But a single company already on the board added almost twice that much—another $100 billion—in value to the board, all by itself. That was Chinese fast fashion company , which raised between $1 billion and $2 billion in funding at a $100 billion dollar valuation last month, according to the Wall Street Journal, making the company the third most valuable company on the board.��

Shein’s valuation is now tied with’s space exploration company , which is also around $100 billion, and means the fashion brand is valued more than fintech unicorn ’s $95 billion.��

The ������Ƶ now hosts that are collectively valued at $4.5 trillion and have raised more than $750 billion in total equity.

A slight slowdown

The 35 new unicorns that were minted in April match the figure in March. While both months are down compared to 2021, they still exceed new unicorn formation in prior years. By comparison, 52 new unicorns were minted a year earlier, in April 2021.����

Of the 35 new unicorns, 20 are U.S.-based companies.��

Germany added four new unicorns last month and Switzerland two. A further four hail from Europe, in the UK, Sweden, Lithuania and Finland. Across Asia, one new unicorn was added from China, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines each.��

Leading sectors for these new unicorns are healthcare, fintech and crypto companies.��

The most heavily capitalized of April’s new unicorns include:��

• Austin-based underground transportation company ($908 million in total funding);��
• Zürich-based carbon dioxide removal company ($784 million);��
• Philippines-based which owns wallet PayMaya and digital bank Maya Bank ($712 million);��
• Berkeley-based , which makes meat from animal cells ($606 million);
• Denver-based emissions reduction company ($513 million).

The companies on this list with the highest investor counts, including angel investors, are:��

• Southern California-based avatar tech company (66 investors);��
• Finland-based wellness ring company (43);
• UPSIDE Foods (39);��
• and San Francisco-based doctor patient booking platform (30).

Exiting the board

Three unicorns exited the board in April.��

These include the much-anticipated Indonesian startup , which was formed in May 2021 from the merger of Gojek and Tokopedia. GoTo raised $1.1 billion on its IPO last month and was valued at $31.6 billion. Its last private funding valued the combined company at $28 billion, per Crunchbase data.��

London-based Drug discovery went public via a SPAC on the Amsterdam Euronext exchange valuing the company at $1.6 billion. Per Crunchbase data the company was last valued at $1 billion in 2019.

Bay Area-based voice AI company went public via a SPAC merger on Nasdaq. Soundhound was last valued at $1 billion in 2018, Crunchbase data shows . As of May 5, the company has a valuation of $3.6 billion.��

Runway

Just over 600 companies joined the ������Ƶ in 2021. Of those, 48 companies raised fundings—sometimes multiple—at decacorn valuations of $10 billion or more.��

As the IPO markets have softened, many of these companies will need to focus on their runway, as late stage funding has slowed according to a recent Crunchbase News analysis of 2022 funding.����

Funding to unicorn companies is at its lowest in the last 12 months. Will these valuations hold? Or can we expect down rounds in 2022? The coming months will tell.

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Methodology

Funding rounds included in this report are seed, angel, venture, corporate-venture and private-equity rounds in venture-backed companies. This reflects data in Crunchbase as of May 5, 2022.

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ is a curated board that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.��

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to The Exited ������Ƶ.��

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

Update: In April 2022, 35 unicorns joined the Crunchbase Unicorn board, collectively adding $57 billion.��

First-quarter venture funding to Europe last quarter was up 21 percent year over year, and up 4 percent quarter over quarter, bucking the trend globally and in North America, where Q1 2022 investment fell compared to Q4 2021.

European startup funding reached an all-time high of $37.6 billion in the second quarter of 2021. That period showed increases at all funding stages, but significantly more so in late-stage venture funding.��

Quarterly funding in Europe in 2020 ranged between $10 billion and $13 billion per quarter. Since last year, quarterly funding has trended upward from the first quarter of 2021, when it totaled $24.6 billion.��

Let’s dive into European funding by stage over the past five quarters to parse these trends.��

Late stage is up

Prior to 2021, a smaller proportion of Europe’s venture dollars went to late-stage and technology-growth rounds. In 2021, a shift took place, with more significant amounts allocated to late-stage funding. Funding for those companies came from growth-equity firms in the U.S. and around the world.��

Companies in Europe that raised super-sized fundings in the first quarter of 2022 include London-based , which raised a $1 billion Series D funding from a host of growth-stage investors, making it the second-most highly valued European private company at $40 billion, below the 2021 valuations of at $45.5 billion, and ahead of valued at $33 billion.��

Other large late-stage fundings were raised by Turkey-based delivery company and micro-mobility company , based in Estonia.

