Venture Venture Venture Venture Investment

Venture investment refers to the acquisition of the share, authorized capital of new or growing companies, while the acquired share is less than a controlling stake. The invested funds are directed mainly to business development, and not to the redemption of shares of existing shareholders (founders) of the company.

Business Angels and Seed Funds

Business angels are private investors, wealthy individuals with extensive experience, who, for various reasons, invest their free money and experience ("smart money") in the business ideas of newcomers. A typical investment in a startup is $50-300 thousand. We have to reckon with a high level of risk, since new markets lack statistics on risks. In addition, due to limited funds, the investor cannot provide high diversification. Contracts with company founders are informal in many aspects, making it difficult to control the business.

Angels usually engage in many projects at the same time, since most of them will fail and only one of many will bring profits that can recoup the rest of the losses. So, one of the Google's first investors - Andy Bechtolsheim - are now a billionaire.

Angels invest part of their own funds in innovative companies of the earliest stages of development - seed and start-up, supporting their technical and commercial development. They do not lend money like a bank (debt financing), but provide money, connections and experience in exchange for a share of shares in a new company (equity financing).

The seed fund invests at a stage when the company only defines the concept of its business and creates prototypes of products or technologies. The first major seed investment fund in Russia plans to create RVC.

The maximum revenue of the company, which will be able to apply for investments from the RVC seed fund, over the past four quarters should not exceed 25 million rubles, according to RVC. In addition, she must be under the age of three. Also, in the proposed conditions for the new fund, it will be prescribed that the volume of the initial round of investments in the company is no more than 25 million rubles, and a certain number of its shares belong to the authors and developers of the new technology. Companies in which RVC is ready to invest must develop products or provide services from the list of critical technologies.

Stages of the life cycle of the investment recipient

Seedstage: The company has a concept, a product idea, but no finished product; work is underway on the prototype.

Start-upstage: the company has a pilot version of the product or the first version for demonstration; The product is being tested.

Early stage (earlystage): the company's product is ready to enter the market, demand testing is carried out.

Expansion stage: the product is accepted by the market, there is a rapid growth in sales and demand.

Late stage: the company is transforming into a large organization, showing signs of a public company.

Venture capital funds

There are private, private and corporate funds (investing in the interests of the founding corporations). Here are some of them working in Russia:

Private funds

• Finam Information Technology
• Atlanta Start
• Atlanta Venture
• Baring Vostok Capital Partners
• Kite Ventures
• DFJ VTB Capital Aurora

Private and public funds

• Russian Venture Capital Company (RVC)
• Moscow Foundation under the management of Alliance Rosno UA
• Mordovia Foundation under the management of Alliance Rosno UA
• Perm Foundation under the management of Alliance Rosno UA
• Krasnoyarsk Foundation under the management of Troika Dialog
• Fund of the Moscow Region under the management of Troika Dialog
• Venture Fund of Tatarstan under the management of Troika Dialog
• VTB Venture Fund (together with RVC)
• Fund of St. Petersburg under the management of VTB UA
• Nizhegorodsky Fund under the management of VTB UA
• Saratov Fund under the management of VTB UA

Corporate funds

• Intel Capital
• Cisco Capital
• Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP)
• Oradell Capital - created by the founder and president of IBS holding Natoliy Karachinsky

Crowdinvesting (equity crowdfunding) and Crowdlanding

Crowdinvesting or equity crowdfunding is an alternative financial tool for raising capital in startups and small businesses from a wide range of micro-investors.

Crowdlanding - lending by individuals to other individuals (P2P-lending) or companies (P2B-lending) through special Internet sites.

• detailed article Crowdinvesting and Crowdlanding
• VentureClub.co
• STRK (Starttrek) formerly StartTrack

Typical Requirements for Venture Investment Applicants

Small enterprise in the scientific and technical field. Organizational form - LLC or CJSC.

The main activity is the introduction and commercialization of R&D results, inventions, improvements and innovations in the scientific and technical field.

Availability of a well-thought-out project implementation plan in the form of a formalized business plan.

The existence of intellectual property rights, patents, copyrights, or the real possibility of obtaining such rights to the results of scientific and technical activities.

The possibility of project implementation within no more than 6 years.

Readiness of the project initiators to partner with a venture capital fund, participation of the fund in the share capital of the enterprise (the fund acquires a controlling or blocking stake).

The financial efficiency of the project is at least 70% IRR (internal rate of profitability).

Venture Capital Investment Market in Russia

• Corporate venture in the IT industry of Russia
• Venture capital investments in Russia
• Venture capital investments in the IT sector of Russia

Venture capital investments in Kazakhstan

• Venture capital investments in Kazakhstan

Venture capital investments in Ukraine

• Venture capital investments in Ukraine

Venture capital investment in the United States

• Venture capital investment in the United States

Venture capital investment in China

• Venture capital investment in China

Venture capital investment in Britain

• Venture capital investment in Britain

Investment in blockchain

Main article: Investment in blockchain

Investment in biopharmaceuticals

Main Article: Investments in Biopharmaceuticals

Global Venture Capital Market

2023

Investment in global fintech collapsed by 48% over the year

At the end of 2023, investments in the global fintech amounted to approximately $51.2 billion. This is 48% less than in 2022, when the figure was at around $99 billion. Such figures are given in a study by Innovate Finance, the results of which were released on January 10, 2024. Read more here.

AI startups around the world have increased the volume of attracted investments

At the end of 2023, the volume of investments in startups in the field of artificial intelligence on a global scale reached almost $50 billion. This is about 9% more than the result for the previous year, when investments in such projects were estimated at $45.8 billion. Relevant data are provided in the Crunchbase study, the results of which were published on January 4, 2024. Read more here.

Global investment in Web3 startups collapsed 73% over the year

At the end of 2023, global investments in Web3 startups amounted to approximately $7.6 billion. For comparison, in 2022 this value was estimated at $28 billion. Thus, the fall was at around 73%, as reported in the Crunchbase study, the results of which were released on January 4, 2024. Read more here.

The global venture capital market sank 35% to $345.7 billion

The volume of the global venture capital investment market at the end of 2023 amounted to $345.7 billion, which is 35% less than a year ago at $531.4 billion. This is evidenced by data from the analytical company PitchBook, published in early January 2024.

As Kommersant notes, venture capital investments in the world in 2023 were the lowest since 2019, when their volume was measured at $333.4 billion. In addition to investments, the number of investment transactions has also decreased: if in 2022 their number was measured by 51,894, then a year later - 37,809. Thus, we are talking about a drop of 27%.

