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African Startups Flourish in Funding Scarcity, Cowboy Ventures Ropes in Millions for Two Funds, and a Blockchain Startup Inches Closer to Unicorn Status.

Author

Adam from VC Brags
January 25, 2023

Welcome Shareholders,     

First off, a huge thanks to all of the new shareholders joining us. In this daily edition of the Brags Newsletter, we'll cover the latest on Africa's 2022 Venture success, a VC galloping ahead with $260 million for two funds, and a blockchain infrastructure startup that's turning heads. 

So sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Venture Today đź‘Ź

  • Despite the global trend of venture capital slowdown, African startups have experienced an 8% growth in funding year over year, totaling $6.5 billion.

The data showed that Africa outperformed the rest of the world, which averaged a 35% funding decline compared to 2021. The growth in funding comes from 764 rounds, with debt funding doubling to $1.5 billion (71 of the 764 deals were debt), which offset a small drop in equity rounds, which was down 6% to $4.9 billion.

However, Africa mirrored the trend seen across the globe when it came to deal size, with Seed and Series A funding remaining on par, while Series B and growth round sizes dropped considerably by 23% and 50%, respectively. 

Who's Raising?

  • Cowboy Ventures, a seed-stage focused fund based in Bay Area, raised $260 million across two new funds. 

Cowboy's raised $140 million for its fourth flagship fund, and $120 million for its first opportunities fund, dubbed the 'Mustang Fund.' The capital committed is significantly more than that of its previous funds, which raised $40 million, $60 million, and $95 million.

The firm will continue to invest in US-based enterprise and consumer startups in various categories, including SaaS, enterprise infrastructure, developer tools, big data, security, fintech, AI software, and new consumer opportunities. Cowboy's successful portfolio investments include Online education company Guild Education (valued at $4.4 billion), security and compliance automation platform Drata ($2 billion), and accounting automation firm Vic.ai.  

Startup of the Day

  • QuickNode, which is a Blockchain development platform, announced that it had raised $60 million from investors at an $800 million valuation to expand globally and onboard additional users and developers to its Web3 Applications. 

The new round was led by 10T Holdings, with participation from Tiger Global, Seven Seven Six, and QED. QuickNode's management plans to use the fresh capital to fund its global expansion and provide developers with the tools required to onboard new blockchain users.

The company last raised $35 million through its Series A in October 2021, when it was a seven-month-old startup. Between the two rounds, QuickNode has expanded its infrastructure from 10 to 16 blockchains, including Ethereum, Matic, Optimism, Arbitrum, and Solana, while also growing its user base by 400%. 

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