2021: A Banner Year for US VC
Insights from Fabrica Ventures Team.
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(All data from Pitchbook)
US VC broke all the records in 2021. All statistics, in every dimension, were really astonishing. And we have to take into consideration that 2020 was already the best year ever for US VC.
1) VC investment nearly doubled yoy to reach $330B. This amount may seem a lot in absolute terms. But it only represents 1.4% of the US GDP. Indeed, as a reference, Investment / GDP has been running at around 18%, suggesting that there is plenty of room for further increases, given that VC is one of the main engines for growth, innovation, and productivity gains.
2) About half of the total VC investment came from Corporate VC (CVC) and Non-Traditional Investors (NTI), such as hedge funds and sovereign funds. More than 1,800 unique corporate investors took part in a VC deal in 2021.
3) The deal count reached 17,054 deals (65 deals for every business day!), a 40% increase yoy. Mega-deals (funding rounds of over $100M) growth outpaced the broader market, reaching 820 deals (3 deals for every business day!) against 335 in 2020 – a 145% increase.
4) As usual, Late-Stage VC (series C and above) continued to represent the bulk of the VC market – 69% of the total VC investment.
5) For the first time VC fundraising eclipsed the $100B mark, reaching $128B. The total VC dry powder (capital ready to deploy) is now over $220B, securing the VC activity pace for the next few years.
6) Exit value also spiked in 2021: 1,875 exits at $774B vs. 1,123 exits at $289B in 2020. $681B (88% of the total) exited through IPOs.
7) 2021 gave birth to 304 American-born unicorns (1.2 per business day!), representing 59% of the world’s new unicorns.
8) Silicon Valley remained as the world’s VC undisputed leader, funding a total amount larger than China + India or Europe + LatAm.
Conclusion
I can only look at US VC in awe.
US VC is driving and shaping humanity — AI, Big Data, cloud, autonomous vehicles, IoT, robotics, space exploration, cryptos / blockchain, quantum computing, bioengineering, etc. – and I am grateful to Fabrica Ventures’ investors for the opportunity to explore together these tech-wonder achievements.
