The past year has been an eventful one for Startup Businesses in their quest to raise capital.
Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, and Peer-to-Peer Crowdfunding soared in 2014, breathing new life into uncertain economy.
Venture Capital Roundup
According to the PitchBook Platform 88 billion dollars in venture capital was infused into the global economy in 2014. Beating out any other single year ever, including the dot.com era.
Silicon Valley continues to reign supreme as the most competitive market to raise VC funding in, while hometown hero Uber took the largest 2 VC deals at 1.2 billion each.
On the east coast, the city that never sleeps, NYC is also thriving in the innovation economy, coming in 2nd in United States venture capital hubs. With the biggest VC backed deal going to coworking space, WeWork, with $355million dollars in funding.
It’s fair to say the venture capital ecosystem had an incredible run in 2014, transforming software startups into “unicorns” and providing hope and opportunity in the face of aversion. Whether or not all the risk will bring sustainable long-term rewards will become more evident in years to come.
Angel Investment Roundup
2014 found Angel investors and groups becoming more prominent on and offline for early stage startups. At this time the Halo Reports Q4 report for 2014 is still being compiled, however we anticipate a steady increase in investments similar to previous quarters.
In Q2 alone 206 deals were funded totally $594million.
Pre-money valuation continued to rise jumping to $3 million in Q2, while Healthcare and Internet funding continues to be the most heavily funded industries.
Across the board opportunities to #GetFunded are abundant amongst individual Angels and Angel Groups globally. While with in the US, California, New England, and Texas have the most active investment networks.
Crowdfunding Roundup
Crowdfunding is rapidly changing the landscape of Startup funding, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. At the close of 2014, crowdfunding is estimated to add at least 270,000 jobs and inject more than $65 billion into the global economy, according to estimates from crowdfunding platform Fundable. 2014 turned platforms like Kickstarter and IndieGogo into household names. On Kickstarter alone 3.3 million people globally pledged more than ½ billion dollars last year, which is equivalent to $1,000 per minute. The funding brought to life 22,252 creative projects, exploding the alternative-funding platform.
Its clear Crowdfunding is disrupting how investors find opportunity and where entrepreneurs fuel their startup ideas. For the first time in history anyone can be an entrepreneur, investor, or both and the trend has yet to reach its tipping point.
2015 & The Future of Capital Raising
2015 is sure to be a year of that will go down in history for innovative Startups and investment opportunities. The Startup Garage anticipates the following achievements in the next year: more women in the tech and the venture capital spotlight, emphasis on entrepreneurship and education with in academic institutions, and a rapidly expanding Startup Ecosystem.
