Finanțarea startup-urilor din Asia se poate stabili după sferturi de declin

Funding to startups in Asia in the third quarter of 2023 saw only a slight drop year to year, a sign that the continent’s funding market may be finding its equilibrium.

Asia funding seemed to mirror tendințele globale, with year to year being down, but with the third quarter actually representing an 8% increase from the previous quarter, per Crunchbase data. The small growth from last quarter was mainly led by late-stage and growth funding being up even as seed and early stage struggled.

Startups in the region raised a total of $22.3 billion compared to $24.4 billion in the same quarter last year. In Q2 of this year, funding hit $20.6 billion.

Deal flow, however, was mostly down, with only 1,518 deals being announced in Q3 — a 17% drop from the previous quarter which saw 1,826. The number also represented a 30% year-to-year drop from 2,177 deals.

Cuprins

Growth rounds grow

Due to their size, late-stage and growth rounds are what really drive the needle as far as funding numbers. Those rounds helped push Q3’s numbers past the previous quarter

Last quarter saw $14.6 billion in such rounds, a 25% increase from $11.7 billion in Q2 and a whopping 51% uptick from the previous year, which saw only $9.6 billion.

Not surprisingly, a lot of the largest of those growth rounds went to Chinese startups — which raised seven of the 10 biggest rounds of the quarter, including:

• GTA Semiconductor raised a private equity round worth approximately $1.9 billion early last month.
• Runpeng Semiconductor raised a private equity round worth approximately $1.7 billion in mid-August.
• Pornirea vehiculului electric Hozon locked up a venture round worth about $961 million in late August.

Deal flow remained almost even for late-stage and growth rounds from Q2 — 157 in Q3 compared to 154. However, that represents a 21% decline from Q3 2022 which saw 199 late-stage and growth deals.

Early stage sinks

Obviously not every stage saw an increase, and early rounds sank the lowest by percent. Only $6.2 billion went to early-stage rounds, a 15% decrease from $7.3 billion in Q2 and a massive 51% drop from the $12.7 billion invested in such rounds for the same quarter last year.

Deal flow didn’t pick up here either. In Q3, 538 early-stage deals were announced, a 6% dip from 538 in Q2 and a 17% fall from the 646 announced in Q3 last year.

Seed rounds see big decline

Angel and seed rounds also declined, but just moderately when one considers their lower price point.

In Q3, only $1.5 billion went to those earliest rounds, an 8% decline from $1.6 billion in the previous quarter and a slightly bigger 29% drop from the $2.1 billion invested in angel and seed rounds in Q3 2022.

However, deal flow for angel and seed did take a significant hit. Only 823 such rounds were announced in Q3 — a 25% decline from the 1,100 rounds in Q2 of this year and a 38% fall from the 1,332 angel and seed deals announced in Q3 last year.

Ce înseamnă

The numbers were somewhat similar to last quarter, with funding up from the first quarter of the year but down year to year.

The good news for investors may be that Asia is finally finding an equilibrium. It seems logical to conclude at this point that the $54.8 billion invested in Q4 2021 was unsustainable. However, the massive quarterly and year-to-year declines seem to be lessening and may be falling more back in line with reality.

The comeback of late-stage and growth rounds could be a good indication, although the massive dip in early-stage rounds and the drop in deal flow for seed rounds is concerning. Eventually, it will have to be some of the seed and early-stage companies raising large growth rounds if funding numbers are to stay level.

Will those companies make it there as fewer and fewer of them get early funding?

Of course, political tensions in Asia right now hang over everything. The fighting in Israel could significantly affect funding to the country’s robust startup ecosystem — especially its well-known cybersecurity sector.

There also are the heightening tensions between China and the U.S. There is no denying U.S. investors have pulled out of the region’s largest startup ecosystem. At the very least, they have split it from their U.S. businesses as GGV Capital announced in September — cleaving its business in two, with one focused on Asia and the other on the U.S. That follows Capitala SequoiaAnunț similar al lui din iunie.

Time will tell what effect that will have on funding overall for Asia.

Metodologie

Datele conținute în acest raport provin direct de la Crunchbase și se bazează pe datele raportate. Datele raportate sunt din 3 octombrie 2023.

Rețineți că întârzierile de date sunt cele mai pronunțate în primele etape ale activității de risc, sumele de finanțare de început crescând semnificativ după sfârșitul unui trimestru/an.

Vă rugăm să rețineți că toate valorile de finanțare sunt exprimate în dolari SUA, dacă nu se menționează altfel.

Crunchbase convertește valutele străine în dolari americani la cursul spot predominant de la data la care sunt raportate rundele de finanțare, achizițiile, IPO-urile și alte evenimente financiare. Chiar dacă acele evenimente au fost adăugate la Crunchbase mult timp după anunțarea evenimentului, tranzacțiile în valută sunt convertite la prețul spot istoric.

Glosarul termenilor de finanțare

Am făcut o schimbare în modul în care includem rundele de finanțare corporativă în raportarea noastră începând cu ianuarie 2023. Rundele corporative sunt incluse numai dacă o companie a strâns o finanțare prin capitaluri proprii la început printr-o rundă de finanțare în serie de risc.

Semințele și îngerul sunt formate din semințe, pre-sămânță și runde de înger. Crunchbase include, de asemenea, runde de risc de serii necunoscute, finanțare participativă și bancnote convertibile la 3 milioane USD (USD sau echivalent USD ca convertit) sau mai puțin.

Etapa incipientă constă din runde din Seria A și Seria B, precum și din alte tipuri de runde. Crunchbase include runde de risc din seriale necunoscute, venture corporative și alte runde de peste 3 milioane USD și cele mai mici sau egale cu 15 milioane USD.

Etapa târzie constă în Seria C, Seria D, Seria E și runde de risc cu litere ulterioare, urmând convenția de denumire „Seria [Scrisoare]”. Sunt incluse, de asemenea, runde de risc din seriale necunoscute, proiecte corporative și alte runde de peste 15 milioane USD.

Creșterea tehnologică este o rundă de capital privat ridicată de o companie care a lansat anterior o rundă „de risc”. (Deci, practic, orice rundă din etapele definite anterior.)

Ilustrare: Dom Guzman