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There has been a general improvement in valuations in the venture market over the last few months. But interestingly, a deeper look at the interquartile range of post-money valuations reveals that the market shift is occurring at the top quartile of the market. Across financing stages, there is a clear divergent trend between top quartile valuations, which have seen significant momentum in the first half of the year, and the median and bottom quartiles, which remain relatively flat and unchanged. The headline data that valuations improved, therefore, does not paint the full picture, as the recovery in the first half of the year seems to be mostly driven by the top end of the market. The charts below, which look at Series Seed and Series A, speak to this trend. See what is happening in other stages, as well as a lot of other data-driven insights about the market in our latest report, the Aumni Venture Beacon: 1H 2024: https://lnkd.in/eSbXmmZJ

There has been a general improvement in valuations in the venture market over the last few months. But interestingly, a deeper look at the interquartile range of post-money valuations reveals that the market shift is occurring at the top quartile of the market. Across financing stages, there is a clear divergent trend between top quartile valuations, which have seen significant momentum in the first half of the year, and the median and bottom quartiles, which remain relatively flat and unchanged. The headline data that valuations improved, therefore, does not paint the full picture, as the recovery in the first half of the year seems to be mostly driven by the top end of the market. The charts below, which look at Series Seed and Series A, speak to this trend. See what is happening in other stages, as well as a lot of other data-driven insights about the market in our latest report, the Aumni Venture Beacon: 1H 2024: https://lnkd.in/eSbXmmZJ

The venture capital market saw green shoots in the first half of 2024, but improvements were uneven. For example, pre-money valuations improved, as did late-stage lead investor check sizes, but data indicates these improvements were driven mostly by the top end of the market. Meanwhile, the trend of increasing down-round prevalence since 2021 appears to have reversed in the first half of 2024 for early-stage companies, but the opposite is true for late-stage companies, which saw down-round prevalence in the first half of the year increase by a considerable margin. Dive into these insights and what they mean in the Aumni Venture Beacon: 1H 2024 Report: https://lnkd.in/eN-mkGC2 The report goes beyond the big-picture trends to drill down into how equity financings are being structured and what deal terms reveal about the dynamics among market participants. As the path to recovery is likely to be inconsistent and uneven, detailed data is key to distinguishing between temporary upticks and sustained recovery, and identifying where risks and opportunities lie.

Down rounds are down, but only in early stage... The trend of increasing down-round prevalence since 2021 appears to have reversed in the first half of 2024 for early-stage companies. Down rounds for early-stage startups decreased to 15.6% in the first half of the year from 21.5% in the previous half-year, while up rounds increased to 74.9% from 66%. Flat rounds for early-stage companies declined to 9.51% from 12.5% in the second half of 2023. The opposite is true for late-stage companies, which saw down-round prevalence in the first half of the year increase by a considerable margin. Down-rounds for late-stage startups increased from 28% in the second half of 2023 to approximately 39% in the first half of 2024. Nearly half of late-stage rounds in the first half of 2024 were either flat or down. Want more venture data? See our Aumni Venture Beacon: 1H 2024 Report: https://lnkd.in/eVD5UyaN

The Aumni Rising 2024 Venture Summit is kicking off next week! We’re excited to introduce the industry speakers joining us in Palo Alto, CA, on October 10. Nina Labatt, COO & CFO at S32, and Madison Sinclair, Assurance Principal at BDO, will be diving into best practices for preparing for the upcoming audit season. Topics will include realistic audit timelines, building and managing auditor relationships, LP reporting, and how the #audit process has evolved. James Chan, CPA, CFO at leading venture firms, and Eli Wolfson, Senior Associate at Moneta Ventures, will focus on portfolio company KPIs. Here we’ll discuss the key metrics that matter, leveraging #KPIs in reporting, valuations and audits, as well as how to address gaps in data. The clock is ticking. If you haven’t secured your spot for Aumni Rising, follow this link for more information: https://lnkd.in/eRHJc6Af We look forward to seeing you there!

