Aggregate venture capital (VC) invested soars past $45 billion for the fourth quarter in a row. Not so long ago, it was considered remarkable that VC invested worldwide flirted briefly with $50 billion in two given quarters, Q3’15 and Q2’16. But now, for the fourth consecutive quarter, VC invested has exceeded $45 billion, and in the most recent quarter, just barely fallen shy of $50 billion once more.
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#Q1VC
2018 KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"). KPMG International provides no client
services and is a Swiss entity with which the independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated.
Venture
Pulse
Q1 2018
Global analysis of
venture funding
11 April 2018
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#Q1VC
2018 KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"). KPMG International provides no client
services and is a Swiss entity with which the independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated.
Welcome
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Welcome to the Q1'18 edition of KPMG Enterprise's Venture Pulse
Report a quarterly report highlighting the key trends, opportunities,
and challenges facing the venture capital (VC) market globally and in
key jurisdictions around the world.
Q1'18 got off to a strong start, with five $1 billion+ mega-rounds,
including two massive deals in Southeast Asia ($2.5 billion to
Singapore-based Grab and $1.5 billion to Indonesia-based Go-Jek).
U.S.-based Lyft, Uber and Faraday Futures accounted for the other
mega-rounds. The U.S. continued to be the dominant market for VC
investment, although investors have expanded beyond Silicon Valley
to identify investment opportunities. Globally, investors have also
diversified, making investments in a broader range of locations than
ever before.
Softbank, which announced a $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017,
played a big role in a number of this quarter's largest deals.
Softbank's new fund continued to create ripples in the VC market,
with other VC firms expected to respond with other mega-funds in
order to compete effectively.
Ride-sharing was a big winner of VC investment this quarter as
companies vied for market dominance in less saturated jurisdictions.
The broader autotech sector was also high on the radar of investors,
with everything from autonomous driving to electric vehicles. Artificial
Intelligence (AI) was also a very hot sector in Q1'18, while the
broader applicability of blockchain received a significant amount of
interest.
Looking ahead, th