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Cut Through Venture’s quarterly report for Aussie venture funding has been published. Some indicators showing that the Aussie ecosystem is thriving and sentiment amongst investors continues to improve #vc #australianvc #venturefunding #vcinvestment #venturecapital

Cut Through Ventures reports that in Q2 2024, the share of venture capital flowing to female founders plummeted to the lowest level since 2019. Is this an issue of supply or demand (or both)? How can we boost deal flow from female founders? 👩

Cut Through Quarterly Q2 2024 is out, and things are looking up. Except for one big problem… 💰💰Funding to Australian startups hit a six-quarter high, with the return of $100M+ mega deals pushing total funding to $1.5B. 🤖🖊️Artificial intelligence deals topped the sector deal count table for the first time after sitting on top of the list of sectors investors are most excited about for a year. 🧔🏻♂️🌲Guest contributor Airtree's Craig Blair has high hopes for the decade ahead, envisioning the ecosystem as a job and wealth creation engine for the Australian economy. 👨🏻💼🧑💼 Investor sentiment continues to improve, with 46% of investors describing the funding market as more favourable compared to last quarter. Additionally, 42% reported assessing more deals, and 30% rated the quality of deal flow as good or excellent. 👩💻🚫 The share of capital flowing to female founders plummeted to a level not seen since 2019. While deal share at the Pre-seed stage hit a high, female-led startups were noticeably absent from large later-stage funding announcements. Thank you to our supporters, HSBC, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Vanta, GXE, and Deckmatch, for enabling us to deliver another quarterly report. Download in the comments.

Some promising signs in Cut Through Venture's latest Australian funding report: 📈 Improved investor sentiment 💰 Strongest funding quarter since Q4 2022 🤖 Most deals for AI 💲 Most capital raised in Fintech It's probably too early to say it's a trend, but it's good to see some more positive news!

NUVC.ai Insights on Cut Through Venture VC Q2 2024 Funding Report The most important part of analyzing the Q2 2024 funding report with NUVC.ai: Record-breaking trends and key insights. - Record High Funding: $1.5B raised across 99 deals, the highest since Q4 2022. - AI Sector Dominance: AI-first startups led with 16 deals. - Mega Deals Return: Six deals exceeded $100M, showing strong investor confidence. - Challenges for Female Founders: Funding for female-led startups hit its lowest level since 2019, even less than 4%. - Improved Investor Sentiment: 46% view the market as more favorable. At NUVC.ai we empower investors with precise, data-driven insights to make confident, efficient investment decisions. Our platform's advanced AI capabilities enable deep analysis and strategic support for navigating the dynamic venture capital landscape. We are committed to supporting female founders and promoting diversity in entrepreneurship by highlighting their unique potential and providing them with the visibility they deserve. #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #AI #Investment #Diversity #MarketTrends #WomenInTech #femalefounder

How to Master the Early Stage Phase? Last week, our colleague Thomas joined the Fintech Fringe panel at London Tech Week to discuss "Navigating the Early Stage Landscape.” Moderated by Amelia Isaacs, Future of Finance Reporter, the session provided founders with insights for securing early-stage investment. Alongside Thomas, industry experts Hattie Willis - IfWeRaise, Meera Bissoondeeal - 13books Capital, and Ivan Maryasin - Monite joined the discussion. Here are some of the tips they shared: 1. Fundraising Market ▪ Competitive Market: Despite a tightening market leading to fewer deals, those that do occur remain highly competitive. There's a noticeable growth in pre-emption of upcoming investment rounds across all stages as VCs compete for the best deal flow. ▪ Valuation Trends: Pre-seed and seed rounds continue to hold strong valuations, significantly above the long-term average. However, the valuations of many later-stage rounds remain depressed due to uncertainty in potential exit timelines and the overall environment. 2. Fundraising Process ▪ Focus on Fundamentals: There is a renewed focus on demonstrating necessary growth rates and traction or having a clear narrative for future acceleration. ▪ Building Relationships: Engaging with target VCs between fundraisings to build a relationship and learn who may be the best fit for your journey can be time well spent. ▪ Preparation is Key: The first meeting is crucial. Properly preparing and understanding the person and organization you are speaking to is essential for the best chance of success. This is true for both VCs and founders to ensure the best fit. #MotiveVentures #FintechWeek #EarlyStageInvestment #StartupFunding #VCInsights

Discussing with many VCs in the past months has taught me a lot. Especially on differences between US and European investors. Everybody knows that investors are different on the other side of the Atlantic (works both ways). As European, we’re fully aware the market size is bigger, growth can be quicker, the average amount of $ raised by round is higher, investors are more willing to take risk. But theses considerations are kind of obvious. It gets more interesting when we dive in the process of US and European VC. At first they seem similar. Sourcing, 1st call, little bit of research, 2nd call, few other calls if needed, investment committee. And so on. But if we look carefully, the way of sourcing is super different: ➡️ European VC tend to focus on the country they’re based in so the potential pool of startup is pretty small. Consequence : most VC automate their sourcing to get a full coverage of every single early stage start-up that is created. It’s a lot of work and a lot of companies but it’s still doable. After all, France is only a 67M people country. ➡️ The way of sourcing in the US is very different. Too many companies are created each day. It’s impossible to source and screen every new deal. So sourcing in the US network based. The network of a VC (generally the network of the partners) act as proxy, filtering the good deals and allowing access to them. So no need for automation, but a big need to have a good network. To sum it up European VC tend to have more automated sourcing process (if it’s still not your case, we’re here to help) while US VCs, especially the small early stage ones, tend to have a more inbound and network based approach. For us it was a key learning because conceiving tools require to know how your client works. So a tool for sourcing in Europe could be useless in the US.

