OpenAI & Stripe kept the global VC funding alive in Q1 🥲; Elon Musk believes Twitter could become a $250 billion PayPal rival 😳; Wise is the Robinhood of Europe 💸
FinTech is Eating the World, 7 April
Hey Everyone,
Good morning! We’re finishing off the week on Saturday but with a huge bang 💣 Today we’re looking at OpenAI & Stripe that kept the global VC funding alive in Q1 (look at the data + how you can triple your chances of getting funded this year), Elon Musk who believes Twitter could become a $250B PayPal rival (what’s the plan + why it’s the most interesting development in FinTech), and Wise, which is now basically the Robinhood of Europe (how they are moving into banking, why I’m bullish + 3 bonus reads). Let’s jump straight into the hot stuff 🌶
OpenAI & Stripe kept the global VC funding alive in Q1 🥲
Following the money 💸 All venture funding is in pain right now. In the first quarter of 2023, global VC funding fell 53% year over year to $76 billion. And that’s including two mighty lifts by OpenAI and Stripe, who each raised billions in recent months.
Even early-stage numbers dropped as investors continue to hoard their record levels of dry powder. Let’s take a look.
The numbers 📊 Let’s look at the numbers and see what’s exactly happening. Here’s the latest data from Crunchbase:
On aggregate, it’s clear that global VC funding is declining. It’s important to note that without OpenAI and Stripe, Q1 venture funding would have been down even more dramatically, close to $60 billion. Ouch 🥲
When it comes to deal counts, they have shifted downward at each stage with a more dramatic shift as of Q3 2022.
In the first quarter of 2023, seed funding totaled $6.9 billion, down 44% year over year, according to Crunchbase. This is a clear signal that even at the earliest funding stages, investors are pulling back.
Speaking about the early-stage funding, it totaled $25.6 billion in Q1. This means it’s down 54% year over year. That’s a massive drop.
Finally, there’s the late stage. According to data from Crunchbase, late-stage funding totaled $43 billion last quarter, marking a dramatic fall from $93 billion in Q1 2022, but up from $34 billion in Q4. What’s important to note here is that the billions of dollars raised by OpenAI and Stripe made up 22% of all venture capital raised this past quarter, and 38% of late-stage financings.
What does it mean? 🤔 Here’s the takeaway + a cheatsheet to triple your chances of getting funded: