Guenter Kraft’s Post

In 2024, 44% of US VC fundraising was closed by General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz alone. In a year marked by uncertainty and volatility, the resilience of top-tier venture capital firms shines through as #GeneralCatalyst and #AndreessenHorowitz (a16z) collectively capture a staggering 44% of US VC fundraising in 2024. General Catalyst, renowned for its backing of industry titans like Snap, Warby Parker, and Deliveroo, is poised to close a monumental $6 billion VC fund, according to reports from the Financial Times. Meanwhile, a16z recently announced the successful raising of $7.2 billion across five fund strategies. This unprecedented feat underscores the enduring appeal of established VC players in an increasingly competitive landscape. Despite a backdrop of LP pullback from venture capital, General Catalyst and a16z have managed to attract a lion's share of LP capital, positioning themselves as frontrunners in the industry. General Catalyst's forthcoming vehicle, its largest fund to date, is set to invest across a diverse range of sectors and geographies, including India and Europe. This expansion reflects the firm's commitment to identifying and nurturing innovative startups on a global scale. The dominance of General Catalyst and #a16z in the fundraising arena mirrors a broader trend among LPs, who are gravitating towards established firms with proven track records. While emerging managers offer potential for higher upside, LPs often perceive established firms as less risky due to their access to premier deal flow and established networks. However, the landscape is not without nuance. Emerging managers, while potentially more volatile, have historically demonstrated the capacity to generate substantial returns, with the top decile of emerging VC funds boasting excess IRRs of 15.9%, outperforming established funds by over 3 percentage points. The article on PitchBook in the first comment. Want to stay up to date with the market? Here my newsletter: - Linkedin: https://t.ly/s541W   - Substack: https://lnkd.in/dzfGJzmW

Andreesen Horowitz and Eli Lilly are rewriting the playbook with a pioneering Biotech Ecosystem Fund. This collaboration has the potential to redefine how Corporate VC (CVC) fuels innovation – not just in biotech, but across emerging industries. Here are three key lessons from this partnership that VCs, CVCs and entrepreneurs can use to build the next wave of unicorns.

🏆 At RAISE you'll meet GPs with proven attributable track records driving successful exits and scaling startups. While many are early on in building their own firm, these investors have the experience and insight to drive meaningful outcomes. Don't miss the chance to learn from top-performing emerging GPs and learn about "who's next" in VC. https://hubs.la/Q02GRJxl0

Over the last two weeks, I attended the Equal Ventures Emerging Manager Circle Summit in NYC, as well as the RAISE Global summit and the Emergence Capital Seed fund Summit in SF, with leading LP's, emerging managers and established seed funds. All 3 were great events! Secondaries was a topic that came up on multiple panels given the liquidity crunch we are currently in as an industry. Rewind to 2019/2020/2021, the advice I predominantly heard from established GP's and LP's alike was that VC managers should hold their "winners" forever because there just aren't that many companies that end up mattering in a power law business like venture. While that may be generally true in order to generate a true outlier fund, I think the VC business model is shifting and certainly the LP mindset has shifted based on the panels I heard. Many of the top LP's that just a few years ago were telling GP's to hold their winners forever, were up on panels talking about the importance of pre-seed and seed managers navigating secondary opportunities in later stage rounds, sometimes as early as Series B rounds. Obviously a lot of factors go into these decisions such as where you are in the life of the fund, how the rest of the portfolio is performing and the performance of the underlying company in question. But it's been interesting to see this shift happen. What is driving it? ❄ Large M&A and the tech IPO market are both frozen, which is creating a liquidity crunch throughout the VC ecosystem. This will hopefully open up a in the next 12-24 months but it's creating a need for liquidity across the VC ecosystem right now 📉 At the same time, multiples on public SaaS companies are way down from the highs of 2019-2021 and likely not going back to those levels any time soon, which means the revenue bar to be a mega winner is higher. ⚡ Lastly, the impact of AI Agents lowering the friction to build products and do customer validation I think will increase company formation, which will likely create a dispersion of value creation and the number of early stage funds continues to grow as well. This means that the probability of being in a mega winner at pre-seed/seed for any single fund will likely be lower than it's ever been. Fairview Capital recently put out a great piece on this topic at https://lnkd.in/ewd7Q5XN I would be curious to hear from other LP's and pre-seed/seed stage GP's on how they are navigating and thinking about selling secondaries in later stage rounds. Portfolio construction and entry prices will matter a lot if selling secondaries becomes an increasingly popular strategy for pre-seed and seed managers. More on that in my next post.