Early stage is up

Early-stage funding in Q1 2022 was $9.4 billion, up 50 percent year over year from the first quarter of 2021. This is significant as it shows Europe’s first-quarter venture numbers were driven up not just by a few outsized late-stage funding rounds, but also a growing early-stage funding environment poised for future growth.��

Seed stage

Seed-stage startups across Europe raised $2.1 billion in the first quarter across more than 1,000 companies. 1

Countries leading at earlier stages

The six countries that led in seed through early-stage funding last quarter are the U.K., with France and Germany competing for second place, followed by Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain.��

Global trends

How do the trends we find in Europe compare with global funding in the first quarter?��

Globally, first-quarter funding fell from a Q4 2021 spike, due in part to the dip in value in public technology stocks.��

Funding to European startups bucks these trends with amounts up for the quarter on both an annual and quarter-over-quarter basis.��

Why is this the case? Europe is a growing venture market with a historically less developed late-stage funding market. Europe is also a market—outside of the more established U.S. market—where global growth investors are looking for new opportunities to invest.��

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Further reading

• Global Venture Funding Fell Last Quarter For The First Time In A Year. How Significant Is That?
• North American Startup Investment Fell 11% In Q1 In First Quarterly Decline In Nearly 2 Years
• Asia Venture Funding Falls After Record 2021

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of April 7, 2022.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

The most recent quarter/year will increase over time relative to previous quarters. For funding counts, we notice a strong data lag, especially at the seed and early stages, by as much as 30 percent to 40 percent a year out.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

For M&A transaction analysis, we include venture-backed companies and exclude companies that previously went public.��

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. Crunchbase includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

Fewer companies joined The Crunchbase ������Ƶ in March compared to previous months, and none made public debuts amid a stalled IPO market and signs of a venture funding slowdown and lower late-stage valuations.

There were 34 private companies newly valued at $1 billion or more in a disclosed funding in March 2022, compared to 49 in February and 46 in January, per Crunchbase data.����

Earlier this year, the value of the ������Ƶ reached $4 trillion for the first time. It’s now collectively valued at $4.3 trillion with 1,260 companies listed.��

The slowdown in unicorn creation is a sign that the funding markets are shifting away from the momentum built up in 2021, when startups raised funding at higher valuations and often within months of prior fundings.��

Decacorn creation continues

Still, seven companies have been newly valued as decacorns—private companies valued at $10 billion or more—so far in 2022.��

That includes two new decacorns minted last month: Istanbul-based delivery company was valued at $11.8 billion led by , and London-based cryptocurrency exchange platform was valued at $14 billion in a round led by and .��

In 2021, a total of 37 companies were valued as decacorns for the first time, per Crunchbase data, up from 15 companies in 2020.��������

New unicorns

The majority of new unicorns in the past month were U.S.-based companies, the most highly valued of which was San Francisco-based , which raised $100 million at a $4.05 billion valuation led by and .��

Hot on its heels was Miami-based , creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, which was valued at $4 billion in its first funding led by .����

• India added three new unicorns: two providing credit to businesses: and and gaming company
• China added two new unicorns: speech recognition company and semiconductor manufacturer .
• Two unicorns joined from Australia: , which makes content more discoverable on social platforms, and for trading and securing NFTs.
• Germany, Canada and South Korea�� each added one new unicorn: German-based , an internal communications platform for companies, blockchain from Vancouver, and game development company from South Korea.

Fastest to unicorn

The fastest to unicorn in March 2022 was , founded in December 2021 by former employees who built its Diem cryptocurrency and are now building layer 1 blockchain technology. Aptos last month closed its very first funding—instantly becoming a unicorn startup as it raised $200 million at a $1 billion valuation. The round was led by the crypto fund with participation from active in the space.

was also founded just last year. It was valued at $4 billion in its first funding, a $450 million raise it describes as a seed round that was also led also by a16z’s crypto fund alongside an even .����

Blockchain connector company was founded in 2021 and raised its $135 million Series A this past month from , and a16z.��

Funding raised by unicorns

Unicorn companies collectively raised $14 billion in funding in March 2022, around 28 percent of all funding last month.��

That’s not too far below the $15 billion raised by unicorns in February 2022, but well below the $26 billion raised by unicorns in March 2021.

