8B in total funding, down from $9.1B, a nearly 60% decline.
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Boston, Mass.-headquartered growth equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners announced the final close of its fourth fund with $1.25B in capital commitments from limited partners. Fund IV will follow the investment strategy of its preceding funds of backing profitable SaaS, IT, healthcare services, and healthcare IT startups. Silversmith’s team has contributed an additional $90M to the fund. More: - The addition of the new fund brings the firm’s assets under management to over $3.3B.
- Fund IV is the largest fund raised by the firm since its founding in 2015.
- It debuted with a $460M, followed by a second $670M fund in 2018 and a third $880M fund in 2020.
- Individual check sizes from the current fund will range from $20M to $125M.
- Per the firm’s website, Silversmith invests in startups that have a minimum of $10M revenue and 20% growth.
- Silversmith has invested in 41 growth-stage companies to date, with ActiveCampaign, Appfire, impact.com, and Webflow being the most prominent startups in its portfolio.
- The firm has realized $1.7B in returns from its 16 full and partial exits.
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Sequoia Capital plans to open an office in New York City, its first U.S. location outside of Silicon Valley. The move comes as more VCs establish offices outside the San Francisco Bay Area following a surge in remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More founders are starting companies in other regions like Austin, Miami, and New York. The firm already has a notable presence in New York, with dozens of investments, including cryptocurrency security startup Fireblocks, makeup company Glossier, and AI startup Hugging Face. More: - Sequoia has leased office space at Zero Irving, a new commercial office building at 124 E. 14th St. in New York’s Union Square neighborhood.
- The 21-story building was completed earlier this year and has 175,000 square feet of office space.
- Sequoia has offices in San Francisco and London; its London location was opened last year.
- Other notable VCs with operations in New York include Redpoint Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Greycroft, Union Square Ventures, and Insight Partners.
- According to PitchBook, startups in the New York City metro area have raised $19.8B in venture funds so far this year; Bay Area startups have raised $52.3B.
- In October, Sequoia changed its fund structure to enable it to invest in both private and public companies from the same fund.
- The firm has about $85B in assets under management.
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British cleantech energy firm Octopus Energy Group completed a $550M fundraising from its latest funding round. The funding includes a $325M tranche which Octopus will use to develop its energy technology platform, accelerate investments in renewable energy, and scale the business globally. Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investments provided the remaining $225M, which will be used to integrate renewable energy into the power system using Octopus' KrakenFlex platform. More: - The funding was raised from existing shareholders on the terms agreed upon in the firm's last funding round in 2021.
- Octopus was valued at $5B at the funding round in Dec. 2021 when it raised $600M from Generation Investment Management and $300M from CPP Investments.
- To date, the firm has raised over $2.1B in total funding.
- The firm's U.K.-based energy division provides clean energy to over 3.4 million customers.
- Octopus is also an investor in renewable energy, with its portfolio worth $4.1B (£3.4B).
- Earlier this month, the firm's U.S.-based division entered the EV market by launching Octopus Electric Vehicles (OEV), with the leasing program currently in beta in Texas.
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India-based ride-hailing start-up BluSmart Electric Mobility said it is close to raising $250M from investors, including oil company BP's venture capital arm. BluSmart operates an all-electric fleet and competes with Uber Technologies and domestic rival Ola, which Japan's Softbank Group backs. BluSmart has about 1,800 EVs, mostly purchased from Tata Motors. More: - BluSmart did not disclose its expected valuation; however, CEO Anmol Jaggi noted that similar ride-hailing companies are usually valued at 15-18 times their annual revenue run rate.
- This round will be BP's second investment in the start-up; in September, the company invested $13M in BluSmart as part of a $25M round.
- This is BP's first venture deal in India.
- BluSmart aims to finalize deals with impact funds and private equity investors within the next couple of months.
- The company plans to use the new funds to buy more EVs, expand its charging infrastructure, invest in technology, and launch its service in more cities in India.
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- Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture firm FoundersX Ventures is looking to raise $100M for its second fund as the firm pivots its investment strategy to focus on life sciences investments.
- FINTOP Capital closed its third fund with $220M in capital commitments, $20M higher than its initial target. SaaS companies in the fintech sector will be the prime focus of the Nashville-based venture capital firm's investments.
- Andreessen Horowitz and Deerfield Management co-led California-based biotech company Vicinitas Therapeutics' $65M Series A fundraiser. GV, Droia Ventures, and the Berkeley Catalyst Fund participated in the funding round.
- Israeli user management platform for B2B apps Frontegg raised $40M in Series B funding co-led by Stripes and Insight Partners.
- 99 Group held the first close of its Series C round with $37M in funding, with the firm expecting to raise an additional $15M before the final close. Gaw Capital is leading the current funding round. Earlier this year, Carousell Pte tried to acquire 99 Group for $150M in cash and stock. However, 99 backed out after Carousell's and L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp SPAC merger agreement fell apart.
- Real estate platform PunchListUSA nabbed $39M in Series A funding led by Morpheus Ventures and Sweetwater Private Equity. Other participants in the funding include Home Depot Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, IDEA Fund Partners, and Solo Capital Management.
- Intel Capital led a $12M Series A, and Andreessen Horowitz led a $25M Series B funding round into application delivery network firm Fly.io. Dell Technologies Capital and Initialized Capital backed the Series B funding round.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling.
| | | | 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. | |
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