Europe minted 40 new unicorns, with over €1B valuations, in the first three quarters of the year, per Pitchbook. The pace of unicorn creation matched last year's record-setting pace in the first two quarters before dipping in the third. Despite the dip, the year has already seen the second-highest rate of unicorn creation behind only 2021. More: - In Q3, only four new unicorns were minted.
- There have already been more unicorns established in 2022 than in 2018, 2019, and 2020 combined.
- By the end of Q3 2022, the aggregate post-money valuations of unicorns in Europe were up 40.7% since the end of last year, reaching €466.2B.
- Through September, 69 funding deals were completed for Europe's unicorns, matching the pace of 2021.
- As some European unicorn startups have reduced their valuations, including Klarna by 82.8% and SumUp by 60%, the average valuation of European unicorns has fallen from €4B in Q1 2022 to €3.7B today.
| |
Two early investors told The Information that they backed out of Mysten Labs’ recent funding round as the valuation looked inflated. Mysten and Aptos Labs, both founded by former Meta executives that worked on the Diem project, received valuations above $2B at their respective FTX-led rounds. FTX’s spending spree is likely the reason behind the high valuations. More: - Mysten raised $300M in Series B funding in September, while Aptos raised $150M in Series A round in July.
- Both firms were able to nab significant funding rounds despite the crypto winter.
- Early investors found the valuations too high as the firms had not launched their respective blockchains at the time of the funding.
- Binance co-founder Yi He hinted that Aptos could be valued above $4B in September but later retracted his statement.
- Considering the fully diluted valuations of the chain tokens, Aptos could be valued at $4.5B, significantly higher than its reported $2.75B valuation.
- FTX was pumping money into the crypto sector, with the firm investing $700M in Q3 2022 alone.
- The firm had set aside $2B at the start of the year to invest in crypto startups.
- FTX’s new CEO, John Ray III, who is leading the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, has hinted at liquidating its stakes in portfolio companies.
Zoom out: - Venture funding for crypto continues to slide each quarter, down from $8.4B in Q1 to $3.3B in Q3 2022.
| |
 A message from GUN.IO If you could work with a senior developer for free for three months, what could you accomplish? Gun.io is hosting a pitch competition (pre-recorded, so no live stage jitters) this month to give you a chance to do just that. Simply record your pitch in Rhetoric and submit it by November 21. Pitches will be judged by a panel of senior developers, and all participants will receive feedback on their pitches from the developer's perspective. Pitches should: - Describe the problem you're solving
- Demonstrate your 3-6 month product roadmap
- Appeal to developers
The winner will have three months of full-time work with a senior dev fully paid for by Gun.io (estimated worth $60,000USD)—worth a shot, right? Apply Now
| |
Singapore's Temasek will closely scrutinize the due diligence it performed on its FTX investment. Temasek has marked down its $275M initial investment in the crypto platform to zero. While addressing the parliament on Wednesday, Singaporean deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong said the losses were "disappointing" and had damaged its reputation. More: - Temasek had defended its "eight-month due diligence" process when questioned by the Financial Times early this month.
- The fund's investment in FTX represents 0.09% of its total portfolio, estimated to be worth $295B.
- Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC is also under pressure after portfolio company Genesis closed in close succession after FTX's collapse.
Zoom out: - Crypto investor Three Arrows Capital and crypto platform Hodlnaut's downfall has further undermined the region's ability to invest in the sector.
| |
Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta's new startup Cloud Health Systems has nabbed $30M in funding led by Thrive Capital. The round is a Series A financing, per Crunchbase. The healthcare startup intends to offer medical consultations and other healthcare services. More: - Cloud Health received a $200M valuation, according to sources close to the matter.
- Other backers in the round include Greenoaks Capital and Coupang.
- Mehta had previously hinted that he was working on a new startup and intended to step down as executive chairman of Instacart once it went public.