So far this year, unicorn companies have averaged around 30 percent of all venture dollars in 2022—down from a hefty 44 percent of all funding in 2021.��

Fewer companies left the board

Not as many companies joined the ������Ƶ in March, and even fewer left. In fact, there were no public debuts from the ������Ƶ in March and just two companies were acquired.��

Santa Monica-based car leasing company was sold off in a fire sale to online car marketplace for less than $50 million—down from its peak valuation of $1.2 billion in 2018.����

And 10-minute delivery company , based in India, was acquired by restaurant delivery company in a deal that values the smaller company at around $800 million, —below its 2021 valuation of $1.1 billion.��

IPO market slowdown

There are still a host of companies—most of them unicorns—that we thought were likely candidates to exit in 2022.��

As we reach the end of the first quarter of the year, with just five public debuts of�� billion-dollar-valued companies so far this year, and zero IPOs from our unicorn list in March, these companies——will have to hold out for a little longer.��

Methodology

Funding rounds included in this report are seed, angel, venture, corporate-venture and private-equity rounds in venture-backed companies. This reflects data in Crunchbase as of March 31, 2022.

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ is a curated board that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.��

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to The Exited ������Ƶ.��

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

Update:�� This story was amended to add three new companies, Games24x7, LayerZero and Haegin, which were valued at over $1 billion in March 2022.

Former U.S. President Harry S. Truman famously once said, “There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.”

The same holds true for funding cycles. As investors and founders continue to reel from the truly unbelievable circumstances kicked off in 2020 by the global COVID-19 pandemic, one can’t help but harken back to the dramatic impact of the 2008 financial crisis.

The effects of the financial crisis and the pandemic differed dramatically, as we’ve visualized here through the data; the financial crisis put the brakes on funding, while the pandemic was an inflection point.

Despite the decrease in funding in the aftermath of the financial crisis, company formation and seed funding kept growing due to underlying technology trends. The emergence of seed led to a completely new wave of innovation.

As the business world moves into another period of turmoil in 2022, let’s take a look at what we can learn from these two recent periods of economic upheaval.

The 2008 financial crisis

Without question, Crunchbase data shows the financial crisis of 2008 had a significant impact on private company financings, with the slowdown starting toward the end of that year.

sounded the alarm with its “RIP Good Times” presentation in October 2008, warning its portfolio companies to buckle up and manage costs to increase their runway as the funding markets were no longer intact.

A huge deficit in funding in 2009 ensued. It wasn’t until 2011 that funding picked back up to 2007 levels.

Funding amounts at Series A, B and C dipped between 40 percent and 47 percent in 2009 compared to funding in 2008, according to Crunchbase data.

Unique companies funded from Series A through Series C fundings declined as well in 2009 between 26 percent and 28 percent year over year.

It took a couple of years for 2007 and 2008 funding amounts and counts to be met or exceeded again.

Seed funding sprouts into an institutional class

Still, throughout the 2008-2009 dip, a completely new funding stage was in the process of establishing itself alongside the growth of cloud and mobile technologies.

Seed emerged as an institutional asset class during the Great Recession, with investment in the youngest startups no longer left to friends and family or the occasional angel.

And seed investing showed continued growth post 2008, according to Crunchbase data, reaching close to 16,000 companies which raised funding at that stage in 2014 compared to fewer than 1,000 companies eight years earlier in 2006.

The financial crisis of 2008 slowed funding for early- and late-stage ventures, but not funding at seed and not new company formation. New companies were created and funded throughout that timeframe at a growing rate despite the slowdown in funding post-seed.

This turns out to be the more significant trend of the financial crisis.

What we saw during the pandemic

As we entered the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, we saw some early signs of a slowdown, per Crunchbase data. Sequoia Capital again , this time calling the nascent pandemic a “black swan” event.

