???????? Hi friends!
I’ve run out of things to say about the weather. But so as to not disappoint, we’re going through a ‘heat’ wave’ in the UK.
Sadly though, I’m nowhere near a beach so am stuck with looking out of the window and daydreaming of crystal clear water and sand…
OK. I’m back.
As I mentioned in Tuesday’s Off Balance I’m switching up the content and scheduling again. From now on you’ll be getting The Lowdown straight to your inbox – a quick recap of some of the news within the ecosystem that’s caught my attention over the last couple of weeks.
Today I look at:
???? Sequoia’s fall from grace
???? Air Streets AI fund
???? Pretiosum’s second fund
???? Un-crowning the Unicorn
Don’t forget to check out this week’s Nothing Ventured pod where we take a look back at the last season starting with our conversations with all our friends from across the pond.
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Now let’s get into it
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The Lowdown
Before we start, I did a webinar with Anthony Rose, Founder of SeedLegals on the what, why, how and who of startup CFOs.
Check it out!
Now, let’s check in with what’s been happening in the wider tech and venture ecosystem this week…
Sequoia having a bad hair(cut) day.
Most people who have anything to do with venture know a little something about Sequoia, the firm that has, over the years, invested in amazing companies like Atari, Apple, Google, AirBnB, Instagram, OpenAI and… FTX…?
And that’s where the trouble starts.
As this article from the FT notes, many consider the investment and evangelising of FTX and founder Sam Bankman-Fried as a step too far.
The firm has also broken ties with its China fund (HongShan) and slashed its crypto fund.
The question is whether this is a firm under distress, or if, as others might look at it, a firm that is going back to doing what it does best.
I guess time will tell.
Air Street’s $121m fund to bet on AI
Nathan Benaich is pretty well known for his dedication to the world of AI – before it became the done thing I might add.
Air Street Capital’s State of AI reports are a must read for anyone interested in the space.
In fact Nathan was recently picked up and quoted by the guys on the All In Pod – maybe this means he’s in the arena (you’ll have to check out the pod to figure that one out ????????).
But this week the news is that Air Street has raised its second fund of $121,212,121 ????????
You might argue that raising an AI focussed fund in 2023 is no biggie, but the pedigree of Nathan and the team at Air Street is a cut above so it’s really pleasing to see this, especially given that overall market conditions remain,,, difficult.
Pretiosum closes in on Fund II
Whilst I was still wrestling with the format of this newsletter back in August, I neglected to give a shout out to one of my favourite people in the UK venture ecosystem – Yana Abramova – who has just done a first close on her second fund as a solo GP ????????
Yana is one of those people that just focuses on where she’s going and gets there.
It’s great to celebrate this milestone ????????
Where have all the unicorns gone?
I decided to have a look at how we’re tracking in terms of new unicorn creation (unicorns being companies valued at $1bn or more).
The data from Pitchbook is pretty telling.
We’ve gone from 612 new unicorns in 2021, to 352 in 2022 to… Just 60 so far this year ????
Either unicorns have gone back into whatever mystical lands they normally frolic around in or, and my money’s on this explanation, it was all a bit arbitrary to being with.
Now, whilst Pitchbook does give you most recent valuation, the problem with this is that it only really gets updated when an equity round is closed. So it’s quite feasible that many of those unicorns minted in 2021 especially are truly paper valuations.
Pitchbook – New Unicorns Yearly
I was also slightly surprised to see that India has 30% more unicorns than the UK but I guess when you’ve got 21x the population it’s more surprising they don’t have more.
And finally, in other news, Burning Man… isn’t burning.
In fact, the weeklong desert campout was disrupted when the area flooded just hours before the eighty thousand attendees were about to head home.
Zach’s post here, and thoughtful thread here explain his perspective on why he believes Burning Man is worth the effort.
The rain has made the burning man playa a lake the night before 80,000 people were about to start heading home.
Things just got interesting.
— Zach Coelius (@zachcoelius)
Sep 2, 2023
????And that’s a wrap for this edition of The Lowdown – I’d appreciate your feedback so just reply to this email if you’ve got something you’d like to say.
???? And if you think someone else might love this, please forward it on to them,
???? Finally, if you’re a fan of the Nothing Ventured podcast, please don’t forget to like, rate and subscribe wherever you get your pods – it really helps us spread the word.
That’s it from me so until next time…
Stay liquid 🙂
Aarish
