The grass is always greener…
It’s mid-year, with six months of deals behind us and nothing ahead but greener pastures (or forests). But for some startups, the grass may be greener on the other side…could it be an IPO they’re eyeing?
2023 has had roughly 50% fewer IPOs (so far); fallout from bank failures, experts predict. Crunchbase’s mid-year report of who could still go public in 2023 is out; read it here. And, no surprise on the FinTech front, Stripe is their #1 prediction. For many startups, when you go to the bank that many times, the grass better be greener on the other side.
“Tons of startups are eager to make their public debuts. Mature startups including Stripe and Shein have reportedly mulled over their IPO strategies. Other startups are starting to run out of cash as venture investors pull back — a phenomenon exacerbated by the collapse of preeminent startup bank Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year.”- Crunchbase
Some notable trends this week:
- Foreign startup deals dominated this week.
- Apps startups were prevalent in this week’s deal awards.
- UK, Switzerland, France, Belgium, India, and South Korean startups took home most of this week’s cash.
And now, here are this week’s Top 5 VC Deals
1Shares
$90 M, Capital| Equity| France| Wealthtech | Undisclosed | https://shares.io/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Shares is now available on the App Store & Google Play in the UK, Poland and Belgium. Being connected has radically changed so much of our lives, so why shouldn’t it change our investments too? ..”
2Cyware
$30M, Series A, Capital| Equity | NYC | Crypto | FinTech | Ten Eleven Ventures, Advent International, Zscaler, Emerald Development Managers, Prelude, Great Road Holdings | https://cyware.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Cyware is a product-based cybersecurity provider. We offer a full-stack of innovative cyber fusion solutions for all-source strategic, tactical, technical and operational threat intelligence sharing & threat response automation…”
3Dougs
$27M, Capital | Equity | France | Fintech | Expedition Growth Capital | https://www.dougs.fr/
Website Description:
“The online accountant that really makes your life easier…”
4Abound
$10M, Capital| Equity |India | Payments |Times Group | https://www.joinabound.com/
Press Overview (Provided by Pmnts.com):
“The app — owned by the Times of India and formerly known as Times Club — is designed especially for Indian expatriates living in the U.S.
“With Abound, our aim is to simplify the process of sending money abroad for expats, who often face high fees and complicated procedures when using traditional financial services,” CEO Nishkaam Mehta said.”
5Bluesky
$8M, Seed | Capital |Decentralized open social network provider | Blockchain | Neo, Joe Beda (Kubernetes), Bob Young (Red Hat), Amjad Masad (Replit), Amir Shevat, Heather Meeker, Jeromy Johnson, Automattic, Protocol Labs, Sarah Drasner, Katelyn Donnelly, Ali Evans, Stav Erez, Kris Nova, Brad Fitzpatrick, Abdul Ly | https://blueskyweb.xyz/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Building a Social Internet The web. Email. RSS feeds. XMPP chats. What all these technologies had in common is they allowed people to freely interact and create content, without a single intermediary…”
