Tag: VC industry

2018´s Industry Recap and 2019 hottest industries for Venture Capital

2018 was a historical year. Last year saw the highest level of venture capital funding since 2000, the last year of the dot-com bubble.

According to data published by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association, Venture Capital firms spread roughly U$S 131 Bn. across 8.949 deals.
The previous record was a $100 million total notched in the year 2000.

More than a half of the total capital invested came from U$S 50 M (or more) deals. This boosted the average deal size and valuations across every investment stage and series last year. But because venture investors are paying so much up front, it’s becoming harder to profit.

382 fundings were U$S 100 M (or more) “megarounds,” up from 266 in 2017, with 184 of those coming from the U.S.
In terms of “unicorns,” companies with a valuation of at least U$S 1 Bn., the U.S. saw the creation of 53 new ones in 2018 versus 29 in 2017.
The fourth quarter alone saw 21 “unicorn births,” the highest ever recorded in a single quarter.

Venture capital investments in Asia rose 42% in 2018 versus 2017 with an 11% increase in the amount of money invested. Asia broke records with a 35% in “megarounds”, to 162, and a 60% jump in the creation of unicorns, with 40 coming of age during the year.

California, Massachusetts, and New York continue their dominance of venture investment activity, attracting 79% of total U.S. capital invested and 53% of the number of U.S. deals completed last year.
VC funding in the San Francisco region jumped 55%, to U$S 28 Bn., and New York funding reached U$S 13 Bn.
Venture Capital firms and investors point to increasing operating costs and higher valuations in those three states, signaling optimism for more investment in emerging ecosystems, which also have the benefits of a growing talent pool, maturing networks and ecosystems, and more favorable pricing.

VC Trends

Artificial intelligence, digital health and financial technology companies led the investment portfolios, with AI-related funding jumping 72%, to U$S 9.3 Bn.

Software continues to eat the world but life science activity has seen significant growth.
More than U$S 23 Bn. was invested across 1,308 deals in life science startups, a record high for both metrics.
Healthtech drew a significant portion of angel/seed investing in 2018Q4, highlighting investor interest in funding groundbreaking technologies to meet some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in the sector.

Gender Balance in Venture Capital

Venture Capital has been in existence for a very long time.

However, the sector has experienced growth and massively evolved during the past two decades. From Facebook to Google, organizations supported by venture capital firms have contributed a lot to the economy. Although the industry is still young as compared to other sectors, one in every five public companies in the United States uses this mode of financing. It is basically used by innovative minds that are high risk takers. Not only do venture capital firms provide funds, but also offer network access, strategic guidance, mentorship, etc.

However, despite the continuous growth, the industry still faces a huge gap between genders as men are leading the venture capital market. In other words, the more it changes, the more it stays the same, especially after analyzing the demographics based on gender.

 

Gender-wise Statistics of the Venture Capital Market

According to a survey, the percentage of women as decision makers in the U.S. based venture capital firms is 7 percent and they control only 4.7 percent of the venture capital (VC) invested in the market during the past five years. Moreover, out of 1,019 professionals who take strategic decisions in 227 VC firms in America, the number of females was just 72. Furthermore, 169 of these firms had no females at a strategic level. These firms managed to raise about $153 Billion within a period of four years from 2012 till 2016, and only $9.51 billion of it was controlled by women.

 

Development Over the Year

Another analysis was conducted last year on sample years between 2011 and 2015. According to that analysis, the percentage of female decision makers was just 5.7 percent in the U.S. based VC firms. It shows an increase in the overall number of women in the industry, representing a 17.7 percent increase in female decision makers at a strategic level.

 

More Investment in Companies with Male Executives

Furthermore, when it comes to which firm gets the venture capital, male majority takes the lead. According to the CB Insights, organizations with men in executive positions receive 98 percent of the venture investments, which is about $1.88 billion.

All in all, there is a need for a lot to be done especially for women in the VC industry. Megan Quinn, a growth investor at Spark Capital, said that every individual has a role to play in this industry, whether it is an entrepreneur, press, or existing VC firm, and she doesn’t agree with the notion that there are not enough qualified women to be in this sector. A small percentage of women depicts the issue of gender inequality in the VC sector and also in the world of technology.

 

Why Lack of Women in VC Persist?

Ann Miura-Ko, a partner at Floodgate, also share the same thoughts as Quinn’s. She said that there was a time when most of the small firms had female decision makers and firms experienced a small increase in applications from women. She further stated that women feel welcome in places where there are more female colleagues as they usually question whether they can fit into male-dominated organizations or not.

The managing partner of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Scott Sandell, talked about the reason why the VC firms around the world don’t usually have female partners. He pointed out the fact that some women simply leave the place for personal reasons. He also said that people working at a strategic level are usually promoted from within a firm. They make their way up from an associate level all the way to the top. However, he admits the fact that although there is no conscious bias against women, there is probably an element of unconscious bias, which is represented in the form of a small number of females at a strategic level. NEA is currently holding trainings to remove any sort of unconscious bias that may occur in the VC firms. He further added that this issue can easily be resolved and it has a tendency to sort itself out, but it does require attention.

 

Today, women constitute more than 50 percent of the consumers’ spending power and studies have revealed that the absence of female perspective in the board room will ultimately affect the profits.