Venture capital firms are on track to invest a record-setting $100 billion in U.S. companies this year, according to data collected by PitchBook’s Venture Monitor report.
With one quarter remaining, venture capitalists have already invested $84.3 billion, surpassing the total amount of capital raised in all of last year. A strong 3Q shows funds raised are trending toward new levels.
“It doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” says Aaron Holiday, co-founder and managing director of 645 Ventures. “Over the last ten years, we’ve seen a lot of new venture capital in the ecosystem ranging from early-stage firms to late-stage firms.”
This is showing a trend of larger investment in fewer companies, the report notes, pointing to both a “healthy fundraising environment” and IPO market, the contributions of unicorns, and the role non-traditional VC investors are playing as reasons for the evolving VC ecosystem.
Last year VC firms invested in more than 9,000 companies, while to date, only 6,583 companies have raised money from VCs.
Holiday notes that as more entrepreneurs enter the space, venture capitalists are focused on building companies with startups that are further along in their process.
“The nature of seed and the way startups are forming is changing,” he said. “Our belief is that there needs to be a fundamental change in the investing model.”
Holiday’s venture capital firm—founded alongside his business partner, Nnamdi Okike—constructed a smaller portfolio, doing more deals with teams that show capability and promise in building their product.
“We take a slow a precise approach,” Holiday said. “We spend more time getting to know the founders, getting to know the markets and this allows us to be more supportive.”
According to TechCrunch, 25 percent of capital in 2018 went to Unicorns.