In the North American market, venture capital companies concluded in 2023 about 15 thousand investment deals totaling $170.6 billion. The average check within the funding rounds in 2023 decreased by 30% compared to 2022. American venture capital funds received $66.9 billion from investors, which is two-thirds less than a year earlier.

With the predominant share of venture capital investments in US companies (in 2023, according to preliminary data, they amounted to $170.6 billion), their size decreased by 29.6% compared to 2022. The number of transactions also decreased: taking into account only the completed (13,608) fall amounted to 22.6%, including the estimated (another 2158) - 10.4%. The amount of funds raised by venture capital funds in the United States amounted to only $66.9 billion, which is almost 2.6 times less than in 2022.

An exception to the general trend was venture capital firms operating in the South American market. In 2023, the volume of transactions in this region increased by 40% and exceeded $2 billion.

According to Crunchbase, after raising $21.5 billion in 2022, in 2023 startups working with Web3 technologies received about $7.8 billion. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is in the spotlight: in 2023, the corresponding projects attracted $50 billion in investments, which is 9% more than a year earlier. The largest funds in this market went to OpenAI, Anthropic and Inflection AI, which together raised $18 billion in 2023.

According to experts, 2023 was one of the most unsuccessful in the history of startups. The entire venture capital industry is in a deep crisis, experts point out: projects become bankrupt without finding investors, and they massively write off losses and cannot provide the necessary profitability to their funds and partners. Declining returns on venture capital investments make it harder to raise new funds into funds, further limiting the scale of potential startup investments. Moreover, in 2024, the market situation may deteriorate.

The bottom is still a long way off, says Kyle Stanford, a leading analyst at the PitchBook venture capital market. - Most of those companies that still haven't gone public will still be struggling. Most likely, the number of investment rounds will continue to decline, and difficulties with the exit of investors from startup capital will continue. There will be a big competition for money.

As noted by the Financial Times, it is increasingly difficult for venture capitalists to conduct new rounds of financing due to a decrease in the activity of their partners - institutional investors. Rising interest rates around the world make investment in the IT sector more risky and expensive, observers point out.

They emphasize that a number of large venture capital funds, including Insight Partners and Tiger Global, have lowered plans to attract investments, which is further evidence of a worsening situation in the global venture capital market.^[1]

Venture capital investment in Israel collapsed after the start of the war

After the outbreak of hostilities between Palestine and Israel, the volume of venture investments in Israeli startups decreased by about three times. This is stated in the IVC study, the results of which were published on November 21, 2023. Read more here.

Cryptocurrency venture funding is declining, AI is growing

According to PitchBook, in the second quarter of 2023, the volume of venture financing of cryptocurrencies fell to the lowest level since 2020, significantly inferior to investments in artificial intelligence.

2022

Quantum tech startups raise $2.35 billion in venture capital investments

Quantum computing can give the world an incentive for the development of new industries based on big data processing, according to the analytical report "Quantum Computing: Prospects for Business," which representatives of Sberbank shared with TAdviser on September 21, 2023. In addition, they can provide increased performance and efficiency of algorithmic intelligence, accuracy of models and simulations of complex systems (such as new drug molecules, chemical reactions or physical processes), as well as provide a new level of calculations in finance and logistics, new solutions to climate problems and cryptographic algorithms that will provide a higher level of security.

More and more attention in the world is paid to supporting startups in the field of quantum technology. So, in 2022, venture investors around the world invested $2.35 billion in them. Read more here.

Investments in deepfake startups have skyrocketed in the world

In 2022, venture capital funds in the world invested approximately $187.7 million in startups specializing in deepfake technologies. For comparison: in 2017, investments in the relevant area were estimated only at $1 million. Such figures are given in the PitchBook study, the results of which were released on May 17, 2023. Read more here.

Global venture capital investments collapse by 35%

On January 11, 2023, CB Insights analysts presented the results of a study of the global venture capital investment market. It is reported that the corresponding ecosystem in 2022 suffered greatly due to the deteriorating macroeconomic situation, the crisis in the United States, high inflation and other negative factors, such as market uncertainties and the reluctance of investors to take unjustified risks.

In 2022, it is estimated that the total amount of venture capital financing on a global scale amounted to approximately $415.1 billion. This is 35% less than the result for 2021, when investments reached $638.4 billion. The slowdown in investments was especially strong in the second half of 2022: for example, in the fourth quarter of the year, the amount of financing amounted to $65.9 billion, which is 64% less than in the last quarter of 2021. In fact, experts say, this indicator has decreased to the level that was observed before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, the number of transactions in the framework of venture financing decreased by only 4% on an annualized basis. It amounted to 36,177 in 2022 against 37,669 in 2021. As a result, the average transaction amount for the year collapsed by almost a third (by 32%) - up to $16.8 million.

It is noted that the American market accounted for almost half of the total volume of venture capital financing - 48%, or about $198.4 billion. This is 37% less than the result for 2021, but 31% more compared to 2020. In terms of the number of transactions, the United States in 2022 occupied 34% of the global market: 12,141 agreements were concluded. However, this result turned out to be 7% less than in 2021.

In Europe, venture capital funding fell 17% year-on-year in 2022 and 40% in Asia. At the same time, the number of concluded transactions in both regions remained relatively stable: an increase of 2% in Europe and a decrease of 5% in Asia were recorded.

Mega-transactions worth $100 million or more in total brought in about $190.1 billion in 2022. The fall compared to 2021 was 49%. If we consider this segment in terms of the number of agreements, then the number of mega-transactions on an annualized basis decreased by 42%, amounting to 923.

The digital health segment saw the steepest year-on-year drop of any sector analyzed. Funding here in 2022 decreased by 57%, amounting to approximately $25.9 billion. At the same time, 2,122 transactions were concluded on a global scale. It is noted that the field of digital health care has become the only industry in which both the amount of funding and the number of transactions in 2022 decreased below the level of 2020.

Investment in fintech has also declined, the study found. Fintech companies in the fourth quarter of 2022 raised about $10.7 billion in 972 transactions. That equates to an 18% drop from the previous quarter and marks a 16-quarter low. American fintech companies in the fourth quarter of 2022 accounted for 36% of the total funding, European - 26%, Asian - 25%. For the year as a whole, the fintech segment showed a fall of 46%. In addition, venture financing in the retail sector decreased by 52%.

