The past month saw a 128% year-on-year increase in funding raised as the market shrugged off January’s humble results. It also asked the question: Should tech companies be a little worried?
Below are our observations for February 2022, including year-on-year and month-to-month comparisons as well as leading industries and companies most deserving of attention.
General Overview
This February, the total number of companies that raised funding was 1,187, compared to 703 in February of last year. This is a 69% year-on-year increase. The total funding raised was $34.19 billion, with a 128% year-on-year increase; last year, February clocked in at $15 billion.
The VC market has slightly recovered after last month’s mild “shock” caused by big tech public companies’ earning reports. February saw a 17% increase in companies that raised funding, compared to January’s brief 16% drop.
Leading Countries
*based on the number of companies that raised funding (not total funding)
1. USA — with 598 companies and $20.62B in cumulative investment (95% year-on-year increase vs. Feb. '21)
2. UK — with 112 companies and $2.79B in cumulative investment (267% year-on-year decrease vs. Feb. '21)
3. Canada — (up two spots) with 65 companies and $1.24B in cumulative investment (88% year-on-year increase vs. Feb. '21)
4. India — (down one spot) with 60 companies and $1.12B in cumulative investment (100% year-on-year increase vs. Feb. '21)
5. Germany — (return to the list) with 51 companies and $975.6M in cumulative investment (586% year-on-year increase vs. Feb. '21)
Conclusion: Germany is back in the top 5, while Canada has significantly strengthened its position with almost 2x more funded companies than last month. France got booted from the fourth spot, which it reached last month.
Leading Industries
1. Fintech
161 companies accumulated $6.59B in cumulative investment and saw a 299% year-on-year growth.
The top 3 biggest funding rounds are attributed to KEO World (a buy now, pay later fintech focused on credit solutions and supply financing for small and medium-sized businesses via a digital B2B enterprise ecosystem in partnership with American Express) - $500M (total funding: $500M), SageSure Insurance Managers (a real estate firm offering property insurance services) - $375M (total funding: $500M) and GoCardless (a payment company that makes collecting payments by direct debit easy for all) - $312M (total funding: $529.3M).
2. AI
121 companies accumulated $3.13B in investment and saw a 28% year-on-year growth.
The top 3 biggest funding rounds are attributed to Uniphore (a global conversational AI tech company offering a customer service platform powered by AI and automation technologies) - $400M (total funding: $620.9M), Synthego (a genome engineering company that enables the acceleration of life science research and development in the pursuit of improved human health) - $200M (total funding: $459.7M) and Glance (an AI-driven software company that delivers personalized content on smartphones’ lock screens) - $200M (total funding: $390M).
3A. Biotechnology
79 companies accumulated $2.52B in investment and saw a 66% year-on-year growth.
The top 3 biggest funding rounds are attributed to Twist Bioscience (a synthetic DNA production for specialty chemical compounds and drug development) - $250M (total funding: $503.1M), Kallyope (a biotech company focusing on the therapeutic potential of gut-brain circuits) - $236M (total funding: $479M) and Dewpoint Therapeutics (a biotech company developing a drug platform that targets bimolecular condensates) - $150M (total funding: $287M).
3B. Ecommerce
79 companies accumulated $2.35B in investment and saw a 31% year-on-year growth.
The top 3 biggest funding rounds are attributed to ElasticRun (a logistics and distribution platform designed to help businesses reach traditionally unserviced consumers) - $302.7M (total funding: $434.8M), Kapitus (a small and medium-sized business financing provider) - $200M (total funding: $360M) and Wayflyer (a revenue-based financing platform for ecommerce brands) - $150M (total funding: $336.2M).
Conclusion: The battle for the third spot among industries attracting venture capital continues. This month, ecommerce is on par with biotechnology in terms of companies that raised funding, falling short by only $169.8M in total cumulative investment.
Monthly Highlights
The Great Equalizer
A “re-correction” following the pandemic bump — which boosted business results for many tech companies — can be seen in recent layoffs at interactive fitness platform Peloton and live events platform Hopin.
As for industries losing momentum, we’re talking software, video and audio streaming, trading services, ecommerce, consumer fintech, gaming and social networking. On the other hand, temporary accommodation and travel industries that had previously been suffering are back on the rise. The rules of the game have changed, so much so that tech companies should be ready for either a blow or a boost. Who doesn’t love a good surprise?
Crypto Touchdown
Sports and entertainment phenomenon with notoriously expensive ads, the Super Bowl made a significant impact on popularizing crypto investing thanks to ads for crypto exchange companies Coinbase, eToro and FTX (featuring “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star and our personal fav, the gloriously cranky Larry David).
The ramming of crypto into our brains worked. The US installs for the three companies grew by a collective 279% on February 13th, compared to the week prior. This continued into the following day; week-over-week download growth reached 252%.
More Like Popcorn
There are now 1,000 unicorn startups worth $1 billion or more, with about two new companies joining the party daily. Which begs the question: is being a unicorn even cool anymore?
Give it up to our fellow countrymen, Prague-based company Productboard, now valued at $1.7 billion after the recent Sequoia-backed funding round of $125 million. With that, it has become the 1,000th unicorn in the world. Congratulations to the team on this monumental milestone!
Startups to Watch
With $75 million in funding, the fitness company is on a roll. Future offers one-on-one digital training with fitness coaches — at home, at the gym or on the go. It pairs its clients with coaches who have trained pro athletes, Hollywood celebrities and working professionals.
Future was founded in 2017 and is based in San Francisco, California.
Another fitness company on the list, and for good reason. Aviron has nabbed $18.5 million in funding thanks to its main product: a connected rowing machine with gamification features, designed with the user in mind. It offers short, high-intensity workouts, high resistance settings that combine strength training and cardio, and hundreds of content options.
Aviron Interactive was founded in 2019 and is based in Toronto, Canada.
An online community and marketplace for investing in vintage and collectible sneakers, Rares has raised $5.2 million in funding. It allows people to invest in the sneaker culture with fractional ownership of ultra-rare sneakers. Basically, you buy shares in the shoe instead of buying the shoe.
Rares was founded in 2020 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
