State of Startups 2021 Through The Lens of LETA Capital
Analyzing the inbound pipeline for the past year has become a tradition for Leta Capital. Once again we visualized the results of the past year and compared them with the results of 2020. Here is what we got.
Disclaimer. Inbound pipeline is formed by companies that send us pitch decks via a form on our website or info@leta.vc
Industries
Once again the industry leader has changed. Whereas in 2020 FoodTech was only beginning to gain momentum, in 2021 it has already taken a firm leadership position, primarily thanks to the boom in food delivery. In most of those companies, the focus is shifted to convenience for people thanks to investor money, rather than to an efficient operating business with the use of technological innovation. Almost everyone promises that they will become profitable on a large scale, but, at least for now, there are no such cases. Capturing market share remains the main priority, along with many other challenges. The main goal for startups in this industry is not to run out of funding at the most inappropriate moment and to have enough time to turn their forecasted business model into reality.
However, if you are a delivery startup and already have a positive unit economy, then feel free to send us your investment application to info@leta.vc. Especially send us your applications if you are a B2B software company — we have a huge experience investing in these ones.
It is worth mentioning that the VR/AR industry has fallen to the bottom this year. However, I predict that next year it will take at least one of the leading positions, if not the first. Thanks to the hype around metaverse, of course.
Investments and valuations
As well as in 2020, in 2021 we also recorded some of the data we had taken from presentations or conversations with founders. Frankly speaking, founders in their decks show the required funding amount more often than the valuation, so the data here is not directly comparable.
I think everyone noticed that the valuations of companies had risen over the last year. The oversupply of venture capital money has given some founders the ability to multiply expectations. Based on applications, founders already bravely wish for valuations over $10M at early stages.
As well as in 2020, the graph shows that a lot of companies need less than $1 million.
Usually, these are companies at the Pre-Seed stage. In general, we are ready to communicate with early-stage companies to track the dynamics of development and the potential of the team, but in terms of investments, our focus is still on the larger companies.
Do you run an innovative tech startup? We are investing in early-stage revenue-generating software startups across the world and would love to hear from you! You can reach us at leta.vc.
