VC Snapshot: October

PitchBook November 03, 2015

October closed with nearly $7.4 billion of capital invested in venture rounds globally, a relatively modest amount compared to past months. The month didn’t end without its fair share of large deals and mega-valuations, however. Eight companies received funding at a valuation of $1 billion or higher, including 23andMe scoring $115 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion and AppDirect bringing in $140 million in late-stage funding at a valuation of $1.35 billion. SaaS platforms received the largest percentage of the deal flow at almost 30%, while roughly half of the total capital invested was distributed over the 45 largest financing rounds of the month.

647 different VC investors were active during October, 21 of which participated in five or more deals. New Enterprise Associates led all VC investors by completing 16 investments, followed closely by Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners at 15 and 12 deals, respectively. 418 (65%) of the active firms are headquartered in North America; 21% are based in Europe.

Hedge fund Coatue Management closed the largest VC-focused fund of the month with its Coatue Private Fund II ($1B), which will focus on late-stage and growth financings of telecomm, media and technology companies. 16 vehicles closed on $100 million or more, including Y Combinator Continuity Fund I ($700M), U.S. Venture Partners XI ($281M) and Highland Europe Technology Growth II ($373M).

Capital exited eclipsed $4.4 billion in October, with 85 VC-backed exits completed via buyout, IPO or acquisition. A total of 75 companies were acquired, one of the largest being medical device company Twelve, which was acquired by Medtronic for $458 million. Of the 10 IPOs that were completed, seven included companies in the healthcare industry, though IT company Pure Storage completed the largest offering by raising $425 million.