It is also noted that African companies received funding in the fourth quarter of 2022 in the amount of $991 million, which is 164% more than in the previous quarter. In 2022, Africa as a whole attracted $3.1 billion in investments, which is a new annual record for the region.^[2]

Reduced investment in space technology

Mitsubishi Electric has set up a venture capital fund to invest in start-ups around the world

On January 12, 2022, Mitsubishi Electric and Global Brain announced the immediate launch of the ME Innovation Fund, a corporate venture capital fund (CVC) that will invest and partner with startups around the world. The fund will work with a commitment to invest 5 billion yen ($44 million) over ten years to 2032. Read more here.

2021

Venture investments in the world grew by 111%, to $621 billion

In 2021, venture capital investments around the world reached a record $621 billion, which more than doubles (by 111%) the one-year-old figure of $294 billion. This was announced on January 12, 2022 by analysts at CB Insights.

Slightly less than half ($311 billion) of global investment in startups fell on the American market, which is 106% more than in 2020. In the United States, 12,281 rounds of funding were held, of which 55% are deals concluded in the early stages of startup development.

Silicon Valley ($105 billion) and New York ($55 billion) retained leadership in the number of investment rounds and the amount of funds raised in them in the United States. At the same time, the share of these regions decreased slightly and amounted to 57%, which corresponds to the lowest value for the entire CB Insights observation period. The share of rounds in the early stages held in the Texas city of Austin fell for the second year in a row, in 2021 it also amounted to 57%.

Miami, by contrast, is thriving from an investment standpoint, helped by the move of some big Silicon Valley companies there. In 2021, Miami startups raised a total of $4.6 billion. This is more than double the previous year, and nine times more than in 2015. In addition to Silicon Valley and New York, the top three American regions with the largest investments in startups include Boston ($32 billion), which is largely facilitated by biotech projects, while New York should primarily thank fintech startups.

Aspects of life in Silicon Valley are not easily replicated, still a center of attraction due to the large number of IT specialists, world-class research laboratories at leading universities and the physical location of some of the world's venture capitalists, notes Index Ventures partner Nina Achajyan.

If the United States is still leading in terms of investment in startups, then Asia ranks first in terms of the number of funding rounds - 12,485 transactions were registered in this region in 2021, which corresponds to 36% of the total in the world. More than half of investment transactions in Asia are in China. In 2021, Asian companies raised about $176 billion in investments, which is 89% higher than the result of 2020.

By the end of 2021, there were 959 so-called unicorns in the world - startups with an estimated value of $1 billion or more. This is 69% more than it was in 2020. During the year, 517 unicorns appeared in the world, which was largely facilitated by a sharp increase in investment rounds in the late stages. Also thanks to them, the number of startups with estimates of more than $10 billion reached 44.

Fintech startups around the world in 2021 invested $132 billion, which is 169% more than a year earlier, when investments in this sector were measured at $49 billion. The share of fintech in the venture capital market was 21%, that is, approximately every investment $1 out of $5 was spent on fintech developers. In addition, one in four unicorns represents fintech, the highest proportion of any industry.

Another noticeable indicator for fintech is that it accounts for the largest number of transactions in the late stages, which, according to analysts, may indicate the industry's readiness for explosive growth in 2022 and subsequent years.

According to CB Insights statistics, the number of funding rounds of more than $100 million in 2021 for the first time exceeded 1000. The previous record of 630 deals was set in 2020. Tiger Global Management was recognized as the largest investor in 2021, which during this period financially supported 328 startups.^[3]

Ranking of the largest venture capital investors in Europe and the Middle East

At the end of December 2021, Forbes magazine selected the best venture capital investors in Europe, Israel and the Midwest for 2021. The rating was called Midas List Europe. It takes into account investments in companies that have raised funding in the amount of $200 million or more since 2016, entered the stock exchange or were acquired for at least $100 million.

Jan Hammer (Index Ventures)

He has been topping the rating since 2017. The Czech investor's portfolio includes money transfer service Wise and stock trading app Robinhood. The main investment is the Adyen payment service, which by December 2021 costs $86 billion.

Luciana Lixandru (Sequoia)

In his portfolio, startups Deliveroo Hopin, Xentral, Upway and. With UiPath an estimate of $35 billion, Bucharest UiPath made one of the largest in. IPO To Europe

Avi Eyal (Entree Capital)

The investor was in the top three thanks to five companies listed on Coupang, Deliveroo, Riskified, Cazoo and Monday. The investor's portfolio includes shares in Gusto, SeatGeek, Stripe and a number of others.

Thomas Stafford (DST Global)

Invested in one of the world's most expensive neobanks Nubank with a capitalization of $40 billion. His portfolio also includes a marketplace for used cars Auto1 and private unicorns Klarna and Revolut.

Martin Mignot (Index Ventures)

First invested in delivery service Deliveroo when the company served just a handful of restaurants in London. In 2021, Deliveroo made a listing with a capitalization of $12 billion.

Klaus Hommels (Lakestar)

The investor heads a venture capital fund that entered the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for the first time in Europe through SPAC, and has also invested in Facebook, Airbnb, Coinbase, Klarna and Revolut.

Philippe Botteri (Accel)

The portfolio includes several startups worth more than $1 billion: fintech company Melio, whose value in 2021 increased to $4 billion, cybersecurity startup Snyk worth $8.5 billion and cryptocurrency project Chainalysis, whose estimate in June 2021 was $4.2 billion.

Michael Eisenberg (Aleph)

In addition, co-working WeWork he invested in the public insurance Lemonade and the unicorn Melio, which in September 2021 received a valuation of $4 billion.

Par-Jorgen Parson (Northzone)

The investor gained his place in the ranking thanks to investments in the Swedish music giant Spotify, the game platform Fubo and the payment service iZettle.

Fredrik Kassel (Creandum)

In his portfolio: Spotify, Virta Health, Kahoot! and Kry.

Danny Rimer (Index Ventures)

One of the main transactions was investing in the Squarespace platform, which went public in May 2021 with an estimate of $6.6 billion.

Neil Rimer (Index Ventures)

One notable investment was a round of funding for Roblox, an online gaming platform that went public in March 2021 and has a market value of more than $67 billion at the end of December.

Sonali de Riker (Accel)

Berlin B2B-market of cargo transportation sennder reached an estimate of $1 billion in January 2021; Shift Technology achieved unicorn status in May 2021. Digital medical startup Kry tripled its estimate to $2 billion during Series D by $300 million in April 2021.

Saul Klein (LocalGlobe)

In 2021, he noted eight exits to the portfolio companies of the venture capital firm LocalGlobe and its sister fund Latitude, which he founded with his father Robin Klein.