But the expected slowdown did not materialize in later quarters in 2020, and funding by and large was within a 5 percent range at Series A and B. And Series C, in fact, went on to grow around 18 percent in 2020 versus 2019.

Then in 2021, funding was off to the races with more than 93 percent at Series A and 132 percent growth at Series C compared with 2020.

What the pandemic highlighted was a trend that had been quietly brewing throughout the last decade.

Rather than a narrative of cycles of fundings with ups and downs, we saw a paradigm shift: a complete overhaul of industry by technological innovation.

Every area of our society—from entertainment to transportation, manufacturing, commerce, health care, energy and finance—are in the process of being transformed. What that means for society and culture is being negotiated at many levels, and the process will not be even. Legacy businesses are being transformed, as are the very investors that fund technology startups.

It turns out the technology trends that led to the rise of seed-stage venture and the force that recreated industries was also the catalyst that led to more than 30,000 venture-backed startups receiving funding in 2021—up from 3,500 companies in 2006.

Last year was by far a record for global venture capital, with $669 billion invested in startups worldwide. That inflection point was built off of more than two decades of innovation.

As we head into the second quarter of 2022 with concerns about potentially overvalued companies, pandemic-era purchasing trends that might be waning, supply chain issues, inflation and a slowdown in the public markets, there is anxiety that we are heading toward another slackening in private financing.

But funds raised by venture and private equity firms in 2022 have not yet slowed down.

And should fundings and valuations fall in 2022, companies should buckle up for some bumps, but the seismic changes wrought by the last decade in venture capital are here to stay.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of March 25, 2022.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

All funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Further reading:

A Look Back: With The Current Market Slowdown, What Did Investors Learn From Other Downturns And What Worries Them Now?

Illustration:

But it’s worth keeping in mind that startup funding last month was still up year over year compared to February 2021 by $10 billion—a 24 percent increase. And funding in the past month was not far below the 12-month average of $55 billion we saw in 2021, a period in which annual venture funding soared 100 percent compared to 2020.��

When funding dips month over month, we typically expect it to be dominated by a cutback in late-stage funding along with a slowdown in investing pace by growth investors. What we found instead was that seed-stage funding grew slightly month over month, while early-stage funding fell 17 percent, and late-stage funding dropped 19 percent.����

This suggests some small amount of caution has begun to creep into early- and late-stage venture investing compared to previous monthly highs.��

Unicorn board keeps growing

New unicorn company creation kept pace in February. All told, 47 companies joined The Crunchbase ������Ƶ last month, up from the 29 new unicorn companies that joined in February 2021.��

Companies that joined the board last month include Finland-based logistics company in a round led by that valued the company at $5 billion; U.K.-based payments company via a late-stage funding led by ; and California-based , a customer product data platform, via a round led by .��

Growth funds lead

As the public markets took off in 2021, the most active investors in tech startups leading post-seed rounds—as well as by dollars invested—tended to be growth investors who doubled down on private technology companies, racking up large numbers of new portfolio companies.��

The three most active—, and the —didn’t slow down in January or February of 2022, even as many technology stocks have taken a battering, negatively impacting those firms with a public equities business invested in public technology stocks.

Although they led startup investment last year, leading venture and growth-equity firms do not necessarily lead large rounds every month.��

Still, it remains to be seen whether a pullback is on the horizon. One metric that could foreshadow that: , , and led fewer�� rounds above the $100 million mark last month compared to monthly investments led in 2021, per Crunchbase data.��

Billions in funds

Growth-equity firms have continued to raise multiples of billions in funds targeted toward private companies. Last month, Insight Partners announced its 12th fund, raising its largest to date at $20 billion. Tiger Global in the same month closed on fund 16 at $11 billion, also its largest to date.��

Insights’ prior fund was raised over two years ago in November 2019 at $9.5 billion. Tiger’s fund is notable as it came within four months of the firm announcing in October 2021 its fund 15 of $8.8 billion. It announced fund 14 in January 2021 at $6.7 billion.��

With record funds raised by both growth equity and venture at all stages, the appetite for investments into private companies is not going away, though some firms are treading more cautiously. But notably, both and , who were very active in 2021, have cut back on the number of rounds they have led so far in 2022, per Crunchbase data.��

Record-setting

For four months in 2021—January, March, June and November—new monthly funding records were set for venture investment. But the record-setting months of last year might well be in our rearview mirror as investors become a little more cautious in awarding funding to startups.��

Still, the interest in investing in private companies—from a larger array of investors beyond the venture industry—is not going away. In fact, the competition to invest earlier seems to be increasing with Tiger Global’s partners reportedly setting aside a billion dollars of their own cash for investment in seed-stage funds to increase access to companies earlier in their funding cycles.

