Industry News

May 8, 2023

Investors Rain Funding Down On Climate Prediction Startups

As climate issues flood nearly every sector, climate and weather analytics startups are offering companies and consumers predictions about everything from the chances for inclement weather for that upcoming vacation to the long-term flood or fire risks of building new properties.

April 14, 2023

Generative AI startups jockey for VC dollars

Roughly $1.7 billion was generated across 46 deals in Q1 2023, according to PitchBook data. An additional $10.68 billion worth of deals were announced in the quarter but have not completed.

February 10, 2023

Investor appetite, microfunds help seed investing defy startup drubbing

While the end of the more than decade-long tech investing bull cycle was far from unanticipated, many venture investors were not prepared for the swift market downturn that began to take shape in early 2022.

January 24, 2023

IPO activity declines as big companies buy VC-backed startups

Prior to 2022, it seemed like every other startup on the market was going public. But during 2022, as the Fed aggressively raised interest rates to curb inflation, the trend reversed. Global IPO volumes fell 45% year-over-year, according to data from Ernst & Young.

January 12, 2023

Why local VCs think fundraising will pick back up in 2023

While 2021 was a year unlike any other for Chicago startups, 2022 proved to be a much different story, and Chicago startups are waiting to see if venture capital funding can get back into the swing of things to begin the new year.

January 9, 2023

Why is VC dry powder still piling up?

Venture capital firms' cash piles continued to grow, even as dry powder fell across other private investment strategies.Global venture firms were sitting on $585.5 billion of capital raised but not allocated as of the end of Q3 2022, according to PitchBook data. VC is the only private investment strategy in which dry powder is on pace to rise from 2021 levels.

December 21, 2022

Where did the unicorns go? $1B startups are getting harder to find

A unicorn, in startup vernacular, was designed as a term to describe a rare event for a young tech company: a $1 billion valuation. But in 2021, unicorns were more ubiquitous than ever.

December 12, 2022

Startup whiplash hits some sectors harder than others

There is no denying that 2022 has been a challenging year for startups. But it has not been equally difficult for every sector of the VC-backed ecosystem.

November 23, 2022

Slump puts more startups on path to acquisition by other startups

These are challenging times for venture capitalists hoping to eke out a palatable exit from a struggling portfolio company. Many venture-backed companies could soon be facing an undesirable yet straightforward decision: go out of business or be acquired at a fraction of their last valuation.

November 22, 2022

Cleo Capital on why now is a good time for early-stage VCs

Early-stage startups are finding it harder to raise capital as investors get more selective, but the ecosystem could still be in for a fresh influx of talent, says Cleo Capital managing director Sarah Kunst.

November 9, 2022

More cuts in late-stage valuations loom, as startups miss revenue targets

When Instacart lowered its internal valuation from $39 billion to $24 billion in March, many in the VC ecosystem wondered whether other startups would follow in the grocery delivery specialist's footsteps.

October 6, 2022

Global VC Pullback Is Dramatic In Q3 2022

Venture and growth investors in private companies scaled back their investment pace significantly as the slump in the public markets stretched into the third quarter.