Point Nine Capital

The investor has been on Midas List Europe since 2018 thanks to investments in Marketplaces startups such as Delivery Hero, whose share market value has nearly tripled to $31 billion since listing in 2017, Brainly, Docplanner, Preply and Tier; financial and crypto companies such as Chainalysis, Mambu and Revolut.

Reshma Sohoni, Carlos Eduardo Espinal

The firm has supported hundreds of companies, including decacorns Revolut, Wise and process automation software giant UiPath, which went public in April 2021 with an estimate of $35 billion. Other notable investments include virtual event platform Hopin, which Seedcamp supported at the preliminary stage and is now valued at $7.75 billion, and French fantasy football platform Sorare, which received a valuation of $4.3 billion.

Rahul Mehta (DST Global)

The investor will make his European Midas List debut in 2021 as two of his biggest bets returned home: DoorDash, where he co-hosted three consecutive funding rounds starting in 2018, and Robinhood, where he co-hosted three funding rounds starting in 2017, both companies went public in 2021. Each company returned a profit of more than $1 billion to the Dubai-based investor firm.

Frederick Court (Felix Capital Partners)

Felix Capital co-founder Court made a profit when Moonbug, which creates popular children's shows, was acquired for $3 billion in November 2021. The portfolio also includes an estimated $3.5 billion SaaS software business Mirakl, online jewelry retailer Mejuri, YFood, YFood and two, Amazon roll-up SellerX and travel management business TravelPerk.

Gil Dibner (Angular Ventures)

Investing in information security startup Snyk took place at a valuation of $8.5 billion in March 2021, adding to the company's IPO DevOps JFrog in September 2020. Earlier investments include Firebolt's cloud-based data storage and service analytics provider Aquant, which has since been valued at hundreds of millions. In October 2021, Angular announced a second fund of $80 million.

Simon Levene (Mosaic Ventures)

Returned to the list associated with the release of Squarespace and Shapeways on the stock exchange, as well as the acquisition of Myheritage and Stack Exchange. As of December 2021, the investor has supported more than 40 companies, including Veriff, an identity verification startup that attracted series B worth $69 million in 2021.

Nenad Marovac (DN Capital)

A Croatian-born investor with an MBA from Harvard has created an investment portfolio including German used car market Auto1, leisure rental business HomeToGo, tutoring business GoStudent and eyeglass retailer Mister Spex.

Fred Destin (Stride)

During his career, he supported companies such as Zoopla, acquired for $3.3 billion dollars in May 2018, Pillpack, acquired by Amazon in 2018.

Harry Nelis (Accel)

When investing in Celonis, the company became Germany's most expensive technology startup in June 2021, when the startup received a valuation of $11 billion. The manufacturer of personnel management software Personio became a "unicorn" in January 2021, reaching an estimate of $1.7 billion.

Hiro Tamura (Atomico)

His portfolio also includes local news app SmartNews, a startup from his native Japan that reached a valuation of $2 billion, database startup Aiven, vertical farm Infarm, online course company Masterclass, fitness app Gympass and fantasy football company Sorare.

Niklas Sennström (Atomico)

Among others stand out Truecaller, a number determination service that went public in October 2021, and air taxi startup Lilium, which went public in September 2021.^[4]

The crypto industry attracted a record $30 billion in investments over the year

At the end of 2021, cryptocurrency projects around the world attracted a total of $30 billion in venture capital investments, which is a record value and four times the previous maximum ($8 billion in 2018). This is evidenced by data from PitchBook analysts specializing in the study of the investment market.

About $7.2 billion of investments in the cryptocurrency sector in 2021 fell on American venture investors. The compilers of the report note that $30 billion of attracted investments, including data on the financing of online broker Robinhood and a banking startup with Russian roots Revolut.

Analysts also calculated the number of transactions of participants in the crypto industry in the venture capital market in the United States from 2016 to December 15, 2021. The leader of the rating was the crypto exchange Coinbase.

In 2021, there were several large investment transactions in the cryptocurrency area. Thus, the developers of the online game Axie Infinity, using NFT technology, were able to $150 million during the series B investment round at an estimate of $3 billion, and the Dapper Labs project, which is behind the development of a blockchain ecosystem for fast dapps, closed a funding round of $305 million with the participation of NBA stars and venture investors. In addition, in November 2021, MoonPay, which calls itself "PayPal for cryptocurrencies," raised more than $0.5 billion at a valuation of $3.4 billion.

According to Spencer Bogart, general partner of Blockchain Capital, the cryptocurrency market has grown significantly in recent years, it is no longer limited to bitcoin alone. Bogart noted the emergence of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, the decentralized games (GameFi) industry, non-replaceable tokens (NFTs) and other areas.^[5]

Europe overtakes China in the number of IT startups worth from $1 billion

On December 8, 2021, a study was published according to which Europe overtook China in the number of "unicorns" - startups valued by investors at more than $1 billion.

Although China still has many more big tech companies than Europe, and there is a huge domestic market for them, according to a study by London-based venture capital firm Atomico.

There were 26 new unicorn tech companies in China in 2021, bringing the total to 300, according to Atomico and analysts at Dealroom.co. In Europe, 98 new unicorns appeared in a year, and their total number reached 321. By definition, Europe is all 27 EU countries and 18 other countries in this part of the world, including the UK, Norway and Switzerland.

The U.S. is still ahead of Europe and China with 1,178 tech companies, of which 384 were added in 2021, according to Atomico.

Europe also surpassed China in terms of venture capital investment in 2021, according to the study. In the first nine months of 2021, China raised $45 billion in venture capital funding compared to $52 billion for the entire 2020, while in Europe, as of September 2021, venture capital funds invested $77 billion, compared to $48 billion for the entire 2020.

Both the number of tech startups in Europe and the inflow of venture capital are record, said Tom Weyer, an Atomico partner who led the report.

Atomico also said that the total amount of venture capital financing in Europe is close to the level of Asia, where, as of September 2021, the volume of venture capital investments amounted to $110 billion, compared to $87 billion in 2020.

Weimer believes that the relative predictability of Europe has now become a big advantage compared to the situation in China and unpredictability in the United States.

Investors are struggling with uncertainty, "Weimer said. - The sustainability of Europe is an excellent foundation for creating a healthy technological ecosystem, and recently this has become more apparent.[6]

Gartner: 75% of venture capital investor decisions will be made by artificial intelligence by 2025

In mid-March 2021, Gartner announced that by 2025, more than 75% of venture capital investor decisions in the early stages will be made based on forecasts of artificial intelligence and data analytics. In other words, AI will reduce the importance of conventional presentations and financial position assessments.