While the record-setting pace of venture investing may be slowing down from 2021’s tremendous highs, moves by deep-pocketed growth investors into the earlier stages of funding could actually increase competition to back younger startups and boost valuations at the earlier stages of venture.

Illustration:

Europe has on the unicorn board and . 1

Palo Alto-based Accel tops the list with 60 investments in European unicorns that have not yet exited. Not far behind, San Francisco-based Index Ventures counts 45 investments.��

Tied for the third most active investor in European unicorns by counts are London-based and Paris-based . London-based , originally from Oslo, is the fifth most active investor.��

All of these leading firms were founded in Europe except for Bay Area-based Accel, which has been on the ground in Europe investing in startups for the better part of two decades.��

Growth equity firms , , and are the next five most active investors by counts. These firms are mostly New York-based, except for SoftBank Vision Fund, which is headquartered in London. Berlin-based , which invests heavily at the seed stage, is listed as the ninth most active.��

Seed

It’s challenging to spot potentially highly-valued companies at the seed stage, when a startup is typically not much more than an idea.

and (both headquartered in London), Vienna-based , and Berlin’s Global Founders Capital are the investors with the highest portfolio counts investing at seed in private unicorns.

Leading at Series A and B

Accel led the highest count of investments, 18,�� in Series A and B rounds. Index Ventures was the next most active with 13 investments led, and Balderton rounds out the top three with seven rounds led at Series A and B.��

These leading investors at the early stage mirror the slots for the three most active investors by round counts. This means these firms invest early and continue to invest in subsequent funding rounds.��

Growth equity

Leading at late-stage is the SoftBank Vision Fund, which has placed the most dollars into European unicorns in rounds it has led or co-led over time. Tiger Global is the second most active lead investor at late stage, and Index Ventures and General Atlantic share the third spot.��

At each funding stage, a different set of investors is active in unicorns in Europe.��

Growth investing showed the largest increase in 2021 with a more than 500 percent jump year over year.�� Early-stage investments grew more than 140 percent.��

And seed-stage funding was down, as the companies that raised funding at seed in 2021 have not yet been anointed as high-growth companies.��

Further reading

• European Unicorns Raise Funding At Incredible Pace
• Europe’s Unicorn Herd Multiplies As VC Investment More Than Doubled In 2021
• Europe’s Most Active Startup Investors In 2021 Hail From Across The Globe

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Methodology

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.��

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding��

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Amounts invested in European unicorn companies also grew, more than quadrupling year over year, with $49.6 billion invested across 185 funding rounds, up from $11.8 billion in 2020.��

This amount represents 42 percent of total funding to European startups in 2021, invested across 120 unicorn-valued companies.��

Food delivery gain

The phenomenal pace of funding to many of these highly valued companies stands out.��

Berlin-based food delivery service , founded in 2020, raised $1.3 billion across three fundings from Series A through C within a six-month timeframe in 2021.��

Also headquartered in Berlin and founded in 2020, runs its own delivery-only stores. It raised seed through Series B funding within 12 months, totaling $1.1 billion. And delivery service from Turkey, founded in 2015, raised Series B through Series D funding in 2021 within a mere six months, raising close to $1 billion across three fundings.������

Food delivery was not the only sector to see multiple rounds within a shorter time frame in 2021.����

Multiple rounds

Gaming, recruitment, e-learning, fintech and crypto raised multiple rounds in 2021.��

• Paris-based football fantasy game raised Series A and B funding totaling $729 million;
• Madrid-based gig staffing platform raised Series C through E funding of $727 million;
• Vienna-based virtual learning platform , which�� connects students and teachers, raised $668 million across Series B, C and D rounds in 2021;
• Istanbul-based mobile puzzle game company raised A, B and C rounds totaling $460 million;
• Vienna-based crypto exchange raised B and C rounds totaling $445 million; and
• London-based buy now, pay later service raised Series B and C funding totaling $299 million.��

The bigger picture

While numbers are up significantly year over year for , Europe still represented only 14 percent of the 595 new unicorns minted globally�� last year.��

Of those unicorn companies created last year, 341 are U.S.-based—an almost 4x larger count than Europe.��

But Europe shows signs of catching up. The pace of new European unicorn creation in 2022 has already increased compared to 2021, with 13 new unicorns created. So far this year, France leads the count with , , and joining its unicorn ranks.

