The Road Ahead
Theme of the Week
The venture ecosystem has been characterized by nine months of market turmoil and an end to a historic bull market, and news coming out this week doesn’t provide signs of any renewed stability. However, Pitchbook predicts a significant resurgence in VC fundraising during the latter half of 2023, which brings some welcome optimism to the market.
Market Insights
Total capital raised by VCs fell by 80% in Q1 2023 vs Q1 2022 (LinkedIn – Brandon Hoffman)
Series A valuations in the US rose in Q2 (LinkedIn – Peter Walker)
11 VC reveal how hard it was for their startups to fundraise in H1 2023 (TechCrunch)
Changing landscape of startup investment (LinkedIn – Peter Walker)
US venture capital firms are projected to raise between $120–$130 billion this year, with $27.6 billion already secured by June 13. These numbers match 2021’s $128.3 billion raised by US VCs, but down from 2022’s total of $168.3 billion, per Pitchbook data (Pipe Newsletter)
State of Fintech Q2’23 Report (CBInsights)
Editorials
Salt Lake City ups the ante in bid to become a Fintech hub (WSJ)
No SSN, no problem, says Maza, a fintech startup aimed at undocumented immigrants (TechCrunch)
VC Fundraises
Correlation Ventures announces the close of its third fund and additions to partnerships (PR Newswire)
Techstars raising $150 million for new accelerator fund (TechCrunch)
Notion hits €300M for its fifth fund, but is unimpressed by big rounds into Generative AI startups (TechCrunch)
Insight Partners raises $118M fund to back underrepresented VCs (Reuters)
Notable Capital Raises
Mexico’s Nuvocargo snags $36.5 million in investment tied to US-Mexico trade (Reuters)
Thrive Capital doubles down on Clair, a fintech helping frontline workers get paid instantly (TechCrunch)
Karat, a startup building financial tools for content creators, raises $70M (TechCrunch)