Advanced analytics capabilities are shifting early-stage VC investment strategies from "intuitive" and qualitative decision-making to "platform" solutions based on quantitative data, according to Gartner Senior Research Director Patrick Stackenas. Stackenas says data collected from sources such as LinkedIn, PitchBook, Crunchbase and Owler, as well as third-party marketplaces, will be used alongside various past and current investment standards.

These data are increasingly being used to build complex models that better determine viability, strategy, and potential investment outcomes in a short period of time. Questions about when to invest, where to invest and in what amount are solved almost automatically, "said Stackenas.

Thanks to AI, the personality qualities and work patterns required for success will be quantified in the same way that products and their use in the market, market size and financial details are currently measured. AI tools will be used to assess the likelihood of success in the market for a specific leadership team.

As stated in the Gartner report, modern technologies are able to give an idea of ​ ​ the wishes of customers and predict their behavior in the future. Unique profiles can be created with little to no human input and refined with AI processing natural language, which can determine a person's qualities in real time or by audio recordings. While the technology is currently used primarily for marketing and sales purposes, by 2025 investment organisations will use it to select teams of executives most likely to succeed.

San Francisco-based venture capital firm Signalfire is already using its own Beacon platform to track the performance of more than 6 million companies. The platform, which costs more than $10 million a year, uses 10 million data sources, including academic publications, patent registries, open source platforms, regulations, company webpages, sales data, social media and even raw credit card data. Companies that perform better are tagged on a dedicated panel, allowing Signalfire to track potential deals before they are interested in traditional venture capital firms.

This does not mean that AI and machine learning will become a panacea in the field of investment solutions. During an experiment in November 2020, Harvard Business Review built an investment algorithm and compared its effectiveness with the yield of 255 business angels. Using state-of-the-art techniques, the team trained the system to select the most promising investment opportunities among 623 deals from one of Europe's largest chains. The model, whose solutions were based on data available to investors, outperformed newcomers but failed to reach the level of experienced investors. This was partly due to the bias of the algorithm inherited from its compilers. Since it may not be possible to completely eliminate these forms of bias, it is imperative that investors take a "hybrid approach" to decision-making, that is, use people's opinions on par with AI's findings.^[7]

Record investment in Israel startups

In January 2021, Israeli startups raised a record $1.44 billion. Half a dozen firms announced funding rounds of at least $100 million this month, 73% of total funding.

Technology investment is on the rise, driven by low interest rates and unprecedented global stimulus.

2020

Growth of global investment in food tech projects by 60%, to $16.33 billion - Fuel for Growth

The volume of investments in food tech projects on a global scale at the end of 2020 reached $16.33 billion, an increase of about 60% (or $6.1 billion) compared to 2019, when investments were measured at $10.17 billion. Such data are provided by the venture capital fund Fuel for Growth based on the results of its own market research. Read more here.

The global venture capital market grew by 4% and reached $300 billion

The volume of the global venture financing market in 2020 reached $300 billion, an increase of 4% compared to the previous year. This is evidenced by the data of the Crunchbase portal, which specializes in covering such transactions.

According to experts, the market in question has grown largely due to the transition to online services in areas that have been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic: COVID-19 work, health care education, finance shopping and entertainment. This, in turn, led to a surge of interest in companies specializing in technology infrastructure and. cloud computing Hence the large number IPO of M&A deals, as companies sought to consolidate and increase their competitive level, experts explain.

However, the number of rounds of venture investment in 2020 continued to decline, amounting to about 22 thousand against almost 30 thousand transactions in 2019 and 32 thousand in 2018. At the same time, venture capital in the late stages (includes Series C rounds and later rounds) grew by 8%. Private investment in venture fund-backed companies jumped 73% over the year.

At the end of 2020, the sale of the 41st company with venture investments exceeding $1 billion was registered. They paid a total of $104 billion for them. Both figures were record-breaking. The previous maximum dated 2018, when 31 companies were sold for $95 billion.

In 2020, more than 1,500 companies with venture capital investments were bought for a total of $149 billion. Over 1,300 buyers participated in these transactions.

The most active buyers in 2020 were Apple, Microsoft and Cisco, according to Crunchbase. The largest acquisition involved business software developer Infor, which was bought by Koch Industries for $13 billion. In doing so, Infor will remain an independent company serving its 68,000 customers.

IPOs in 2020 were held by 13 companies with venture capital investments, whose market capitalization exceeded $13 billion. This figure was the highest in 10 years. Over the previous nine years, 16 such initial public offerings of shares were carried out on the stock exchange, in these transactions we are talking about the capitalization of the company from $10 billion.

Sequoia Capital was the best investor of the year in terms of going public. The fund was an early investor in Airbnb, DoorDash and Unity Technologies. In 2020, Sequoia Capital invested in five others that received Series C and later round investments, which went public in 2020 and were valued at more than $1 billion. In addition, the fund invested in three companies that were acquired for more than $1 billion in 2020.

In the top 5 most active investors in terms of the total number of transactions at the end of 2020 were:

• Accel (114 rounds);
• Sequoia Capital (101);
• Andreessen Horowitz (91);
• Global Founders Capital (90);
• Lightspeed (89).

The GV fund is named the most active corporate investor. Among the most active funds headquartered China in are Sequoia Capital China and 5Y Capital. Other active funds based outside USA included Global Founders Capital of Germany Softbank and Vision Fund, headquartered in. Great Britain

According to experts, funds from funds and business angels were actively invested in 2020, despite the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps this indicates a delayed effect, and the venture capital market will feel the global crisis in 2021.^[8]

Russia entered the top 20 countries with the best ecosystems for startups

At the end of May 2020, it became known that Russia entered the top 20 countries with the best ecosystems for startups according to StartupBlink, which conducts a study every year evaluating states and cities in terms of productivity, investment, market features, communication level and other criteria. Read more here.

2019

Investments in developers of corporate blockchain solutions soared by 62%

The volume of investments in developers of corporate-level blockchain technologies in 2019 reached $434 million, which is 62% more than a year earlier. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company CB Insights, specializing in the study of the venture financing market. Read more here.

Venture investments in information security companies sank by 23%

According to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), in 2019, investments in information security startups amounted to $5 billion, while in 2018 the figure was $6.5 billion. We are talking about investments in companies that are engaged only in cybersecurity and do not develop other technologies. Read more here.