Further reading

• Europe’s Unicorn Herd Multiplies As VC Investment More Than Doubled In 2021
• Europe’s Most Active Startup Investors In 2021 Hail From Across The Globe

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Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

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But while the startup funding environment in 2022 could look very different from 2021—the year new records were set across almost every benchmark for venture funding—January, at least, remained very strong.

Despite the tumult, global funding to private companies last month clocked in at $61 billion, the fourth month above the $60 billion mark in the last 12 months, per Crunchbase data.

Close to $3 billion was invested globally at seed last month. Startup investors spent another $18 billion at early stage and just over $40 billion at the later stage and technology-growth stage, according to Crunchbase data.

New unicorns

On the unicorn front, 45 companies joined in January, matching the new unicorn count for December 2021, and up slightly compared to January 2021, when 43 new unicorns were minted. The Crunchbase Board now has just under 1,200 companies that have collectively raised $704 billion and are altogether valued above $4 trillion for the first time.

Unicorn fundings

In keeping with recent trends, some of the largest fundings went to European unicorns:

• Payments company from London bagged a $1 billion Series D valuing the company at $40 billion, making it the second-most highly valued European private company on the board; and
• Estonia-based delivery company raised $709 million in a Series F round.

Other new unicorn fundings included:

• India-based food delivery platform , which raised $700 million in a late-stage funding that values the company as a decacorn;
• Toronto-based raised $620 million; and
• Paris-based , a digital bank for SMBs and freelancers, closed on a $550 million Series D.

Growth equity continues to lead

Growth equity continued its lead in January 2022 by funding counts led and dollars invested.

Investors leading or co-leading the largest fundings last month included , and ��

The firms with the highest count of rounds led in January were Tiger Global, , , the SoftBank Vision Fund and , each with more than 10 fundings led.

Larger funds raised as venture capital is changing

Andreessen Horowitz closed on a host of new funds last month, with fund 8 at $2.5 billion, bio fund 4 at $1.5 billion, and growth fund 3 of $5 billion. Fintech investor closed on fund 7, totaling just under $1.2 billion and marking its first billion-dollar fund.

Other firms that closed on funds include , , , and , among others.

Sequoia Capital and crypto investor invested in market maker , further linking alternative investments in crypto alongside public market investing for venture investors.

In the past week, the public markets for technology stocks have begun to rally. , , and all reported strong fourth-quarter earnings, prompting their shares to rise. The earlier correction might well be overstated, which would be good news for late-stage private financings.

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• ($23B)

Methodology

Funding rounds included in this report are seed, angel, venture, corporate-venture and private-equity rounds in venture-backed companies. This reflects data in Crunchbase as of Feb. 2, 2022.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

Correction: This article was updated on Feb. 9, 2022 to correct the investors listed as leading or co-leading the largest fundings in January. The chart titled, “Investors That Led Or Co-led By Amounts In January 2022” was also updated with new funding amounts and counts.��

Consider that a decade ago, less than $8 billion was invested in European startups. In 2012, venture funding to the continent represented 13 percent of all global funding; in 2021 that figure was 18 percent.

Within Europe, $40 billion—or one-third—of all venture funding last year went to seed and early-stage startups. That’s not much less than the total funding raised for each year in 2020 and 2019.��

Two-thirds, or $76 billion, of funding last year was invested at late-stage, up more than 230 percent year over year, according to Crunchbase data.����

Last year 84 new unicorn startups from Europe joined , compared to 11 in 2020. The board currently counts companies.