- He stepped down as chief executive of the grocery delivery startup in August 2021.
- Instacart was valued at $39B at its peak in March 2021.
Zoom out: - Similar firms in the first half of the year raised an average of $4.6M in funding and had seed stage valuations of $29M.
- The valuation of Cloud Systems is high compared to those. However, investors think that the valuation is justified for repeat founders.
| |
 A message from SEGMENT.IO Segment is now free for Startups! Segment helps over 15,000 startups get analytics right. We collect, unify and send data to all of the tools you use, giving you consistent data, everywhere. - Collect: Use our analytics API to collect data across web (Javascript), mobile (SDK) and server-side data sources.
- Send: Send that data to 300+ destinations, including data warehouses, analytics & BI, marketing platforms, A/B testing, and more.
- Send data to new tools with the flip of a switch, no implementation required.
- Keep your engineers working on core product, not integrations or internal requests.
Qualifying companies get: - $50,000 in Segment credits for up to 2 years
- Access to our dealbook of over $1M in other software deals
- Expedited support, access to our webinars and content to help startups get analytics right
See if you qualify for our startup program. Apply Now 
| |
Belgium-based crypto market maker Keyrock secured $72M in fresh funding. Crypto settlement platform Ripple led the Series B financing. The startup provides market-making provisions to 85 global crypto exchanges. More: - The firm had last raised a €4.3M ($4.45M) Series A round led by Middlegame Ventures and SIX FinTech Ventures in 2020.
- Both Series A lead investors participated in the current round.
- Incoming funds will enable the firm to develop its infrastructure and scalability tools, expand its product portfolio, and pursue regulatory licensing across the U.S., Europe, and Singapore.
- It intends to double its workforce and establish offices in Switzerland and Singapore over the next 12 months.
- The firm was able to narrowly avoid the impact of FTX’s fallout after it withdrew the majority of its funds from the platform as soon as CoinDesk’s story broke.
| |
Singaporean venture capital firm Iterative Capital has received $55M in capital commitments for its second fund. Limited partners in the new fund include Cendana, K5 Global, Village Global, and Goodwater Capital. The firm intends to back early-stage startups in Southeast Asia. More: - The firm debuted with a $10M fund in 2021 and has since backed 65 companies across its five accelerator cohorts.
- It claims its portfolio companies are collectively worth $1.2B and have raised $163M in follow-on funding.
- Portfolio company Spenmo raised $85M in Series B, Propseller raised $12M in Series A, and GoZayaan raised $8M.
- The new fund will allow the firm to write checks up to $500,000.
- The firm will expand the batch size of its accelerator to 30 startups.
- It intends to invest in 100 startups across pre-seed to Series A stages.
- Iterative has earmarked a portion of the fund for follow-on investments.
| |
Quick Hits: - HubSpot and Brandwatch partnered this year to survey over 1,000 individuals across the U.S. to better understand consumer purchasing habits, thoughts, and behaviors.*
- Crypto platform Tron’s founder Justin Sun is eyeing FTX’s venture division’s portfolio assets.
- Gene editing startup iECURE raised $65M in Series A-1 financing co-led by Novo Holdings and LYFE Capital.
- B2B supply chain and logistics firm OneRail closed its Series B funding round with $33M in funding. Piva Capital and Arsenal Growth Equity co-led the funding round.
- Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, along with EQT and World Fund, participated in climate-conscious digital money platform TreeCard’s $23M new financing round.
- 4Di Capital held the second closing of its seed fund at $25M. The fund will back South African tech startups.
- Tech innovation is surging in education, finance, health care, and other industries. See what your competitors are building with Crowdbotics.*
*This is sponsored content.
| |
| |
 |  | 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. | |
Try Gun.io: the simplest way to hire world-class developers, expertly matched to you by senior engineers. | |
Segment is an API-first analytics solution that empowers 15,000+ startups to scale their data infrastructure. | |
Comments
Post a Comment