There appears to be increasing momentum in venture. But what parts of the market are driving it? At a high level, the venture capital market improved in the first half of 2024, driven by increased pre-money valuations in Q2. Median pre-money valuations increased between 6% and 32% in early-stage deals (Seed through Series B) and by over 150% for Series D+ compared with the previous year. Coinciding with the rise in pre-money valuations, median late-stage lead investor check sizes similarly increased in the first half of the year to just over US$30 million, a level not seen since early 2022. Also, with the exception of Series D+, total cash raised in the first half of 2024 has largely remained unchanged across stages. Taken together, the data suggests that the increased momentum in the venture capital market is driven by pre-money valuations, particularly at later stages, and not necessarily just an increase in new money deployed. Our newly released Aumni Venture Beacon: 1H 2024 Report explores this trend and more, with dozens of charts and data sets that shed light on the state of venture. Get the report here: https://lnkd.in/eayPWE89

The first half of the year saw signs of improvement in the venture capital market, but it continued to be a challenging period. Our latest report, the Aumni Venture Beacon: 1H 2024, examines the mixed dynamics at play during this unique?juncture for venture. Some key findings: -Pre-money valuations improved in the first half of the year, as did late-stage lead investor check sizes. Improvements in the data appear to be driven by the top end of the market. -The median time between financing rounds meaningfully declined for the first time since 2022, from 25 months in Q1 to 22 months in Q2, but still remains historically elevated. -Down rounds considerably increased for late-stage companies. Median markdowns remained at similar levels in the first half the year for all stages except Series B, which increased to approximately $79 million from $34?million in 2023. ? -Follow-on investments are increasing in prevalence, and appear to be at the highest levels in 10 years. ? The Aumni Venture Beacon is our biannual report on the state of venture, which leverages data derived from legal documents underpinning equity financings. ? Get the report: https://lnkd.in/gxZ5kdUd

Have you heard? Aumni Rising 2024 Venture Summit is approaching. On October 10, Aumni will be hosting our first annual venture summit at the JPMorganChase Silicon Valley Technology Center, bringing together VC professionals and industry leaders alike for an afternoon of engaging discussions. With a panel of top #venture experts, we’ll be diving into audit preparation, portfolio company performance data, market trends, and more. Secure your spot for the opportunity to hear from and connect with industry leaders: https://lnkd.in/eRHJc6Af

Startups began to see a pickup in the pace of capital raising in the second quarter of this year. Aumni-tracked equity financings show that the median and average number of months it took companies to raise capital declined. The median time between rounds across all stages fell to ~22 months in Q2, from a more than five-year high of ~25 months in Q1. The average time between rounds also decreased over that same period, and became more in line with the median. When the average time between rounds is higher than the median, it implies that outlier companies are taking particularly long to raise capital. This is just one of dozens of data sets in the upcoming 1H 2024 Aumni Venture Beacon, our biannual report on the state of fundraising. It comes out next week. To get it delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our Venture Insights newsletter: https://lnkd.in/enKnW3E3

J.P. Morgan's recent Innovation Economy Midyear Outlook found that there was some improvement in early-stage venture activity. The report examined stabilizing down rounds in Seed and Series A. “The big question is whether improvement will continue, or if changes in macroeconomic factors combined with a looming U.S. election will stall the recovery,” says the report. However, while early-stage companies have seen some positive trends, late-stage companies continue to struggle. The frequency of down rounds has increased in late stage, with investor-friendly terms, such as participating liquidation preferences, becoming more prevalent in these rounds. Aumni, a J.P. Morgan company, is proud to partner with J.P. Morgan's Innovation Economy team to contribute data to the Midyear Outlook. Explore the Innovation Economy Midyear Outlook: https://lnkd.in/eMFCWtJb Want even more data? The Aumni Venture Beacon, our biannual report which features dozens of data sets on the state of venture fundraising, comes out next week. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox: https://lnkd.in/eT5tbi4m