On April 6th 2018, we held the first Annual Partner Meeting for Anorak Ventures. We kicked things off with a presentation about the macro climate of venture, followed by an update on the fund. A lot of work went into gathering the information, so I figured I’d share it with anyone interested.
As with all statistics, you can make them say what you like. We tried to hone in on a few trends we believe are important to consider when making investment decisions for the year ahead.
Hope you find the slides and talking points interesting!
Me kissing up to my LPs for believing in us and our mission
Me kissing up to my amazing sponsoring for supplying the space, food and drink
Quantity of venture deals staying the same, but dollar value increasing due in part to increased number of late stage mega-rounds
Last 10 years, North America accounts for 61% of all venture deals cumulatively. Over the last four years, Asia has shown a substantial increase in activity, even surpassing the US at times.
No surprise that the majority of activity is tech, but there has been an uptick in biotech the last few years
Substantial increase in CVC activity. 75 of Fortune 100 companies are active. This is due in part to substantial cash reserves and the desire to find innovation through strategically relevant investments
On the exit side, global acquisitions have seen a substantial slowdown. Great report here from Deloitte on M&A trends. “… economic uncertainty, capital market volatility, deal valuations, and interest rates ranked sequentially as the leading obstacles to M&A activity by corporate and private equity respondents combined”. “Over the past two years, 65 percent of corporate respondents said their cash reserves have increased (up from 58 percent), and the primary intended use of that cash is for M&A deals.”
Cross border acquisitions and investments largely down partially due to the protectionism of the current administration. Exemplified by the CFIUS rejection of the Broadcomm/Qualcomm acquisition.
Expecting the delta to decrease over the coming decade as mega technology companies emerge outside of the US.
Original thesis of the fund. 26 investments and 20 months later…
Adding these additional points we’re looking for.
Total deployed is $3.8M since Sept 2016
Expect greater diversification in the year ahead
Expect greater diversification in the year ahead
Post-money valuations, not including follow on funding
