Median Startup Funding Round Sizes Up 39% YoY, Lead By Late Stage & Series A Deals
July saw a 39% overall increase in median round sizes compared to July of 2014. The largest increase occurred in late stage rounds, which were up 77% year-over-year.
Series A, B, and C rounds saw increases of 46%, 25% and 9% respectively. Read more on the Mattermark blog…
From the Investors
AgFunder releases the AgTech Midyear Report, which notes that investment jumped +132% to $2.06B for the first half of 2015 and captures 228 deals in “Moving to Mainstream: AgTech Gathers $2.06bn in the First Half of 2015”
Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz explains why sees the smartphone as the center of the universe of connected devices in “The Smartphone is the New Sun”
Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital and Jerry Colonna of Reboot explore some of the tensions that often arise between investors and entrepreneurs, the emotional perspective of the investor, and more in “Investors Are Human Too – With Bijan Sabet” (podcast)
Brian Laung Aoaeh of KEC Ventures reflects on past work that helped him learn about the challenges startups face and his role as a VC in “How Studying Bankruptcy and Working on Two Turnaround Assignments Prepared Me to Become an Early Stage Venture Capitalist”
Ali Rahimtula of Cue Ball Capital helps founders understand how investors use SaaS metrics and how best to present them when fundraising in “Fundraise Like a Pro Using This Internal SaaS Metrics Playbook”
Bradley Tusk of Tusk Ventures announces Tusk Ventures, a political consulting firm focused on helping startups navigate and work with government regulators in “Political Consultant for Uber to Advise Other Startups”
From the Operators
Eric Jorgenson of Evergreen shares a collection of insights, strategies, and resources about the challenges of scaling a company in “How to Manage Scale, and Operate in Scaling Organizations”
Vicki Saunders of SheEO launches a campaign that calls for ‘Radical Generosity’ to crowdfund a business loan and community program for women-led companies in “While You Are Out There Chasing Unicorns, We Are Building A Better Model”
Michael Ortner of Capterra explores the history of venture capital, the risks of raising capital, and ‘planning for VC in moderation’ in “How Bootstrapping Became a Lost Art and Venture Capital Became an Addiction”
Pranay Srinivasan of Sourceasy describes the clear distinctions he sees in the role and skills of founders and CEOs in “A Unique Disposition”
Brian York of Bliss.ai offers his thoughts on founder vesting and why his team chose not to ‘hoard monopoly money’ in “Why I’m Excited to Own 0% of My Startup”
Ben Erez of Life360 calls out the ‘filthy amount of money’ in tech recruiting, overused buzzwords, things he finds interesting, and much more in “30 Observations About Tech and Silicon Valley”