Not so fast…
Amid unicorns, ‘hot’ startups, and dreams of IPOs, tech startups previously experienced growth and sector-wide expansion, a period that often occurs once a decade. But, now, the software-as-a-service and tech services sector has taken a considerable hit- McKinsey analysis found that recent market corrections have depressed valuations in the space by more than 40 percent.
Excitement is evident when a private company files to go public (Instacart), but don’t assume more VC-backed startups will follow. Declining valuations, dwindling funding, and more weekly failures demonstrate a slowdown.
Some notable trends this week:
- Deals were on ‘vacation’
- Single-digit low millions awards were evident
- Fintech took home the cash compared to other sectors
Drum roll, please; here are this week’s Top 5 VC Deals…
1Mediafly
$80M, Capital| Equity | Chicago | Fintech | BIP Ventures, Boathouse Capital | https://www.mediafly.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Mediafly is the most comprehensive revenue enablement platform for large enterprises. Mediafly is used daily by top B2B go-to-market teams to engage buyers, prepare sellers, quantify value, and continuously optimize sales force performance…”
2Praso
$9.5M, Series A, Capital| Equity | S. Brazil | Fintech | Valor Capital Group, NFX, Base Partners, Formus Capital, Iporanga Ventures, Endeavor Scale-Up | https://institucional.praso.com.br/
LinkedIn Overview:
“With technology, we bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers.“
3Arkifi
$9M, Seed, Capital | Equity | CA | Fintech | Khosla Ventures, Nyca Partners, Soma Capital, MVP Ventures, GSBackers, Valiant Capital Employee Fund, Correlation VC, G&H Partners | https://www.arkifi.ai/
LinkedIn Description:
“We are building the future of finance: reimagine productivity by thinking more and spending less time doing mechanical work while working with a trustworthy AI that never makes up or “hallucinates” factual information.“
4MFast
$6M, Series A, Capital| Equity |Vietnam | Fintech | Wavemaker Partners, Krungsri Innovate, Headline Asia, Do Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Ascend Vietnam Ventures| https://digipaysolution.com/
LinkedIn Description:
“MFast is the leading tech-enabled agent banking network that aims to democratize financial access to the underserved population in Vietnam and emerging Southeast Asia… “
5DeForm
$4.6M, Seed, Capital |Equity | SF | Blockchain | Kindred Ventures, Elad Gil, Scalar Capital, A.Capital, Alchemy Ventures, Naval Ravikant, Sota Watanabe, Sep Kamvar, Scott Belsky, Marc Bhargava | https://www.deform.cc/
LinkedIn Description:
“Crypto, blockchain, and NFTs are shifting company digital marketing strategies from being purely online to also onchain. Onchain marketing allows for a more effective engagement tracking system, a way to incentive-align early and loyal fans, and accelerated capital formation to fund new initiatives…“
