Following an already impressive September, October saw a $3 billion increase in raised funding – with Israel competing with the best after an incredible 325% year-on-year increase.
Below are our observations for October 2021, including year-on-year and month-to-month comparisons as well as leading industries and companies most deserving of attention.
General Overview
This October, the total number of companies that raised funding was 1,013 companies, compared to 527 in October of last year. The total funding raised was $35.89 billion, with a 251% year-on-year increase; last year, October clocked in at $10.24 billion.
Almost twice as many businesses have raised funding compared to last year, with more than triple the amount of cumulative investment. This indicates that not only is more money being spent, but also that the valuations of individual companies are significantly increasing.
Leading Countries
*based on the number of companies that raised funding (not total funding)
1. USA — with 532 companies and $22.23B in cumulative investment (211% year-on-year increase vs. Oct. '20); faster growth than the already impressive 120% in Sept. ‘21
2. UK — with 87 companies and $2.64B in cumulative investment (130% year-on-year increase vs. Oct. '20); slower growth than in Sept. '21 (211%)
3. India — with 62 companies and $1.91B in cumulative investment (stunning 1,093% year-on-year increase vs. Oct. '20); incomparable growth with Sept. '21 (only 24%), proving that India continues to rise in popularity among venture funds
4. Germany — with 35 companies and $989.9M in cumulative investment (645% year-on-year increase vs. Oct. '20); moved up the ladder by one place since Sept. '21, with a tremendous increase in year-on-year growth since last month’s 43%, proving that Germany is another popular destination for venture capital
5. Canada — with 31 companies and $657.6M in cumulative investment (400% year-on-year increase vs. Oct. '20); moved one place down since Sept. ‘21, growth is twice as slow as last month’s 826%, but continues to be a top VC country
Honorable mention: Israel — with 27 companies and $1.19B in cumulative investment (325% year-on-year increase vs. Oct. '20), which is more than both Germany and Canada individually.
Conclusion: The top 5 countries continue to hold a strong position compared to the rest of the world, as we see the same leaders as last month. However, Israel deserves the spotlight, as it is in the top 3 countries in terms of accumulated venture capital.
Leading Industries
1. Fintech
130 companies accumulated $8.02B in investment (vs. $5.96B last month) and saw a 597% year-on-year growth.
The top 3 biggest funding rounds are attributed to Divvy (a tech-enabled real estate platform that facilitates rent-to-own home purchases) - $735M (total funding: $1.23B), Atome (a "buy now, pay later" brand that splits bills into three equal installments) - $500M (total funding: $500M) and FTX (a cryptocurrency exchange company) - $420.7M (total funding: $1.33B).
2. AI (moved up, 3rd place last month)
114 companies accumulated $2.97B in investment (vs. $1.92B last month) and saw a 194% year-on-year growth.
The top 3 biggest funding rounds are attributed to Immunai (a biotech company that combines single-cell genomics with ML to enable high-res profiling of the immune system) - $215M (total funding: $295M), Augury (provides machine health diagnostics to help reduce downtime and increase supply chain resilience) - $180M (total funding: $294M) and Dental Monitoring (an AI-based, remote monitoring platform for the orthodontics industry) - $150M (total funding: $207.3M).
3. Ecommerce (moved down, 2nd place last month)
88 companies accumulated $3.02B in investment (vs. $5.55B last month) and saw a 235% year-on-year growth.
The top 3 biggest funding rounds are attributed to Bolt (a one-click checkout experience platform) - $393M (total funding: $608.1M), Dutchie (an all-in-one technology platform that powers dispensary operations) - $350M (total funding: $603M) and Pattern (a provider of an accelerator platform for brands to scale faster on major online marketplaces) - $225M (total funding: $277M).
Conclusion: The top 3 industries remain the same, with AI jumping above ecommerce this month in terms of competitive saturation within the industry.
Startups to Watch
The platform where software engineers can book mock interviews with hiring managers from FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) has now scored $10M in funding. Top performers on the site get fast-tracked for interviews at top tech companies, regardless of their background. This approach saves companies 220 hours of recruiter and hiring manager time per hire and gets them what they need: a steady stream of strong, senior engineers who are looking for a new role.
An NFT company that allows MLB fans to buy and trade officially licensed nonfungible tokens, Candy Digital has secured $100M in funding. Its cutting-edge design team collaborates with athletes, artists and content owners to bring new NFT projects to life in the form of a unique virtual storefront. The company is a venture of a sports ecommerce company Fanatics.
This fitness online subscription platform now holds $4.7M in funding. It delivers high-energy, dance-focused movement classes and is on a mission to empower dancers everywhere. From teachers to takers, it believes that everyone is a dancer, and dance is for everyone.
Monthly Highlights
Education startups have grown more and more focused on cybersecurity and privacy, helping skilled engineers upgrade their skillset (HackEDU with $10.6M in funding, SafeStack Academy with $2.3M in funding).
Cannabis startups have received substantial funding in the past months, most prominently Dutchie with $350M, Jushi Holdings with $100M and Flowhub with $19M.
And as expected, sustainability continues to be an important topic for startups to not just explore further but to even have it at the core of their business (Wardrobe with $4.1M in funding, TIER Mobility with $199.3M in funding).
