June was a bounce-back month for early-stage activity, as deals topped 450 for just the second time in two years, and funding topped $1.2B, the second-highest monthly total of the past three years.
The report below details early stage — Angel and Series A — technology financings, and ranks some of the hottest early-stage tech companies funded in June 2015 based on momentum data from social media, news, and web traffic.
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
- Companies with the most momentum
FINANCING TRENDS
JUNE 2015: $1.23B INVESTED ACROSS 453 EARLY-STAGE DEALS
Early-stage tech deal activity rebounded after two straight months of decline, as startups raised $1.23B across 453 early-stage deals in June, just the second time in over two years that deals have topped 450.
MEDIAN TECH EARLY-STAGE DEAL SIZE REMAINS ABOVE $1.5M
The median round size across all early-stage tech deals fell to $1.6M in June, but it was the the third straight month of median deal size above $1.5M.
ANGEL DEAL SIZES REBOUND
After median Angel rounds fell for two straight months, they rebounded in June to $620K. Angel rounds have now been under the $1M level for 5 of the past 6 months in 2015. In contrast, 2014 saw just 4 months in which median Angel rounds were below $1M.
ACCELERATOR CLASSES BRING DOWN SEED FIGURES
Both median and average tech seed deal sizes plunged to $130k and $620k respectively, due to a large number of accelerator financings.
EX-ACCELERATORS SEED DEAL SIZES ABOVE $1M FOR ELEVENTH STRAIGHT MONTH
Removing all accelerator/incubator rounds, June came in at $1.12M, the eleventh straight month of $1M+ for median seed deal size when these rounds are excluded.
SERIES A DEALS TICK UP IN JUNE
The median Series A deal size ticked up slightly to $5.5M in June, marking the tenth straight month at $5M+, further cementing $5M as the new normal for Series A.
INTERNET DEAL SHARE REACHES 60% FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT MONTH
Internet startups made up 60% of all early-stage tech investments in June. This was the sixth straight month that Internet deal share has reached 60%. Mobile deal share grew to 31%, its highest monthly share since November 2013.
INTERNET FUNDING SHARE STAYS AT 60%+
In dollar terms, internet startups captured 60% of all funding in June 2015, their lowest funding share in 2015, but the sixth-straight month at 60%+. Mobile funding share reached 30% for just the second time since November 2013 behind large deals to Trucker Path, Swiggy, Envoy, and other startups.
LARGEST US EARLY STAGE DEALS RAISE $169M
Velo3D, a stealth 3D printing technology company, received the largest US early-stage tech deal in June, raising $22.1M from Khosla Ventures. HomeHero and Trucker Path rounded out the top 3, each raising $20M. The top 10 deals cumulatively raised $168.8M in June.
| Rank | Company | Sub-Industry | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Velo3D | Printing & Imaging Equipment | 22.1 |
| 2 | HomeHero | Marketplace | 20.0 |
| 2 | Trucker Path | Information Providers & Portals | 20.0 |
| 4 | ServiceTitan | Customer Relationship Management | 18.0 |
| 5 | Cure Forward Corp. | Health & Wellness | 15.0 |
| 5 | rewardStyle | Advertising, Sales & Marketing | 15.0 |
| 5 | Managed by Q | Supply Chain & Logistics | 15.0 |
| 5 | Envoy | Data & Document Management | 15.0 |
| 5 | Talkdesk | Customer Relationship Management | 15.0 |
| 10 | Nod Labs | Gaming | 13.5 |
500 STARTUPS IS MOST ACTIVE VC IN JUNE
500 Startups was the most active early-stage tech VC in June, with investments in Bento, Juxta Labs, and Unikrn, among others. Accel Partners and New Enterprise Associates rounded out the top 3.
| Rank | Investor |
|---|---|
| 1 | 500 Startups |
| 2 | Accel Partners |
| 2 | New Enterprise Associates |
| 4 | Data Collective |
| 4 | Blumberg Capital |
| 4 | Khosla Ventures |
| 4 | RRE Ventures |
| 8 | Bessemer Venture Partners |
| 8 | Greycroft Partners |
| 8 | Andreessen Horowitz |
| 8 | Innovation Works |
MOMENTUM
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 June 2015. Below are the rankings for each metric, showing only the 4th to 20th-place rankings. The full top 20 are only 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 | ||
| 2 | Login to CB Insights | 2 | Login to CB Insights | 2 | Login to CB Insights | ||
| 3 | Login to CB Insights | 3 | Login to CB Insights | 3 | Login to CB Insights | ||
| 4 | VenueNext | 4 | Grailed | 4 | dacadoo | ||
| 4 | Rancher Labs | 5 | Postergully | 5 | Managed by Q | ||
| 4 | Seedrs | 6 | Adzuna | 6 | Rancher Labs | ||
| 4 | Cure Forward Corp. | 6 | rewardStyle | 7 | Mayvenn | ||
| 4 | PayRange | 6 | Holachef Hospitality | 8 | Truebil | ||
| 9 | Dropoff | 9 | Haiku Deck |
|
9 | Envoy | |
| 9 | CRM Software | 10 | Truebil | 10 | PolicyGenius | ||
| 11 | Yieldify | 11 | Juniqe | 11 | Bitso | ||
| 11 | One Month | 12 | Printland Digital |
|
12 | Auth0 | |
| 13 | Arcadia Data | 13 | Smallable | 13 | HomeHero | ||
| 13 | EduKart | 14 | Vidooly Media Tech | 14 | Knyttan | ||
| 13 | Swiggy | 15 | One Month | 15 | Zane Benefits | ||
| 13 | Talkdesk | 15 | DocSuggest Healthcare Services | 16 | Voonik | ||
| 13 | Plotly | 17 | Sketchfab | 17 | Smart Vision Labs | ||
| 13 | PolicyGenius | 18 | Ralali | 18 | Juniqe | ||
| 19 | Illusive Networks | 19 | AffinityLive | 19 | Sketchfab | ||
| 19 | Unikrn | 20 | Seedrs | 20 | Volta Industries |
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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
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- 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