Infographic – Global Venture Funds Hit Record High

Click on image for full-size view (Crunchbase)

10 Apr. 2021. Venture investing, a key source of capital for research-based companies, hit a record high level worldwide in the first quarter of 2021. According to data compiled by Crunchbase, total venture capital funding across the globe reached $125 billion in the first quarter of 2021, a 50 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2020, and nearly double the funds raised in the first quarter of 2020.

Most of the investment gains worldwide in the first quarter were made in companies that are already off the ground. Early-stage investments, those made in companies’ first two venture funding rounds, reached nearly $36 billion, a 45 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2020 and 63 percent more than the first quarter of 2020. The total number of deals in these first two rounds rose to 1,605 in the first quarter, compared to 1,503 in the fourth quarter of 2020, but still lower than the 1,813 transactions in the first quarter of 2020.

Later-stage funding in the first quarter — investments in companies’ third venture rounds or later — likewise rose sharply. Venture companies invested nearly $86 billion in businesses worldwide, a gain of 56 percent over the fourth quarter of 2020, and a jump of 122 percent over the first quarter of 2020. The 751 later-stage deals in the first quarter is also a sharp increase from 597 in the fourth quarter of 2020, and 572 in the first quarter of 2020.

For companies just getting started, however, the numbers are less encouraging. Seed-round funding worldwide, which includes angel and crowd-funded investing, recorded $4.1 billion in 2,981 deals in the first quarter. Investment dollars in new start-ups has stayed essentially flat since the first quarter of 2020, when venture companies invested $3.9 billion. And since the first quarter of 2020, the number of seed-stage deals has steadily declined, from more than 5,200 to less than 3,000 in the first quarter of 2021.

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