Dashboard: Venture fundraising falls in September, as IPOs rise

Fundraising (value down 70%)

Following a robust August, fundraising for U.S.-based venture firms dropped 70 percent, collecting $2.2 billion in September, compared with $6.9 billion the month before when two large growth-stage firms (TCV and Summit) raised capital. In September, Sapphire Ventures led the way for the month by pooling $702 million for its third flagship fund. Foundry Group followed by reaching $500 million for Foundry Group Next LP.

Deals (value down 16%)

After a burly $6.1 billion in August, deals had a slight dip to $5.1 billion in September, despite the deal count rising to 357 from 293. The top deal of the month was for peer-to-peer accommodations marketplace, Airbnb Inc, receiving $555.5 million in equity. Following that was Modernatx Inc, a therapeutics company pioneering messenger RNA pharmaceuticals, garnering $474 million in financing.

M&A (value up 33%)

Venture-backed M&A soared, thanks to the top deal of the month. Jet.com Inc was acquired by Wal-Mart Inc for $3.3 billion. Total M&A value in September was $3.4 billion, compared with $2.5 million in August. There were a total of 24 U.S.-based companies that were acquired in September, with three disclosing their financial details.

IPO (value up 435%)

A total of five VC-backed companies went public in September, compared to two in August, with the proceeds seeing a rise to $546 million, compared to $102 million in August. The unicorn Nutanix Inc, a hyper-converged infrastructure software company, was September’s largest offering, going public for $224 million.

Source: Based on Thomson Reuters data

Photo illustration of business graph courtesy of ©iStock/temniy

Red down arrows and green up arrows designed by Janet Yuen for VCJ