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AgTech Investors Pick Quality Over Quantity, Mayfield Rakes in $955 Million for Early Stage Startups, and Prewave Looks to Refine Supply Chain Risk Management With its New Funding.
Adam from VC Brags
May 09, 2023
Welcome Shareholders,
In this daily edition of the Brags Newsletter, we’ll cover how AgTech Investors are Bucking the Current Trend by Investing in Startups at Higher Valuations. Also, Mayfield Bags Close to a Billion Dollars Across Two Funds, and a Startup Looks to Secure Supply Chains With its Latest Funding.
So sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy!
Venture Today 👏
As cautious investors supported fewer AgTech startups in Q1, the slowdown in deal-making led to an increase in sector valuations.
In Q1 2023, the AgTech industry saw $1.9 billion in deal activity across 172 transactions, representing a dip from the prior quarter amid a challenging funding environment. However, some significant deals, including eFishery's $150 million late-stage VC round and Halter's $85 million Series C, successfully closed in the quarter.
AgTech firms witnessed a median pre-money valuation of $16.5 million, marking a 19.8% surge from 2022, defying the expected valuation declines across the broader market. This increase, likely due to a significant drop in deal count, suggests riskier deals were deferred while only those with higher investor confidence and valuations proceeded. Concurrently, median deal sizes grew by 33.4%, indicating a shift in investor focus towards fewer, larger, and less risky transactions.
Who’s Raising?
Silicon Valley's investment powerhouse, Mayfield, has amassed nearly $1 billion across two funds, dedicated to early-stage investments.
The funds are spread across Mayfield XVII, a $580 million fund for seed and Series A companies, and Mayfield Select III, a $375 million fund targeting Series B companies. The firm is keen on investing in areas such as human-centered AI, developer-first technologies, semiconductors, and cybersecurity, among others. Despite raising more money for the pair of new funds, Mayfield's objective remains unchanged: backing approximately 30 companies per fund, primarily focusing on early-stage ventures.
The firm last unveiled new funds in March 2020, amassing $750 million across a pair of funds. Fast forward to today, and Mayfield manages a total of $3 billion in assets. Mayfield's portfolio now boasts over 550 companies, featuring 120 IPOs and 225 acquisitions. Notable investments include Poshmark, acquired by Naver for $1.2 billion, as well as Mammoth Biosciences, Lyft, and SolarCity, which Tesla acquired.
Startup of the Day
Vienna-based Prewave, an AI-powered supply chain risk platform, has secured €18 million in a Series A+ funding round led by Creandum, with participation from existing investors such as Ventech, KOMPAS, seed+speed, Segnalita, Speedinvest, Working Capital Fund, and xista science ventures.
The Austrian firm's AI platform evaluates millions of online sources in over fifty languages, identifying and addressing potential supply chain risks, ranging from human rights concerns and sustainability risks to legislative compliance, thereby generating a dynamic supplier risk score. Businesses receive direct risk alerts, enabling them to liaise with suppliers to resolve issues and prevent disruptions, a crucial capability as supply chain regulations tighten across Europe.
Founded in 2017, the company now counts the likes of BMW, PwC, and Lufthansa in its clientele. Prewave, which has seen its headcount grow fivefold from 20 last year to more than 100, plans to use the new funds to double down on growth moving forward.
Fresh Finds
Twinr 3.0 now includes Twinr Preview App for Android and iOS, allowing users to test their mobile apps on real devices during development, equipped with a fresh design and enhanced features.
The new multi-language support feature is upgraded with localized page URLs, providing users the flexibility to use localized URLs and supporting all languages globally.
Twinr 3.0 introduces an updated hamburger menu copying feature and a native button for multi-language support, along with a navigation button reordering feature, all designed to enhance user experience and mobile app design aesthetics.
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