It’s a small world, after all.
VCs are pulling the pursestrings open for startup funding in desirable sectors, regardless if what regulators try to deter by using red tape (and BS?). Borders no longer hold money in, keep international investors out, or hinder disruption of advancing technologies.
“However, despite the chill in venture investment more broadly, large deals continue to get done, especially for companies with large addressable markets and disruptive innovation.”-EY.
While the funding has cooled in the U.S., 2023 may turn the course, and worldwide, deal-making remains steady:
June 28 (Reuters) – Payments giant Visa Inc (V.N) on Wednesday agreed to acquire Brazilian fintech platform Pismo for $1 billion in cash to expand its footprint in Latin America, a vote of renewed confidence in the region amid a funding slowdown.
Some notable trends this week:
- Familiar funders round out this week’s deals- Barclays, Coinbase, Tiger Global, and Peter Thiel.
- It was a solid, mostly double-digit funding week across all categories we follow.
- ‘International’ is prevalent; openness to crypto and blockchain is moving funding to overseas startups in these sectors.
Next up are this week’s Top 5 VC Deals
1Smart
$95 M, Series E, Capital| Equity| UK | Wealthtech | Aquiline Capital Partners, Chrysalis Investments, Fidelity International Strategic Investments, DWS, Barclays, Natixis Investment Managers | https://www.smartretire.com
LinkedIn Overview:
“Our mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing, across all generations, around the world. We’re here to help you manage the rapid changes happening in the UK pension industry and across the globe…”
2Hut 8
$50M, Capital| Debt | Canada | Crypto | Coinbase | https://hut8.io/
LinkedIn Overview:
“About Hut 8: (NASDAQ: HUT, TSX: HUT) Business Building Technologists, Bullish on Bitcoin, Blockchain and Web 3.0. Building the bridge between traditional and nascent forms of High Performance Computing…”
3Unit 21
$45M, Pre-Series C, Capital | Equity | SF | Fintech | Tiger Global, South Park Commons | https://www.unit21.ai/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Unit21 helps protect businesses against adversaries through a simple API and dashboard for detecting and managing money laundering, fraud, and other sophisticated risks across multiple industries.”
4Mythical Games
$37M, Series C1, Capital| Equity |CA | Blockchain |Scytale Partners, ARK Invest, Animoca Brands, PROOF, Stanford Athletics, MoonPay, Andreessen Horowitz, Westcap, Gaingels, Signum Growth, Struck | https://mythicalgames.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“We are Mythical Games, a next-generation game technology studio. We believe that true ownership of digital assets, verifiable scarcity, and integrated secondary markets will spawn a new generation of games…”
5One Trading
$33M, Series A, Capital | Equity | Italy | Crypto | Peter Thiel, MiddleGame Ventures, Speedinvest, Keyrock, Wintermute Ventures | https://onetrading.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“One Trading, formerly Bitpanda Pro, is a European digital asset exchange made for experienced traders, finance professionals and institutions. Safe, regulated and intuitive, we offer over 50 tokens to deliver deep EUR, GBP and CHF liquidity at a competitive rate…”
