Q1.2024 - New Money Dictates Terms

All the tables are to be found and the very bottom of this article.

The Title "New Money (quite frankly) Dictates Terms (at the moment)" comes from an earlier exchange with Claire Smith and Sagar Tandon. Being a venture partner with Beyond Impact VC , I know precisely where both are coming from. The pendulum has, in some instances gone too far, and some interesting deals, terms are achievable.

Overall, volumes are-up but we're far from being out of the woods yet. Europe isn't doing its fair share of catching-up. New funding classes are emerging while Seed to Series H are down across the board and geographies.

Series Data

1. Market Surge: The overall investment volume soared by 57% to $5.5 billion compared to the same period last year - Table 1
2. Asia's Growth: Despite nearly quadrupling its investment volume to $1.9 billion, Asia still trails its 2022 figure by half - Table 2
3. Africa's Leap: From a modest base, Africa's investment volume jumped thirteenfold to $108 million - Table 2
4. Europe's Decline: Europe saw a 17% drop in investment to $900 million, a steep fall from its 2022 levels - Table 2
5. Debt Financing Increase: There's a growing preference for debt financing, with amounts doubling from last year to $1 billion - Table 3
6. Private Equity Recovery: PE has doubled for Q1 2023, but is still only a third of what it was in Q1 2022 (now $450mio) - Table 3
7. Secondary Market Emergence: Marking its debut, the secondary market reported significant activity at $570 million (might be something new in the database)
8. Decrease in Seed to Series E: Volumes on all tranches are down compared to Q1 2023 and Q1 2022 - Table 3
9. The overall volume is up: ?Because “Venture – Series Unknown” is up from $453mio to $1255mio. Market participants are more and more reluctant to share details - Table 3
10. Deal Count Dips: Number of deals for Pre-Seed to Series H down 10% to 225 but still up compared to 2021 and 2022 (so average size of deals is smaller) - Table 6
11. Europe's Focus: European ventures attracted $638 million, concentrated in early to mid-stage funding - Table 7
12. Country Leaders: Germany led with $146 million over 11 deals, followed by Israel and France, highlighting regional hotspots - Table 8
13. Wonder's Record Deal: A standout $700 million venture round for Wonder (food delivery company) overshadowed the other raises - Table 9
14. Europe's Top Deal: Infinite Roots? led in Europe with a notable $57 million Series B round - Table 10

Once you slice and dice; by geography, stage (early / late), sub-segment (agtech, foodtech, waste, textiles), type (lead or follower), business model (btc, btb, capex heavy or not) and so on, you're not left with much.

Investors Data

1. Active Investors: 878 investors have been active so far this year - Table 13
2. Investment Activity: These investors completed 962 investments.
3. Investor Types: Among them, 383 are venture capitalists (VCs), the most active group and 23 corporate venture capitalists (CVCs). 223 investors are unidentified.
4. Geographical Distribution: Of these investors, 175 are based in the US, 42 in India, and another 42 in Great Britain. The domicile for 272 investors is unknown.
5. Top Deal-makers: The 12 most active investors have made 40 deals among them, with notable names including S2G Ventures (4 deals), AgFunder (3 deals), and BPI France (3 deals).
6. Newcomers: 422 investors are new to our database in 2024. Of these, 60% focus on early-stage investments, 20% on late-stage, and for the remaining 20%, the stage of investment preference is unknown - Table 14
7. Breakdown of New Investors: Of the new investors, 124 are VCs, 76 are private individuals and 154 are unidentified.
8. Lead Roles: 122 new investors have taken on the role of "lead" investor.
9. Celebrity Investment: Tony Parker, known to basketball fans, made his debut on our list through his investment in FlyCup, a French company innovating in reusable menstrual cups.
10. Consistent Investors: Since January 2022, 1,980 investors, who have been active, have each made more than three investments in total since January 2018.
11. Repeat Business: A significant portion of these repeat investors, 742, are from the US.

What do I have going-on

1. Up to Chf6mio raise for a BtB Swiss foodtech company, that invented a cutting-edge, patented, and scalable technology that transforms spent yeast biomass into premium proteins and fibers for the food and cosmetics industries. Their vegan ingredients have higher nutritional value, better sensory properties, and wider application possibilities than any other alternative proteins on the market.
2. Up to $7Mio raise for an agtech company with a proven all-natural fruit and vegetable coating that allows goods to travel further, for longer while maintaining higher visual quality and taste. Waste will be reduced ?by up to 50% thus generating increased RoI of 10% to 15% for clients (growers and/or packers).
3. Up to $10Mio raise for an agtech company developing a fast becoming leader agronomic farm management system. Double digit ARR in $ millions and growth. Very impressive team, delivering year after year and growing organically and through acquisitions.
4. Up to €5Mio raise for a foodtech, impact native and tech-enabled coffee company. They plan to expand to over 200 locations and achieve EUR 100M in revenue by 2031 (from just below €3M in 2023). Their goal is to become the #1 specialty coffee brand in continental Europe, while significantly improving the lives of tens of thousands of farmers

Up Coming event

Beyond Animal Online Pitch Event: 9th of April 2024, 5pm CET, 11am ET

https://beyondanimal.com/conference/session/view/Beyond-Animal-Pitch-for-Planet-JOs6ND4w2i

Should we work together?

I capital raise for companies and funds developing sustainable technologies. Core focus being on food, agriculture, waste and textiles. Sweet spot; Series A to Series E. Always on the look-out for quality sourcing, companies that are generating revenue and have a tangible path to being EBITDA positive within 1 to 3 years.

Capital raising is so cut-throat at the moment that I believe startups need all the help they can get. ?Paying a retainer is always an issue, that being said you “pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. Startups tend to come to me (too) late in the process or when the end of the runway is well in sight. In these situations, it is difficult to do miracles.

I consider that if we are down to 1/3 or a 1/2 of the capital raising volume we had a few years back, this means the default rate has doubled or trebled in the meantime. But don’t get me wrong, companies still get funded albeit it takes longer and the valuations are down. The pendulum has gone too far to the left, things will normalise and investors will be back. In the meantime, we need to find alternative fundings routes.

I am also a venture partner at Beyond Impact and venture associate for the FBBA crowdfunding platform.

Happy to answer questions you might have. Regards, William

Tables

Table 1 - Q1 2024 Volume per Region

Table 2 - Q1 Comparison 2018 till 2024

Table 3 - Instruments Use to Raise in Q1s from 2021 to 2024

Table 4 - Instruments Used in Q1 2024 in Europe

Table 5 - Focusing on Pre-Seed to Series H for Q1, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024

Table 6 - Q1 Comparison for Number of Deals

Table 7 - Q1 Comparison for Pre-Seed to Series H, only for Europe

Table 8 - Q1 2024, Broken down for Europe

Table 9 - Q1.2024, Top 10 deals Worldwide

Table 10 - Q1.2024, Top 10 deals Europe

Table 11 - Nb of Investors & Rounds since January 2018

Table 12 - Investors by Nb of Deals done Since January 2024

Table 13 - Q1 2024, Nb of Active Investors

Table 14 - Q1 2024, Nb. of New Investors

Table 15 - Q1 2024, Number of Deals Investors Participated In