The report below details early stage (angel – Series A) technology financings and some of the hottest early-stage companies that were funded in October 2014.
Specifically we looked at:
- Overall financing trends
- Mean & median deal sizes
- The month’s largest deals
- The most active VCs
- Which sectors are hottest
- Companies with the most social momentum
- News and web traffic data
OCTOBER EARLY-STAGE TECH FUNDING BOOMS TO $1.25B
Early-Stage funding in tech companies skyrocketed to a two-year high in October 2014, up 56% over the same month last year on a funding basis.
SILICON VALLEY EARLY-STAGE DEAL SHARE FALLS YoY
Silicon Valley continues to account for about 1/3 of all early-stage tech deals in the US, as most regions remained range-bound.
SILICON VALLEY DOLLAR SHARE SKYROCKETS
Early-stage tech funding share to Silicon Valley startups jumped drastically to 52% in October 2014 versus the same month a year prior. This was the result of the 3 largest US Deals all going to companies based in Silicon Valley.
EARLY-STAGE TECH DEALS CONTINUE TO INCH UP
October held September’s median deal size high across all early-stage tech at $2M, while average deal size increased to $3.42M, just off the highs seen in June 2014 of $3.65M.
ANGEL DEALS GET SMALLER
Peeling back the early stage activity, Angel deals dropped from recent high as October saw the median deal size come in at $0.7M. The average deal size fell to $1.71M, despite multiple $5M+ angel rounds.
MEDIAN SEED DEAL SIZE CONTINUES TO EDGE UP
While average seed rounds to tech startups reached their highest total over the past two years, median round size fell off September’s two-year high as the median seed round was $1.02M in October 2014. Overall, seed deals have been steadily climbing over time.
SERIES A ROUNDS AT $5M FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MONTH
Series A median deal size stayed at $5M in October, after a 25% increase in deal size in August. Multiple $20M+ Series A deals, propelled average deal size to $6.76M. While ticking up, this was still considerably lower than their May 2014 highs, a month which saw Takealot Online, Oscar Health, and Mozido all raise $80M+ Series A rounds, driving the average round size to $8.21M.
INTERNET CONTINUES TO GARNER ~2/3 OF ALL EARLY-STAGE TECH DEALS
Internet startups made up 66% of all early-stage tech deals in October 2014, only slightly off of a 2013 high of 71%. Mobile is the other big winner in tech with other areas (computer hardware, chips & semis (electronics) and software) making up less than 15% of deals.
DOLLAR SHARE FOLLOWS DEALS, AS INTERNET GROWTH SWALLOWS SOFTWARE
Four of the top five early stage deals in October, totaling over $150M, went to internet companies, driving the 69% dollar share and subsequently leading to a halving of dollar share to software companies from 8% in September to 4% in October.
HALF OF ALL EARLY-STAGE TECH DEALS DONE AT SEED STAGE
Seed stage companies accounted for over half of all early-stage tech deals yet again. All other stages were relatively range-bound.
LARGEST US DEALS CUMULATIVELY RAISE $170M
Four early-stage tech companies raised $15M+ rounds in October 2014, including stealth startup Enjoy Technology, Our Film Festival, Helium Systems, and Segment.io.
HIGH-TECH GRUENDERFONDS LEADS AMONG EARLY STAGE INVESTORS
Germany-based High-Tech Gruenderfonds was the most active early-stage VC in October, investing in over 6 companies in October. 500 Startups came in second while multiple firms tied for third.
COMPANY MOMENTUM
SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS TOPS GROWTH WHILE SPORTS TECH SLUMPS
Supply chain & logistics startups saw the largest deal growth of any tech sub-industry in October 2014 versus the same month a year prior, while sports tech companies saw a 70% drop-off from over 10 deals to less than 5 in October 2014.
TOP EARLY-STAGE TECH COMPANIES BY SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH
We used performance metrics to create momentum scores for both Facebook (Likes growth) and Twitter (Mention growth) for the companies funded in October 2014. To be included in each list, the company had to have over 100 likes in the previous month and 25 or more twitter mentions. Below are the 6-20 ranked companies. The full top 20 is available to CB Insights customers on the research tab.
EARLY-STAGE TECH COMPANIES SEEING MOST NEWS CHATTER
We also tracked overall news mentions as well as web traffic metrics (pageviews, reach, rank) for early-stage tech companies that received financing in October 2014. Below are the 6-20 ranked companies in each metric. The full top 20 is available to CB Insights customers on the Research tab.
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