Investment in fintech companies fell due to China

The global investment in fintech developers in 2019 amounted to $53.3 billion, down 3.7% from 2018. The decline was due to a decrease in investment activity in China, which, in turn, is associated with an aggravation of the trade conflict between Beijing and Washington, according to data from the consulting company Accenture. The research was carried out in conjunction with research firm CB Insights, which specializes in exploring the venture finance market. Read more here.

Venture capital funding for African start-ups hits record

In mid-January 2020, Forbes reported that in 2019, African startups attracted record high investments. In general, African companies received $1.34 billion in venture capital, and fintech developers - $678.73 million, according to WeeTracker data.

Funding managed to attract 427 African firms in 2019, with 83% of the total investment attracting just 6% of those companies, the study found. More than 75% of the deals were in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, and fintech continues to be the most attractive funding sector, according to the report. Annual venture capital gains in this area amounted to 138.5%.

The list of companies that managed to get the maximum investment was headed by Nigerian firms ($663.24 million, that is, 50.5% of all venture capital raised by African firms). Companies in Kenya and South Africa are slightly behind them. Unsurprisingly, it was Nigerian startups like Interswitch, OPay, Andela, Palmpay that ran most of the continent's biggest venture capital deals in 2019. However, WeeTracker found that in Kenya, funding growth for 2019 was 283.64%. Overall, Nigeria and Kenya accounted for $1.09 billion in venture capital or, as the report states, "a whopping share - 81.49% of the total funds received by African companies."

The report also highlighted Africa's most active investors: Samurai Incubate, which was involved in 9 deals, as well as Goodwell, Endeavour, TLcom Capital, Knife Capital and Microtraction - all of which took part in 4 deals each.

It also follows from the report that in 2018 African startups raised $725.6 million (458 transactions), and in 2017 - $203 million. Thus, the annual increase in investments amounted to 79.2%.^[9]

Venture financing for corporate IT developers exceeded $30 billion

Venture capital funding for enterprise IT developers exceeded investments in consumer technology companies for the first time since at least 2015. This became known in January 2020.

According to analysts at PitchBook Data, in 2019, venture capitalists invested a total of $30.42 billion in startups offering software and services for companies and government agencies, which is almost double the figure a year ago. Consumer solution developers raised $23.26 billion, a quarter less than a year earlier.

Experts attribute one of the reasons for the rapid growth of investments in the corporate IT market to the stock market. Venture capitalists usually make money from a portfolio company when it is sold or listed. In 2019, there were a number of successful IPOs in the technology sector. Thus, CrowdStrike on the first day in the status of a public company recorded a 71 percent increase in quotations. In the future, the shares only rose in price.

Another growth factor is due to the fact that the corporate IT market is characterized by a small number of giant players, which attracts many talented entrepreneurs.

In the field of venture financing in 2019, another trend was observed: most of the investments (about 30%) fell on startups that are in the late stages of their development.

The surge in investment in enterprise IT developers contrasts with the drop in spending in M&A the sector. According to the newspaper, the TechCrunch volume of the 10 largest M&A deals involving such companies in 2019 reached $40.6 billion against $87 billion in 2018. Moreover, only one of the transactions (purchase Tableau Software by the company) Salesforce spent $15.7 billion at once.

Indian tech companies raise record $14.5 billion in investments for the year

Indian tech startups raised $14.5 billion in investments in 2019, surpassing the 2018 record of $10.6 billion. This is evidenced by the data of the venture capital company InnoVen Capital, which were released at the end of December 2019. Read more here.

Finsight Ventures Fund Identifies Investor-Facing Assets in Tech Sector

Finsight Ventures Investment Fund notes in its study that after the 2008 crisis, over 365 technology companies have formed on the market with an estimate of more than $1 billion, which remain private in 2019: "These companies have long focused on growth, and some of them have become leaders in their niches, and some have formed new market segments. To identify the technological leaders of the current pre-IPO cycle, investors need to understand the competitive position of individual issuers and the prospects for the development of both a specific business and the market. Many enterprises, through the use of proprietary technologies, scale their product to new niches. "

2019 forced many companies to rethink the blitz scaling model, according to Finsight Ventures: "The IPO Uber and, Lyft as well as the failed one, IPO WeWork led to the fact that private technology companies without a clear path and strategy to become profitable were forced to postpone the placement. Volatility in stocks of even fast-growing tech companies generating negative free cash flow has increased, investors have become less tolerant of systemically unprofitable companies and their business models. In this regard, at the end of 2019, the IPO market slowed down. " Fund analysts add that the technology business is increasingly considering going public as a method of raising funds: "More and more companies believe that the IPO is beneficial not to them, but to investment banks and their clients: banks take a commission of up to 8% of the amount raised, underestimate the valuation of companies on IPO to maximize the potential for growth in the value of shares after IPO, so companies are increasingly considering the possibility of direct placement of shares on the exchange, which differs from the traditional IPO in that the company, as a rule, does not issue new shares, but places on the exchange shares of existing shareholders with the possibility of immediate sale. Direct placements are most likely to be carried out by consumer companies with a strong brand, such as AirBnB DoorDash and. " Houzz Residential Renovation and Interior Design Platform

In 2020, the growth rate of venture capital investments in companies at a late stage will continue, but the number of rounds involving more than $500 million will decrease, according to Finsight Ventures: "In doing so, increasingly large, late-stage funding rounds contain elements of raising not only primary capital but also secondary sales, providing employees and early investors with access to liquidity in the private market (e.g. Unity and Tanium). According to our forecasts, the volume of transactions in the secondary market will continue to increase. "

According to analysts, one of the best options for participating in the exponential growth of technology companies in controlled volatility is investment in a pre-IPO. The shortlist of promising markets includes gaming, cybersecurity, infrastructure enterprise software and big data analytics, the study notes: "The markets for cybersecurity, big data analysis and infrastructure software are characterized by high gross margin (over 70%) and CAGR (above 25% over the past three years), which forms a higher P/S multiplier. By investing in companies in these sectors during the pre-IPO stage, investors could get an average annual return of 56% to 115%. The gaming market was formed back in the 90s, in the 2000s, companies engaged in the development of mobile games began to actively enter the public market. At the same time, a large number of gaming market players remain private, since companies do not need to raise funds through an IPO - the gaming segment is characterized by a fairly high level of net margin (average value - 16%). Individual companies, starting with a gaming solution, scale into adjacent markets and form digital platforms. "

Among the current ideas at the pre-IPO stage in Finsight Ventures are investments in projects such as

• Cohesity (developer of a cloud platform for storage management and analysis of large amounts of secondary data),
• Rubrik (developer of a cloud platform for managing application storage),
• Coursera (educational platform developer),
• Gusto (developer of HR process management and payroll platform) and
• Tanium (digital platform for cyber defense). The potential return on investments, depending on the company, can range from 30% to 200%.

