Global Funding Report 2017: Funding in Asia keeps growing fast

2017 has ended and it’s time to look back what was the startup funding scene during that year and how it compares to previous years.

2018 has begun and we have analyzed our startup funding data from 2017 and put it together in a report. How has the funding changed compared to 2016? Which regions are emerging and which are faltering? What did the average rounds look like? These are the questions the report aims to answer.

Startup funding had a modest increase in 2017

In 2017, startup funding increased by 2% compared to the previous year.

Startup funding in 2017 didn’t grow by a lot. Compared to the previous year, the funding grew by a modest 2.26%. Startups raised almost $120bn in funding in 2017, $3bn more than the year before.

Considering the fact that in 2016 the funding had decreased, a small increase in 2017 is a positive sign showing that the startup funding scene is slowly recovering from the fall.

While funding in North America is drying up, Asia is growing fast

Asia saw the biggest increase in startup funding out of all the regions, where funding more than doubled compared to the previous year. With this rate, Asia might soon pass North America regarding the amount of funding and become the leading region.

Asia saw the biggest increase in funding, where it more than doubled compared to 2016 reaching $40.2bn.

Startups in North America raised just over $61bn in funding, which is the most funding raised out of all regions, but it’s less than the previous year. North America had the biggest decrease of over -14% in startup funding out of all the regions compared to 2016.

Asia is becoming more dominant on a global scale

Asia has had the biggest increase regarding the global share of funding jumping from almost 5% to over 40%.

The share of global funding has shifted since 2013 and North America has been losing its significance on a global scale. The region’s share of global funding fell from 80% in 2013 to less than 50% in 2017.

Asia is a quickly emerging region jumping from a global share of 5% in 2013 to more than 40% in 2017.

If this trend continues, it won’t take long until Asia becomes the dominant region regarding the global share of funding.

ICO round sizes are significantly higher than early stage round sizes

ICO funding has exploded in 2017 and so have the deal sizes. Companies usually raise ICOs when they are in their early stages of growth but the average deal size in other early stage and series A funding rounds is significantly lower.

ICO’s don’t have a significant amount of funding but due to the small number of rounds, the average deal-size is significantly higher than in Early Stages and Series A rounds.

ICOs were also the main reason behind the massive growth of funding in the cryptocurrencies industry. You can find additional data about industry trends and more in the report.

Full report is completely free and available for download: markets.funderbeam.com/reports