I recently came across Carta’s State of Private Markets Q3 2024 report from Peter Walker's recent LinkedIn post. The report immediately grabbed my attention with some big-picture insights that felt spot-on for today’s market climate. Here are a few highlights that stood out to me: 1️⃣ Deal Activity and Capital Raised Are Steadying: Funding held mostly flat from Q2, with a modest 4% increase in the number of deals and a 12% uptick in capital raised. Although not a huge jump, it’s encouraging to see deal flow stabilize as the market works through a tough year. 2️⃣ Valuations Up Across Most Stages: Even as down rounds remain high, Carta’s data shows valuations are trending upward at various stages. This could suggest a more selective market where the companies that do secure funding tend to be the ones with stronger fundamentals and potential. 3️⃣ Bridge Rounds Losing Share in Later Stages: Fewer Series A, B, and C companies are relying on bridge rounds, signaling that startups at these stages are finding more stable paths to their next funding. However, bridge financing remains common at the seed stage, underscoring the higher risk and need for runway among younger companies. 4️⃣ Geographic Resilience Beyond Silicon Valley: While the West (especially California) still leads in capital raised, states like New York and Massachusetts are emerging as strong secondary hubs, with investment spreading into new innovation ecosystems—a promising trend for long-term resilience. Beyond just a steadying market, Carta’s report reflects a shift toward higher standards across the board. After years of rapid growth, investors are now focusing on companies with strong fundamentals, driving a more selective approach. It’s a “quality over quantity” mindset that summarizes the current market dynamics.

US vs UK venture markets: key differences 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 Just wrapped up conversations with founders who raised in both markets. In shorts here's what you need to know: Round sizes (2023-2024 data): - Pre-seed: $500K-1M (UK) vs $1.5-2.5M (US) - Seed: $1.5-3M (UK) vs $3-5M (US) - Series A: $5-10M (UK) vs $15-25M (US) Investor Expectations: 🇬🇧 UK: - ARR: £1M+ for Series A - Focus on unit economics - Preference for proven business models - Earlier path to profitability 🇺🇸 US: - ARR: $2M+ for Series A - Growth at all costs mindset - Higher risk tolerance - Market size obsession (nothing below $1B TAM) Due diligence differences: - UK: 8-12 weeks, heavy focus on financials and current traction - US: 4-6 weeks, emphasis on vision and growth potential 💡 UK investors typically invest in current metrics; US investors buy into future potential. #VentureCapital #Startups #Investment #TechStartups

Excited to share our 2024 Australia & New Zealand Private Capital Breakdown report. Our report delves into the private market overview, Dealmaking in ANZ, VC & PE sector spotlights, Exit activity, and Fundraising activity. Key Takeaways: • The Australia & New Zealand private capital market has been hit by the same global headwinds troubling market worldwide. Deal counts and values have fallen sharply over the past couple years, slowed by caution from investors, and challenging dealmaking climate due to rising interest rates and inflation, which has remained elevated from targets. The private capital markets are relatively young in their development, which can be seen as reason for optimism, but also as a challenge that has further hindered dealmaking. The region has a developed and stable economy, though growth has been slower than other large economies recently. • In 2023, VC deal activity fell to $3.2 billion across 634 deals completed. Though that marks the year as one of the more active, it is nearly 48% lower on deal value, and almost 36% lower on a deal count perspective than in 2021. That slowdown has continued into 2024, with just 97 deals completed in Q1, amassing around $600 million in aggregate. The lack of depth in the investor market is a challenge for the market, which is small in comparison to many other regions searching for growth in the private markets. • Because of the size of Australia & New Zealand, To be venture backable, startups typically need to have global ambition from day one. The decision of whether a startup will go overseas is largely driven by the industry sector and the go to market (GTM) approach of the business. For example, some startups choose to relocate to another part of the world to reach their largest customer base and further build trust. • PE activity has also tumbled recently, as higher interest rates have increased the costs of leverage within the market. In Q1, just 65 PE deals were closed, with just $2.8 billion trading hands in those transactions. Those figures pace the Australia & New Zealand market for the slowest year in deal value since 2015, even as deal counts may reach near the pre-2021 highs. Buyouts have taken the brunt of the market pressure, while growth equity has remained relatively resilient in the face of headwinds. • Exits for PE and VC-backed companies have been a challenge in the market, hindering the growth. No year has produced more in exit value than was invested, and VC has generated less than $20 billion in total during the past decade. There signs of hope on the horizon, as companies such as Canva and Airwallex have the opportunity to more than double the amount of exit value generated by the market with successful exits. Those companies have already generated a large amount of returns from early investors, some of which have exit partial stakes in the companies through secondaries. Reach out to learn more!