With another year With venture capital records on the books, it’s time to move forward.
Global data was clear: the 2021 investment cycle for venture capital startups was record breaking; Around the world, startups raised more money than ever before, with individual regions posting all-time gains.
Africa had a killer year. North America was hot. Latin America was busy. Asia was bright, even under the weight of one official crackdown in China. But Europe. Europe has been very busy, something we explored earlier this week.
The Exchange explores startups, markets and money.
read it every morning on TechCrunch+ or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.
PitchBook data Risk activities accumulated in the 2021 European investment cycle stand at €102.9 billion, an increase of around 120% compared to 2020 levels. CB Insights data shows that European startups raised $93.3 billion last year, a 142% increase compared to 2020 results. Both sources also reported rising volume, suggesting the continent hasn’t just seen late-stage rounds boosting its numbers.
But a potential market slump is looming. The recent sell-off of key comps in stock markets to high-growth, highly valued startups is causing tremors. TechCrunch has explored the concept, but lest you think we’re playing some kind of subversive Chicken Little routine, the idea that the venture capital perspective on startup fundraising is changing is something CNBC, Newcomer, and other publications are actively exploring.
In late December, The Exchange asked if the era of super-rich software valuations was behind us. Today we want to expand the question to all startups and narrow our focus on Europe. What’s coming up for the red-hot startup market this year?
To help us with this question, we have joined forces Nalin PatelEMEA VC Analyst at PitchBook and Christopher Janzco-founded Point Nine Capital to help us examine the future of European venture activity.
What’s at stake? The health and continued growth of hundreds of billions of dollars in private market assets.
Why Europe 2022 could accelerate
The fact that Europe had a great 2021 could mean two things: that things cannot continue at this pace, or that the ingredients are in place for an even better 2022. PitchBook’s Nalin Patel is betting on the latter with observations on both sides of the table.
On the investor side, Patel pointed out that there are a ton of dry powders out there from a variety of sources. “International and non-traditional investors, including corporate VCs, PE firms and sovereign wealth funds, along with larger traditional VC funds, are fiercely competing to invest in fast-growing European startups looking to scale globally.”
