The Road Ahead
Theme of the Week
While resilient startups continue to secure VC funding, an article in the Wall Street Journal underscores how difficult this fundraising environment is for many early-stage companies. The period between seed and series A funding rounds has expanded to 25 months, and there has been a decrease in the proportion of seed-stage companies progressing to series A or subsequent funding rounds.
i80 Group Portfolio
This venture-backed startup has quietly bought more than 80 mom-and-pop shops (TechCrunch)
Lighter Capital raises $130M credit facility to ignite revenue-based financing for startups (TechCrunch)
Market Insights
H1 2023 was no fun for startups, but the decline hit industries differently (LinkedIn – Peter Walker)
Crunchbase data reveals that US Series A startups now take 31 months—up from a consistent 27 months over the previous 12 years—to secure Series B funding. The rise stems from a tougher economic climate, making fundraising harder for startups of all sizes (Pipe Newsletter)
VC Fundraises
French VC firm Founders Future reaches $80 million first close for its new funds (TechCrunch)
Cendana Capital closes on $470M more to back seed-stage fund managers (TechCrunch)
Editorial
Notable Capital Raises
Fintech startup Ramp raises $300M at a 28% lower valuation of $5.8B (TechCrunch)
Koverly raises $7.6M in seed funding (Fintech Collective)
LemFi raises $33M to transform financial services for immigrants everywhere (PR Newswire)
Brazil fintech Nomad raises $61M in Tiger-led round (Reuters)
Firstcard raises seed funding to help college students build better credit (TechCrunch)