Table of Contents

• Deal counts
• Late stage and technology growth
• Early stage
• Seed
• Leading countries
• Unicorn herd grows
• Looking forward as Europe matures
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Deal counts

In 2021 a�� larger number of European startups raised funding at early and late stage compared to 2020.��

Close to 600 companies in Europe raised funding at Series C or later. Over 1,600 companies raised funding at early stage and more than 4,700 companies raised at seed stage, Crunchbase figures show. 1����

Late stage and technology growth

Growth-stage investors increased their appetite for European startups with more investors that led or co-led rounds at $1 billion and above in 2021 compared to prior years. Late-stage and technology growth funding grew by more than 200 percent year over year to $76 billion, compared to $23 billion in 2020.��

The proportion of late-stage funding also grew from 51 percent of funding in 2020 to 66 percent in 2021, matching global trends.����

Early-stage funding

European early-stage funding in 2021 totaled $31.4 billion, up from $17.1 billion in 2020—marking 84 percent growth year over year.��

In 2021, 46 companies raised Series A or B funding rounds at or above $100 million, according to Crunchbase data. In 2020, 13 companies raised at those elevated amounts.��

Seed

The seed ecosystem grew in 2021 by 74 percent year over year, with $8.4 billion invested. The fourth quarter exceeded all prior quarters with $2.8 billion raised across more than 1,000 funding rounds.

Leading countries

Among the top six countries in Europe, both Germany and the Netherlands each grew more than 200 percent year over year and Spain grew more than 400 percent. Alongside the growth in funding, a greater proportion was invested outside of the leading U.K. markets.������

Unicorn herd grows

The is now home to companies, with more than half of those—84—joining in the past year alone.

They include:

• E-commerce company and delivery service from Turkey;
• Crypto exchange platform , connecting bank data service and peer-to-peer loan platform from the U.K.;
• Commission-free broker , grocery delivery company , and content delivery platform from Germany;
• Electric scooter company from Sweden;
• Gig staffing marketplace and online real estate platform from Spain;
• Global fantasy football company and blockchain security company from France;
• Crypto exchange form Austria; and
• Blockchain developer from Switzerland.

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ currently hosts five European companies valued above $10 billion, an unprecedented number. Across Europe, 17 countries�� raised funding above $1 billion in 2021 compared to eight in 2020.��

Europe matures

Of the top funded startups globally in financial services in 2021, five of them hailed from Europe. They include Stockholm-based buy now, pay later platform�� , London-based mobile banking platform , Amsterdam-based payments integrator and Berlin-based mobile bank and commission-free trade broker�� .

The European ecosystem is maturing and demonstrates similar trends to those seen in the North American market since 2018, with larger fundings at all stages and an increase in late-stage funding led by global growth equity investors.��

Silicon Valley firms are also actively setting up shop in Europe itself, as leading European companies no longer see the need to cross the pond to succeed.��

Crunchbase Pro queries relevant to this article

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Further reading

• Global Venture Funding And Unicorn Creation In 2021 Shattered All Records��
• North American Startup Funding Scaled Unprecedented Heights In 2021
• Venture Funding In Asia Shatters Record For Year And Quarter—Thanks In Large Part To China

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of Jan. 9, 2022.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

The most recent quarter/year will increase over time relative to previous quarters. For funding counts, we notice a strong data lag, especially at the seed and early stages, by as much as 30 percent to 40 percent a year out.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

For M&A transaction analysis, we include venture-backed companies and exclude companies that previously went public.��

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. Crunchbase includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

Global venture investment last year totaled $643 billion, compared to $335 billion for 2020—marking 92 percent growth year over year.

The figures underscore a dramatic change in the startup funding environment in the past year. Consider that at the end of 2020, almost a year into the pandemic, global venture investment had grown around 4 percent year over year.

Table of Contents

• Deal volume
• Late-stage funding
• Early-stage funding
• Seed funding
• Unicorn counts breach 1,000
• Record year for the public markets
• In summary
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Amid 2021’s meteoric increase in funding, late-stage and technology growth-stage startups raised $196 billion more than in the previous year, for a total of $413 billion in global venture funding raised at Series C or later.

Early-stage startups, meanwhile, raised $100 billion more last year than in 2020, collectively raising $201 billion, Crunchbase data shows. Seed-stage startups raised $10 billion more in funding in 2021, for a total of $29.4 billion.

Unicorn startups—those private companies valued at $1 billion-plus—were minted at an unprecedented pace in 2021, averaging more than 10 each week.

