On sale, BOGO, and more…
Like a sale with deep discounts retailers offer to make shoppers spend on their products, the startup scene is experiencing the same phenomenon. Previously, VCs (and startups) cashed in when acquired, but 2023 hasn’t produced cashouts at the highest valuation point. Cash-out is still profitable for VCs, but not where it should be.
On a side note, sales (fire sales) are occurring at lightning speed, and many startup founders have exited with pocket change to null.
“Generally speaking, when a startup gets acquired by a big company or goes public at a valuation over a billion dollars, prior backers at all stages come out ahead.
This year, however, that often hasn’t been the case. Because private company valuations hit such frothy heights a couple years ago, even good-sized exits are commonly well below peak.” – Crunchbase.
Everyone likes a good sale, or do they?
Some notable trends this week:
- Wealthtech and Fintech fared well
- Foreign deals dominated
- New VCs made the ‘leader board’
And now, here are this week’s top 5 VC deals…
1Scalable Capital
$65M, Capital| Equity | Germany | Wealthtech | Balderton Capital, HV Capital | https://de.scalable.capital/en
LinkedIn Overview:
“Scalable Capital is a leading FinTech in Europe, bringing people and technology-based investment together…”
2Pontera
$60M, Capital| Equity | NYC | Wealthtech| ICONIQ Growth, Blumberg Capital, Collaborative Fund, Hanaco Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, The Founders Kitchen| https://pontera.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Pontera is a fintech company on a mission to help millions of Americans retire better by enabling financial advisors to securely and compliantly manage on assets in held-away accounts, including 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and more…“
3Solvento
$53.5M, Capital | Equity & Debt| Mexico | Fintech | Quona Capital, Dynamo Ventures, Ironspring Ventures, Proeza Ventures, Zenda VC | https://www.solvento.mx/
Website Description:
“We automate and finance your logistics payments. Replacing manual processes with state-of-the-art technology that optimizes end-to-end reconciliation and payment to carriers.“
4Center
$30M, Series C, Capital| Equity | Bellevue, WA | Wealthtech | Top Tier Capital Partners, Durable Capital Partners | https://getcenter.com/
LinkedIn Description:
“Center is transforming spend management with a more configurable, extensible, and intelligent, solution…“
5Spade
$10M, Series A, Capital |Equity | NYC | Fintech | Flourish Ventures, a16z, Gradient Ventures, YC, Dash Fund, Everywhere Ventures | https://spade.com/
LinkedIn Description:
“Spade is the only transaction data enrichment solution backed by real data. We leverage our vast first-party data network…“
