April saw over $1.1B in funding, going to early-stage startups across over 400 deals. The report below details early stage (angel – Series A) technology financings and some of the hottest early-stage tech companies based off of social media, news, and web traffic momentum that were funded in April 2015.
Specifically this report covers:
- Overall financing trends
- Mean & median deal sizes
- Which sectors garnered the most investment
- The month’s largest deals
- The most active VCs
- Which sub-industries are hottest
- Companies with the most momentum
FINANCING TRENDS
APRIL 2015: $1.18B INVESTED ACROSS 419 EARLY-STAGE DEALS
Early-stage Tech investment activity fell off March’s highs, as startups raised $1.18B across 419 early-stage deals in April. It’s clear that $1 billion is the new normal for early-stage funding.
MEDIAN DEAL SIZES BOUNCE BACK
The median round size across all early-stage Tech deals bounced back to $1.7M after March saw its lowest figure since February 2014.
ANGEL BACK DOWN TO EARTH IN APRIL
After mean and median deal sizes popped in March, Angel rounds fell to $1.15M on average, and $0.70M on a median basis. Median angel round sizes have now fallen below $1M in 3 of the past 4 months.
SEED DEAL SIZES REBOUND IN APRIL
Median Seed Tech deal sizes in April bounced back to $1M, up drastically from March’s low of $0.63M. The $1M Seed looks like a new normal, as 6 of the last 7 months have been within $100k of $1M.
MEDIAN SERIES A HITS $5M+ FOR 8TH STRAIGHT MONTH
After March saw multiple $50M+ Series A rounds, April saw none, as average Series A deal size fell to $6.91M. Median Series A deal size was $5M, marking the eighth straight month at $5M+.
INTERNET DEAL SHARE TOPS 60% FOR 4th STRAIGHT MONTH
Internet startups made up 68% of all early-stage tech investments in April. This was the fourth straight month that Internet deal share has topped 60%. Mobile startups fell slightly month over month, taking 25% of all deals versus 28% in March.
INTERNET FUNDING SHARE JUMPS TO 68%
Internet startups captured 68% of all funding in April 2015, their second highest funding share in 16 months. Mobile fell to just 22% funding share, while all other sectors remained range-bound.
LARGEST EARLY STAGE DEALS RAISE $214M
Vlocity, a CRM company founded by Veeva Systems’ founders was the largest US early-stage Tech deal in April, raising $42.8M from Salesforce Ventures and Accenture. MX and Patch of Land rounded out the top 3, as the top 10 deals cumulatively raised $213.7M in April.
Rank | Company | Sub-Industry | Amount ($M) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Vlocity | Customer Relationship Management | 42.8 |
2 | MX | Accounting & Finance | 30.0 |
3 | Patch of Land | Marketplace | 23.6 |
4 | Honor Technology | Health & Wellness | 20.0 |
4 | Navdy | Computer Displays & Projectors | 20.0 |
6 | CNEX Labs | Big Data Storage | 18.8 |
7 | Peloton Technology | Supply Chain & Logistics | 16.0 |
8 | Green Chef Corp | Food & Grocery | 15.5 |
9 | Artivest Holdings | Asset & Financial Management & Trading | 15.0 |
10 | Vulcun | Gaming | 12.0 |
500 STARTUPS IS MOST ACTIVE VC IN APRIL
500 Startups was the most active early-stage Tech VC in April, with investments in PlateJoy, Shots, and Eaze Solutions, among others. Foundry Group and SAIF Partners rounded out the top 3.
Rank | Investor |
---|---|
1 | 500 Startups |
2 | Foundry Group |
3 | SAIF Partners |
4 | Andreessen Horowitz |
4 | Founder Collective |
4 | New Enterprise Associates |
4 | East Ventures |
4 | Bain Capital Ventures |
4 | First Round Capital |
4 | Upfront Ventures |
MOMENTUM
TRAVEL AND SUPPLY CHAIN TOP SUB-INDUSTRIES
Supply Chain & Logistics startups saw the largest deal growth of tech sub-industries in March 2015 vs. the same month a year prior. Alternatively, mobile Travel saw the largest decline, as the sole deal done was a $2M seed investment to Paris-based misterbnb.
HIGH-BUZZ EARLY STAGE TECH COMPANIES
We tracked overall news mentions as well as web traffic metrics (pageviews, reach, rank) and Twitter mention growth for early-stage tech companies that received financing in April 2015. Below are the 4-20 ranked companies in each metric. The full top 20 is available to CB Insights customers on the Research tab.
News Mentions | Web Traffic | Twitter Mention Growth | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Company | Rank | Company | Rank | Company | ||
1 | Login to CB Insights | 1 | Login to CB Insights | 1 | Login to CB Insights | ||
1 | Login to CB Insights | 2 | Login to CB Insights | 2 | Login to CB Insights | ||
1 | Login to CB Insights | 2 | Login to CB Insights | 3 | Login to CB Insights | ||
3 | Number26 | 4 | Swiggy | 5 | Knotch | ||
5 | TokenOne | 5 | Voices.com | 6 | Love Mondays | ||
6 | CurrencyFair | 6 | SalesLoft | 7 | Storygami | ||
6 | Music Messenger | 7 | IdblogNetwork | 8 | Ayogo | ||
6 | Headout | 8 | PepperTap | 9 | LoveTheSign | ||
6 | DemoChimp | 9 | Nearpod | 10 | CurrencyFair | ||
10 | PepperTap | 10 | CodeFights | 10 | RealtyShares | ||
10 | Navdy | 11 | Vulcun | 12 | Carbon3D | ||
12 | Clarifai | 12 | Viralize | 13 | Take Eat Easy | ||
12 | npm | 13 | StarOfService | 14 | Atooma | ||
12 | CompareAsiaGroup |
|
14 | Tracxn Technologies | 15 | Dietox | |
15 | TradeGecko | 14 | Scroll Media | 16 | WhatFix | ||
15 | Jukely | 16 | Tackk | 17 | Benchling | ||
15 | Take Eat Easy | 17 | LoveTheSign | 18 | CrowdyHouse | ||
15 | TouchBistro | 18 | Yerdle | 19 | Navdy | ||
15 | OpenFin | 19 | RealtyShares | 20 | TradeGecko | ||
19 | InstaBrand | 20 | schooX |
Want more early-stage tech financing data? Login to CB Insights or sign up for free below.
This report was created with data from CB Insights’ emerging technology insights platform, which offers clarity into emerging tech and new business strategies through tools like:
- Earnings Transcripts Search Engine & Analytics to get an information edge on competitors’ and incumbents’ strategies
- Patent Analytics to see where innovation is happening next
- Company Mosaic Scores to evaluate startup health, based on our National Science Foundation-backed algorithm
- Business Relationships to quickly see a company’s competitors, partners, and more
- Market Sizing Tools to visualize market growth and spot the next big opportunity