Tightening Belts

VCs Lose Their Grove, GGV Capital Raises the Stakes and a Cloud-Based Airport Management Startup Lands Funding.

Author

Adam from VC Brags
February 21, 2023

Welcome Shareholders,   

In this daily edition of the Brags Newsletter, we'll cover the latest on the decline in venture funding, a global venture capital firm's grand plan to target startups, and an Airport Management startup that takes to the skies with its new funding.  

So sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Venture Today 👏

  • Venture capital fundraising dropped to a nine-year low in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to macroeconomic factors affecting both technology startups and investors.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, venture firms raised a total of $20.6 billion in new funds, which marked a 65% decrease from the same period in the previous year and represented the lowest amount for the fourth quarter since 2013. Additionally, the amount raised in the fourth quarter was less than half of what was raised in the preceding three months, and this marked the first time since 2009 that fundraising volumes declined from the third to the fourth quarter.

Limited Partners invested in 226 venture funds in the quarter, which was the fewest since 2012, and down significantly from the 620 funds invested in the last three months of 2021. They are now more cautious about supporting funds run by inexperienced investors who thrived in the bull market when a significant amount of cash flowed into the startup market; in 2022, they supported only 141 funds managed by first-time managers, a 59% drop from the previous year and the lowest number since 2013.

Who's Raising?

  • Venture Capital Firm GGV Capital plans to raise $2.5 billion across four new funds, targeting startups in China, the US, and Southeast Asia. 

The new funds are GGV Capital IX, GGV Capital IX Plus, GGV Discovery IV-US, and GGV Discovery IV-Asia. The fundraising comes two years after the California venture firm closed the largest investment in the firm's history, which totaled $2.52 billion. GGV, which was founded nearly two decades ago, now manages 19 funds with $7.6 billion in assets under management.

The venture capital firm has offices across Beijing, Shanghai, California, and Singapore. The firm, which has invested in companies like Alibaba and Grab, deploys around $300 million every six months. GGV has invested in more than 320 startups, which includes 85 unicorns and 53 firms listed in the public markets. 

Startup of the Day

  • Stage 2 Capital has led a Series A funding round that raised $12.6 million for AeroCloud, a cloud-native software startup that provides airport management services for dozens of airports worldwide.

Other investors in the round included Triple Point Ventures, I2BF Global Ventures, Praetura Ventures, Playfair Capital, and Haatch. Founded in 2019 in Chester, UK, AeroCloud works with major airports such as Manchester, Eindhoven, Tampa International, and John Wayne Airport to process over 150 million passengers annually, offering cloud-based access to data and features that facilitate automated gate allocation and revenue optimization through efficient use of spare gate capacity.

AeroCloud's platform incorporates critical information such as passenger boarding status and departure time to predict on-time departures and enables automated gate reassignments for incoming flights if their scheduled arrival gate is occupied by a delayed plane. 

Memes and Other Things

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