In a world of increased funding for the startups, global VC funds are faring better than ever. VC investments climbed to $300.5B in 2020 and even in the Q1-Q3 of 2021, it has reached the worth of $453B already. According to VCBenchmark, venture funding in the US has increased by 74% while in Europe, it has risen up 37% compared to Q4 2020. Showcasing high investor interest in the tech startup ecosystem, this marks a vital shift in the approach of investors and VC funds who are now looking at funding for growth rather than funding to survive despite the pandemic.
Joining this race is Boston-based venture capital fund Flint Capital. The company has closed its second venture fund, which will invest $103 million to help high-tech companies from Europe and Israel to enter the US market. By the beginning of 2022, $40 million will be invested more in initial and follow-up investments in enterprise software, cybersecurity, fintech, digital health, AI, consumer mobile applications and marketplaces.
Early-stage tech companies on radar
Supporting startups in both the operational and strategic aspects of their business, the company’s second fund has already announced successful exits for Loom Systems (acquired by Service Now) and Voca.ai (acquired by Snap). The fund has already invested in 18 startups and will continue to invest in early-stage tech companies, including seed, A and B-round startups.
Talking about being focused on backing teams to deliver the highest results, Sergey Gribov, the partner at Flint Capital said: “The added value that we offer is that we help startups not only with expertise but also to find other investors, and assist founders in growing the business. And in just a few years, two startups had successfully exited the second fund.”
Successful first fund
Founded in 2013, the early-stage venture capital fund had closed its first fund and invested $107M in startups such as Cyber X (acquired by Microsoft), Flo, Walkme. With 13 successful exits and three unicorns, the first fund was rated in the top 10% of funds globally. The company’s portfolio companies, Socure (valued at $4.5 billion), Flo (valued at $800 million), and Walkme (valued at $2.5 billion) returned to investors over $100 million, more than the fund raised.
Collaborative community
“Most of our investors are entrepreneurs, which means that fund managers and investors speak the same language and understand investment strategies. The relationship between GP and LP is no longer formal. The collaborative community has members that help each other by sharing knowledge and experiences that lead to extensive market expertise and one of the best performances,” Dmitry Smirnov, partner at Flint Capital added.
As the race to scaling startups in a viable manner post the pandemic gains momentum, early stage VC funds are also facing immense competition. Cashing in on the VC fund race are the likes of New York-based Insight Partners, Shanghai-based Qiming Venture Partners and Silicon Valley venture firms Accel, General Catalyst and Lightspeed Venture Partners with early stage investment spread across the three leading continents, North America, Asia and Europe.
