Nico Grant reported on Friday at Bloomberg that, “After a prolonged retrenchment, startups in the U.S. are finally seeing better days.
“The Bloomberg U.S. Startups Barometer rose 0.6 percent from a year earlier, marking the first year-over-year increase since the end of 2015. Bigger funding totals and more exits buoyed the index.”
The article noted that, “Snap Inc. and MuleSoft Inc. are among the companies that went public in recent weeks. Initial public offerings give investors a chance to cash out and reinvest their money into younger businesses, making them a leading indicator of the funding environment for startups.
“‘We think there will be anywhere from 30 to 35 venture-backed IPOs this year,’ said Scott Raney, a partner at Redpoint Ventures, which manages $4 billion of investments. ‘By all measures, it feels like it’ll be a much better year.’
“Companies choosing to remain private have also helped the index. Rising deal sizes have been driven by mega financing rounds, including $1 billion raised by Airbnb Inc. and $300 million raised by WeWork Cos.”
Graph from Bloomberg News.
Nonetheless, Grant added that, “Two components of the Bloomberg U.S. Startups Barometer—the number of deals, and the number of companies that raise money for the first time—have still continued to decline from a year earlier.”