Silicon Valley companies fell $100 billion

The market value of Silicon Valley companies from the beginning of 2019 to the end of November decreased by about $100 billion, according to journalists from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Read more here.

2018

Venture capital investments in the payment solutions market jumped 5 times

In 2018, the volume of venture financing in the global payment solutions market reached $18.5 billion, an increase of almost 5 times compared to 2017. such data was released on May 28, 2019 by the analytical company PitchBook.

Although companies connected with financial technology in one way or another began to raise much more funds, the number of venture capital transactions decreased - from 258 in 2017 to 235 years later.

The surge in investor activity in the field of online payments is associated with the Chinese company Ant Group, which in 2018 raised a record $14 billion.

From the beginning of 2019 to the end of May, 62 transactions (worth $2 billion) were registered for venture financing of startups whose business refers to payments and transfers via the Internet. In January, Stripe, which develops a service for paying salaries to employees and combating fraud, raised a total of $345 million and received an estimate of $22.5 billion.

GoCardless, which creates a global network of interbank payments, received investments of $75 million, including from Alphabet and Salesforce, and startup Klarna, which offers users of online stores to pay for goods after testing the goods, closed a funding round of $100 million in 2019.

According to CNBC, there are more and more services and developers in the payment industry who want to make money on the fact that more and more people prefer to make purchases online and using contactless technologies. Analysts McKinsey estimated the volume of this market at $1.9 trillion at the end of 2018.

Companies that can facilitate payments for small and medium-sized businesses or are focused on reducing the complexity of cross-border operations have received tremendous attention, said Paul Condra, lead technology analyst at PitchBook[10]

CB Insights: 2,740 $53bn deals

At the end of 2018, corporate venture capital structures financed 2,740 transactions, and the total amount of their investments approached $53 billion. Global corporate venture activity is growing rapidly, and Asian companies are increasingly claiming the role of key market players, promising to squeeze out traditional North American leaders. At the same time, not only Asian corporate funds are ready to take the main positions, but also startups from this region that manage to raise increasingly high investment markets. So, in 2018, the largest amount of funding, $1.9 billion, including from Softbank Group and CapitalG, was received by the Chinese truck rental platform Manbang Group. These conclusions were reached following a specialized study by analysts of the American company CB Insights^[11]?

The Chinese market also became the record holder in the Asian region for attracted investments from corporate venture capital. Namely: the Asian region accounted for 38% of all transactions involving corporate venture capital in 2018.

According to the CB Insights report, funding for Chinese startups rose 51% to $10.8 billion, and the number of transactions - 54%, to 351. For comparison, funding for startups in Japan, although it increased by 56%, amounted to only $1.4 billion at the end of 2018. The largest transaction for the market was $63 million in investments received by the Folio capital management platform. Investments of corporate venture capital funds in Indian startups also remained small compared to China - the number of transactions increased by 20%, from 59 to 71, and the volume of investments amounted to $1.8 billion. The largest deal for the market was the investment of Japanese SoftBank structures ($1 billion) in the Indian hotel chain Oyo Rooms.

However, while the leadership in the corporate venture capital investment market is still maintained by US funds - the total volume of transactions in 2018 increased by 28%, from $20.7 billion to $26.5 billion, and the number of transactions increased from 945 to 1046 (an increase of 11%).

$6.2 billion - investment in the information security market

Venture investment in cybersecurity technology developers and related service providers reached approximately $6.2 billion in 2018, an increase of $1.1 billion compared to the previous year. This was reported in the consulting company Momentum Cyber, specializing in the field of information security. Read more here.

Investments in fintech amounted to $111.8 billion; 120% growth

In 2018, global investment in the financial technology sector reached $111.8 billion, an increase of 120% compared to the previous year, equal to $50.8 billion. This is stated in a study compiled by the consulting company KPMG. Read more here.

Fintech attracted record investment of $39.57 billion

At the end of January 2019, the results of the CB Insights study were published, according to which, according to the results of 2018, financial and technological companies from all over the world attracted a record venture capital - $39.57 billion, which is 120% more than a year ago.

According to the study, in 2018 investors took part in 1,707 transactions, while in 2017 - in 1,480. Experts associate the growth of funding with large stratapes, which attracted more than $100 million at a time and received a total of $24.88 billion. For example, investments in the company Ant Group (the operator of the most popular China in the payment system), Alipay afillirred with the Internet giant, Alibaba Group amounted to $14 billion.

Venture investors are pouring billions of dollars into financial technology companies in hopes of ripping market share away from incumbent financial institutions with easier-to-use, cheaper digital financial services. Fintech companies have appeared in all sectors of the financial industry, including lending, banking and asset management. In the last quarter of 2018 alone, the cost of five more such startups exceeded $1 billion: these include credit card provider Brex, digital bank Monzo and data aggregator Plaid.

The largest jump in the number of transactions in 2018 was observed in Asia - their number increased by 38% compared to 2017, and venture capital reached a record size of $22.65 billion. In the United States, financial and technology companies raised $11.89 billion through 659 investments. The number of investment transactions in Europe has decreased, but the amount of financing also reached a maximum of $3.53 billion.

Such a pace of development in the fintech industry could delay the initial public offering in 2019, CB Insights analysts warn.^[12]

Every 4 days in China appears a startup worth from $1 billion

At the end of January 2019, the Hong Kong research company Hurun Report published a report in which it reported that almost every four days a so-called "unicorn" appears in China - a startup with a market capitalization of $1 billion or more. Read more here.

Venture capital investment in Europe is a record, but the number of transactions fell by a quarter

At the end of January 2019, the PitchBook annual European report released data showing that 2018 was a record year for venture capital investment in Europe, although the total number of transactions fell by more than a quarter.

In 2018, a total of $23.3 billion was invested in 3384 transactions, which is 4.2% more than a year earlier. But the total number of deals fell by 25.9%. Investors are understood to have been more interested in putting more money into companies at a later stage of development than providing smaller portions of investment to young start-ups.

The PitchBook study covers data across all industries and includes pharmaceutical and biotech, energy, commercial services, media and more in the report. At the same time, half of all European venture capital investments in 2018 fell on technology companies - up to $11.85 billion.