Financial services raised more venture investment in 2021—the most year-over-year growth among leading industries—than any other sector, followed by health care, e-commerce and transportation.

Less than a decade ago, annual global funding totals were well below $100 billion. In 2012, less than $59 billion in venture capital was invested globally.

Since 2018 global funding has grown 5x larger than it was in 2012.

And last year? Global venture investment in 2021 was more than tenfold that of�� 2012.

Venture funding to Latin America’s startups grew the most in 2021, with close to $19.6 billion invested in the region, or more than 300 percent year-over-year growth. Funding to European startups grew by more than 150 percent year over year, with close to $116 billion invested. The largest regions for funding remain North America, with $330 billion invested (91 percent growth year over year), and Asia with $165 billion invested (50 percent growth year over year).

Deal volume

The pool of startups raising funding in a given year has also grown. Since 2012, the number of unique startups funded on an annual basis has more than doubled, per Crunchbase data.

Late-stage funding

Consistent with prior years, late-stage and technology-growth funding raised the lion’s share of dollars in 2021. Close to two-thirds of all dollars invested went to more than 3,000 unique companies globally at Series C or later.

The number of startups raising late-stage funding rounds increased significantly in 2021. Counts and unique startups funded grew more than 50 percent, with 1,000 more startups raising Series C or later fundings in 2021 than in 2020, Crunchbase data shows.

Early-stage funding

From a dollar perspective, early-stage funding showed the greatest increase, at 100 percent growth year over year. Early-stage funding reached $201 billion invested in 8,000 companies last year, compared to $101 billion in 2020 to more than�� 6,500 companies.

Seed funding

Seed funding grew 56 percent year over year and totaled $29.4 billion in 2021, per Crunchbase data, with more than 17,000 startups around the world raising funding at seed. It’s worth noting that seed funding rounds are where we tend to find the largest lags for this data to enter the Crunchbase dataset, so those figures will likely go up.

Unicorn counts breach 1,000

Alongside this growth in overall funding, reached 1,000 concurrent private companies for the first time in 2021, then shot past that number. There are currently 1,148 companies on the ������Ƶ, which also added around $1.8 trillion in value in 2021 compared to its value toward the end of 2020.

New unicorns joined our board at a dizzying pace, with 586 new entrants—averaging more than 10 new unicorn startups per week. For comparison, 2020 minted 167 new unicorn companies, averaging three per week.

These unicorn companies have now raised a total of $682 billion over time, and are collectively valued at $3.8 trillion—an all-time high for the Crunchbase ������Ƶ.

Record year for the public markets

A record number of venture-backed companies also went public in 2021. Many of them went public at huge valuations, with 238 companies debuting on the public markets valued above $1 billion in 2021, compared with 61 in 2020.

A record number of companies went further, with 35 debuting above $10 billion in 2021 compared to 13 in 2020.��

In summary

Unparalleled venture investment went into technology startups in 2021, due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, the corresponding shift to cloud services, and the opening up of the public markets. Investors followed these trends with private equity investing at an extraordinary rate.

In 2021 alone, added $1 trillion in value, with its market capitalization topping $3 trillion on the first trading day of 2022. Both parent and were each valued at $1 trillion toward the end of 2020, with each adding�� almost a trillion more in value last year.

Not all technology companies performed as well as these leading companies in 2021, but the value created by new technology IPOs is unprecedented.

Looking forward, the growth in early-stage funding predicts a strong venture funding environment in 2022 as these companies continue to grow. And with more than 1,100 companies on the Crunchbase ������Ƶ as we start the new year, expect quite a few more to list in 2022.

Further reading

• North American Startup Funding Scaled Unprecedented Heights In 2021
• Venture Funding In Asia Shatters Record For Year And Quarter—Thanks In Large Part To China
• Europe’s Unicorn Herd Multiplies As VC Investment More Than Doubled In 2021
• SoftBank, Tiger Still Lead Pack Of Spendiest Startup Investors In The World
• Europe’s Most Active Startup Investors In 2021 Hail From Across The Globe
• Here’s What’s Driving Latin America’s Rank As The World’s Fastest-Growing Region For Venture Funding

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of Jan. 4, 2022.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

All funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. Crunchbase includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration: