Rapid Decline of New U.S.-based IT Startups

The number of new IT startups with headquarters in the U.S. is rapidly declining. There are less and less IT startups founded every year since 2013. I was looking for something else at Pitchbook but stumbled over this massive decline: Startups founded by year with primary focus on Information Technology ("IT") and headquarter in the … Continue reading Rapid Decline of New U.S.-based IT Startups

Leading Unicorn VC Firms and The Long Tail

We often get the question about "Leading Unicorn Venture Capital Firms". And emerging fund managers are sometimes taken aback when we are unfazed about their two unicorns in their portfolio and continue our due diligence. Business Insider just published an article about early-stage investors with billion-dollar outcomes. [DISCLAIMER BELOW] [EDIT 5/28/2019, 08:38 PDT -- I … Continue reading Leading Unicorn VC Firms and The Long Tail

VC Funds: $100 billion of dry powder in the Bay Area.

I was using Preqin to understand office locations of firms (institutional, family offices, and corporates) that are doing direct venture capital investments and are still seeking actively for new investments (collectively called "VC firms" below). Tobias Lam from the Preqin NYC office was kind enough to pull some back-end data on office locations for firms … Continue reading VC Funds: $100 billion of dry powder in the Bay Area.

EU / UK / U.S. Data Transfers after Brexit.

[Disclaimer 1: This is not a primer on Brexit -- google it.] [Disclaimer 2: I'm not a lawyer, consult your own!] GDPR and Brexit The GDPR came into force on May 25th, 2018, and is applicable in the UK. It is implemented through the UK Data Protection Act 2018 (short: "DPA") and will remain applicable … Continue reading EU / UK / U.S. Data Transfers after Brexit.

VC Funds: Six months to first close on 40-60% of final close size.

This is the last post on this topic, but there were some more questions. It takes about 6 Months to Reach First Close This chart is showing the median per vintage year, together with the 1st and 3rd quartile boundaries and a green average line (with a horrible R-Squared of 0.0087). In a first close, … Continue reading VC Funds: Six months to first close on 40-60% of final close size.

VC Funds: First-Time Funds take a Median of 12+ Months to Raise.

I got a few questions on last week's post about the number of months VC funds are in the market before a close. Raising VC Funds in the US vs. Rest of World I was asked to look at different geographies: Months in Market to Final Close for each Year of Vintage broken down by … Continue reading VC Funds: First-Time Funds take a Median of 12+ Months to Raise.

VC Funds: A Median of 17 Months in Market to Final Close.

I get this question a lot: How long does it take to close a VC fund? We all know the anecdotes of marquee firms closing their funds within weeks. But don't forget that it often took 20 years to become a marquee firm and to build a robust platform and track record. So they closed … Continue reading VC Funds: A Median of 17 Months in Market to Final Close.

Corporate Venture Capital: 2018 In Numbers.

2018 felt like CVCs were in almost every deal. So what do the numbers say? [Below graphs are based on Pitchbook data. Early tracking of data, before 2008, is not that reliable. After that, notย everyย transactionย isย reportedย accurately. Butย theย dataย isย reasonablyย goodย atย showingย trends.ย I'llย tryย andย pointย outย someย problems alongย theย way] CVCs Participate in More Deals Than Before. While the number of reported number of venture capital rounds in … Continue reading Corporate Venture Capital: 2018 In Numbers.