Among series A tech deals, there has been an uptick in the number of large “momentum” Series A rounds which are greater than $10 million. So is the phenomena carrying over to Seed VC round?
Survey says — Yes indeed.
Peeling back CB Insights venture capital data, we analyzed whether there has been a rise in mega seed VC rounds to tech startups (internet, mobile, software, hardware, electronics). Specifically, we analyzed seed rounds that included the participation of at least one venture capital investor and which were greater than or equal to $3M (or more than 3x the average tech seed round). Once identified, we looked at the most active investors in super-sized seed round.
Here’s what we found.
The Rise of the $3M+ Tech Seed VC Round
Since 2009, there have been 183 seed VC rounds at or over $3M. And the increase by year has been dramatic. 70% of super-sized seed VC rounds came since the start of 2012. 2013 saw more than 5x as many $3M+ seed VC rounds than 2009. But as with mega Series A rounds, these mega seed rounds are clearly anomalies and not some new normal. For example, the 68 $3M+ tech seed VC rounds comprise just 8% of overall seed VC deals in 2013. And the average size of tech seed VC deals remains within historical ranges.
The Investors Behind the $3M+ Tech Seed VC Round
There are four investors who have participated in 10 or more of $3M+ tech seed VC rounds since 2009. SV Angel led the list by participation, followed by First Round Capital and prolific CVC seed-stage investor Google Ventures, which participated in its largest seed VC financing ever last month in a $10M round to FinTech startup Kensho Technologies.
Andreessen Horowitz, which has participated in the highest number of $10M+ Series A deals, isn’t afraid to invest big sums at the seed stage as well and rounds out the top 3 in terms of number of super-sized seed deals. It’s super-sized seed investments include Clinkle, Domo and LendUp.
A spreadsheet of the investor chart above with the specific $3M+ tech seed VC deals can be found on the ‘Research’ tab, after logging in to CB Insights. Note: This research is only available to subscribers with access to CB Insider.