Q1 Wrapped
Global venture funding totaled $66 billion in Q1 2024, up 6% on the quarter but down 20% year-over-year. Despite the overall drop, specific sectors like AI and healthcare continued to draw significant investment, highlighting areas where investors are still willing to place their bets.
In Europe, total investments fell back to levels not seen since before the pandemic. The investment landscape is particularly tough in fintech, which saw a 16% decline from the previous quarter, while digital health experienced a surge in funding, driven by several large rounds. Even in a tough funding climate, Europe saw the rise of new high-value startups, including Figure, a robotics firm that achieved a valuation of $2.7 billion.
The Asian venture capital market also faced challenges, with total funding for the quarter dropping to its lowest level since 2016. The region saw a significant reduction in late-stage and growth funding, with decreases exceeding 40% compared to both the previous quarter and the same period last year. Despite this overall slowdown, certain tech-focused sectors like digital health and retail technology managed to attract more investment, bucking the general trend of decline.
Seed-stage activity remained robust across the board, specifically in Australia and India, and broadly across Europe. We expect this momentum to translate into an uptick in Series A and B rounds this year. AI continued to be a prominent theme in both public and private markets, as bellwether NVIDIA returned 82% in the first quarter, and the largest private deals in APAC and Europe were also in AI. The successful IPOs of Astera Labs and Reddit, occurring within a day of each other and boasting first-day trading gains of 72% and 48% respectively, contributed to the positive sentiment.
There are signs of life again in crypto, as the approval of Bitcoin ETFs led the cryptocurrency to new highs, rising 67% in the first quarter. The crypto/web3 startup landscape has also heated up, in part due to positive effects from legal wins last year involving Ripple and Grayscale. We expect growing validation for cryptocurrencies and continue our support for startups in this space.
Keep scrolling to find out more about what we were up to in Q1 and where to meet us next. ⬇️
📈 Funding
Griffin
UK’s first full-stack BaaS platform with a banking license
We’re excited to continue our support of Griffin — which recently obtained a UK banking license and has launched as a fully operational bank — with their recent $24M funding round alongside fellow investors Notion Capital, EQT Ventures, NordicNinja VC, and Breega!
“Our continued support for Griffin is a testament to its extraordinary progress to date. As the UK’s first full-stack BaaS platform with a banking licence, Griffin is the partner of choice for fintechs and brands to build innovative financial products with a seamless client experience,” said MMV’s Ryan Collins.
Qoala
Indonesian omnichannel insurtech
We’re thrilled to continue backing Qoala by co-leading their $47M Series C alongside PayPal Ventures, with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners, OHANA HOLDINGS, Flourish Ventures, Eurazeo, and AppWorks. Qoala plans to use the funds to expand its embedded insurance business (B2B2C) across Southeast Asia and to intensify their tech-driven initiatives, seamlessly integrate artificial intelligence across all channels, and elevate the experience of customers, agents, and partners.
“We have been extremely impressed by Qoala’s remarkable growth since our first investment in 2019. The team’s consistent hard work and high-performance are evident in their market-leading position. We are proud to continue our support as they continue to redefine industry standards and promote financial inclusion in the region,” said MMV’s Ryan Collins.
🗞️ Portfolio news
Sugar.fit
Congrats to sugar.fit on securing an additional $5M in funding from B Capital in an extension of their Series A! The funds will be used to help increase brand presence while strengthening research and development.
Headquarters (HQ.xyz)
NFT reporting is live on Headquarters! If you’re building a global communities or holding collectibles, make sure to check it out.
Oncoshot
Oncoshot has teamed up with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Together, they will leverage Oncoshot’s real time health insights to drive forward oncology research.
Qritive
Qritive has received approval from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) Singapore for their Prostate module. More information about the product can be found here.
💼 Portfolio Jobs
Looking for a new role? We have 70+ thriving companies in our portfolio with over 400 open positions across a wide range of job functions and locations. Click here to explore.
🎤 Community
In January, we hosted an online workshop on ESOPs for our portfolio companies together with Qapita. The workshop delved into the nuances of ESOP scheme design and the importance of aligning them with market benchmarks across APAC. This initiative reflects our commitment to value creation by offering founders, finance and HR leaders the tools and knowledge to effectively manage and communicate the value of employee equity.
Also in January, Carlos wore something more formal than his usual shorts and sandals to reconnect with ecosystem partners in Jakarta at the annual Deal Street Asia Jakarta conference.
In February, Ryan headed to Barcelona to speak at 4YFN on the VC Insights on Digital Health panel.
We were thrilled to host London Business School’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Club as part of the club’s flagship London VC Trek. MMV’s Alix participated in deep dive discussions, enabling students to gain perspectives on investment strategies, industry trends, and the future of venture capital.
Alix also represented MMV at the Insurtech Insights Europe Conference in London on a panel discussing emerging insurance risks. Go Alix!
In March, Carlos and Arindam — CEO of EduFund — attended Delhi’s India Fintech Festival.
Also during the first quarter, Yara headed stateside to Los Angeles to attend ViVE 2024. Weijian and Vivian attended _Southstart in Australia, and Sam headed to Switzerland to attend Start Summit.
Catch the MMV team
Q2 is shaping up to be an eventful quarter. Carlos will be attending Money 2020 Asia in Bangkok at the end of April. The APAC team will head to Sunrise in Sydney and Digital Health Festival in Melbourne. Come join us at our mixer co-hosted with portfolio company Qapita in Sydney — sign up here!
In Europe, Alix will be heading to Berlin for Fibe. Catch Ryan and Alix at Money 2020 in Amsterdam in June. Yara will be at LSX World Congress 2024 and Deep Tech Momentum in Berlin, before heading off to Bits & Pretzels HealthTech in Munich with Max. HLTH is also coming to Europe this year — find Ryan, Yara and Europe’s health ecosystem in Amsterdam this June. Climate Tech founders and investors, be sure to connect with Alix at Hack Summit in Switzerland.
🗞️ More about us
To learn more about MMV Europe & APAC, check out our website, follow our blog on Medium, and follow us on LinkedIn.