Straight lines venture capital investments outline only part of the picture. The PitchBook report found that in 2018 the cost of exit was $54 billion, which is 164.8% higher than in 2017, while the number of exits decreased by 30.5% (to 373). However, if removed from the report IPO Spotify and Adyen, the output value will actually decrease by 4.2%. Also, the PitchBook report for 2018 shows that venture capital funds raised $9.54 billion for 62 funds, which represents a slight increase of 0.2% in funds and a decrease of 23.5% in the number of transactions.

PitchBook analysts note that, despite the decline in the number of transactions, the European venture capital ecosystem maintained a sufficient level of investment throughout 2018 due to the fact that investors drew attention to fewer more mature startups. Three investments have crossed the $1 billion threshold, which analysts consider an important milestone, as it shows the confidence of investors investing heavily in stratapes.^[13]

Record venture capital financing in the information security sector - $5.3 billion

In January 2019, the American investment company Strategic Cyber ​ ​ Ventures, specializing in information security (information security) assets, announced a record amount of venture capital financing for developers of technologies and services for cyber defense.

According to Strategic Cyber ​ ​ Ventures, in 2018, information security companies raised $5.3 billion of venture capital on a global scale, which is 20% higher than a year ago, which was $4.4 billion.

We very often see giant data breaches. I don't think it's going to stop soon. And investors see this as an opportunity to invest, "data specialist and director of Strategic Cyber ​ ​ Ventures Chris Ahern told Reuters.

Most often, investors invest in American information security companies: in 2018, they accounted for 46% of venture capital financing in the market. In second place are Asian players (22.6%), in third - European (12.7%).

The Strategic Cyber ​ ​ Ventures report notes that the trend of shifting investments outside the United States is observed not only in the cybersecurity market, but throughout the technology industry. Many large international funds and investment companies are increasingly investing in non-American startups.

Simply put, amazing and valuable technology companies are created outside the United States, experts said.

Meanwhile, Chris Ahern warns that investment in the information security sector could decline in 2019, as, according to the expert, "investors are a little tired, manufacturers are tired in some way."

Strategic Cyber co-founder and CEO ​​Ventures Hank Thomas, speaking to Reuters, called China's People's  Liberation Army the world's largest source of cyber threats by early 2019.^[14]

Highest level of venture capital funding since 2000

In early January 2019, analysts at PwC and CB Insights published a report according to which 2018 saw the highest level of venture capital funding since 2000 - the last year of the dot-com bubble.

During 2018, $207 billion was invested in 14,247 transactions worldwide, up 21% from 2017. The total amount of funding in the United States for the year increased by 30%, amounting to $99.5 billion in 5536 transactions. During the year, about 382 funding funds (including 184 in the United States) amounted to more than $100 million, while in 2017 their number was only 266.

In the United States in 2018, 53 new companies reached the level of attracted venture capital of $1 billion or more, while in 2017 there were 29. In the fourth quarter alone, 21 such companies were registered - the highest number ever.

Investments were mainly received by companies in the field of artificial intelligence, digital health care and financial technology, with funding related to artificial intelligence growing by 72% to $9.3 billion. At the same time, venture financing in the San Francisco region jumped 55% to $28 billion, and funding in New York reached $13 billion.

Despite the record numbers, deals declined globally in the fourth quarter, except in Asia, where activity continued to rise. In 2018, compared to 2017, investment in venture capital in Asia increased by 42%, and the volume of invested funds increased by 11%. Asia broke records in all directions: the share of financing funds of $100 million or more increased by 35% (to 162), and the share of new companies with investments of more than $1 billion increased by 60% (40 companies opened).

The report makes no predictions for 2019.^[15]

China becomes leader in startup investment for the first time

In the second quarter of 2018, China beat North America in venture capital for the first time, helped by a record fundraising of $14 billion by Ant Group, a financial technology company.

According to the Crunchbase portal, which tracks and analyzes data on collected funds, for April, May and June 2018, China received 47% of global venture capital, while the United States and Canada were able to attract 35% of funds. Some economists even believe that Crunchbase in its report underestimated the amount of investment in China, since it tracked only relatively large investments.

Such a surge in investor interest in China could be driven by a record investment in Ant Financial Services. The fundraising was attended by new investors, including Singapore venture capital funds GIC and Temasek Holdings, American private firms Warburg Pincus and Silver Lake, as well as the pension fund investment board of Canada and private Chinese shareholders who supported the issue of securities.

Mostly investment in Chinese stratapes, excluding Ant Financial, grew slightly more than in the first quarter of 2018 to account for 36% of global venture capital, Crunchbase said. The Crunchbase report says that thanks to investments, the market value of Ant Financial Services exceeded $150 billion.

China has seen a rise in start-ups as the government supports innovative development strategies, aiming to make the country more competitive. The rise in startups and investment comes amid renewed efforts by the Chinese government to take the country to the next level. These ideas echo General Secretary China Xi Jinping's keynote address to the 19th Communist Party Congress, where he listed among the main areas of future investment, and Internet. Big Data artificial intelligence

Venture capitalists have poured billions of dollars into areas ranging from artificial intelligence to blockchain, unable to resist the prospect of backing companies that may be the next Alibaba Group, Tencent or Baidu, while aspiring startups cherish the hope of becoming billionaire projects.

At stake is a potential market of 1.4 billion consumers, who are already included in the economy and are increasing their spending in all areas: from entertainment to. health care Private consumer spending, medicine and, health care as well as information technology, were among those sectors of the economy that attracted the most funding in May 2018, and according to data collected by the Chinese research firm Zero2IPO the earlier investments were made, the higher they were.

In 2017, venture capital-backed investment deals reached a then-record $182 billion worldwide. At the same time, their total volume increased by 28% compared to 2016, even when the number of transactions fell by 4.7%, according to Preqin, a company evaluating these external assets. In 2017, the United States was the leader in the investment rating, the contribution to projects of which amounted to 42% or more than $76.4 billion, and China then took second place - startups attracted 36% of the total value of venture capital to the country, which amounted to $65 billion.^[16]

2017: Investors put more into Chinese AI startups than American ones

In 2017, investments in startups from around the world occupied by artificial intelligence technologies grew by an impressive 150% and reached $10.7 billion, while in 2016 the amount of investments was $4 billion. Chinese AI companies took the lead in terms of attracted investment and outstripped their American counterparts. Read more here.

Investment in Medical Technology

Main article: Investment in medical tech

Lending in Russia

• Lending in Russia

Notes