2 Corporate VC Models To Fuel Unicorn Success In Emerging Industries! Venture capital (VC) thrives on risk. Corporations prioritize stable growth. Top-tier VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (AH) often pushes the boundaries of traditional VC and continuously experiments with new strategies, and pivots quickly when strategies fall short. Now, AH and Eli Lilly are rewriting the playbook with a pioneering Biotech Ecosystem Fund. This collaboration has the potential to redefine how Corporate VC (CVC) fuels innovation – not just in biotech, but across emerging industries. Here are three key lessons from this partnership that VCs, CVCs and entrepreneurs can use to build the next wave of unicorns. #venturecapital https://lnkd.in/d5q5sFGj

PFR Ventures, CEE's largest institutional investor, is ready to deploy €463M to back VC funds focused on specific sectors! This is a game-changer for the region's startup ecosystem. Intrigued by how this will affect you? Read the full story by our main media partner, The Recursive, and get exclusive insights from Rozalia Urbanek, Investment Director at PFR Ventures, who will also be speaking at our upcoming 0100 Conference CEE in Prague! https://lnkd.in/di84PvaN

How Venture Capitalists Can Become Effective Board Members

Deal value in Q1 came in at €16.3 billion, increasing of 19.1% YoY and higher sequentially by 16.2%. In the UK, several deals fell into the biotech & pharma space in relation to drug discovery. For other verticals in Europe, cleantech deal value is already more than half of 2023’s total, sitting at €6.8 billion in Q1 2024 versus €11.6 billion for 2023 as a whole. Fundraising: in Q1 2024, capital raised amounted to €4.6 billion. This run rate of activity implies 2024 could end with levels matching those of 2023. Most of the funds closed in Q1 were < €250 million, which shows that smaller vehicles are driving totals, contrary to our expectations. By region, 27.7% of closes occurred in the UK & Ireland with France & Benelux also showing significant gains.

The CEE region has emerged as a hub for innovative startups and a lucrative investment destination for venture capitalists. But what does the future hold for this burgeoning ecosystem, and how can it continue to attract global players and fuel sustainable growth? Join us at the 0100 Conference CEE in Prague for the panel discussion "Continuous VC Growth in the CEE - Attraction for the Big Players? CEE Venture Capital Highlights." Our distinguished speakers, including Alexander "Sasha" Galitsky, Ph.D. from Almaz Capital, Sille Pettai from SmartCap, Pavel Dvorak from EBRD, Michal Nespor from Crowdberry, and moderator Aman Ghei from Finch Capital, will explore the key drivers and challenges shaping the CEE venture capital landscape. The panel will delve into the investments in Central and Eastern Europe from international LPs and VCs, the role of public funding in the development of the CEE venture capital ecosystem, and the reasons that make the region an attractive investment destination compared to other parts of the world. https://lnkd.in/dBRrwFtX

A successful venture capital firm focuses on a long-term vision, prioritizing sustainable growth and innovation over quick profits. This approach not only ensures financial returns but also drives significant advancements in various industries. By backing startups that share these values, VCs can spark transformative change and create lasting impact. 📈 This commitment to the future sets leading firms apart in the competitive market, fostering resilience and adaptability in an ever-changing landscape #VentureCapitalAnalyst