2018.12.28
New Year Greetings
2018 was another year of thriving and growing global startup ecosystem:
WORLD
Startups are becoming Global Game Changers at the higher pace than ever:
Currently there are 300+ private companies in the world which are valued at $1B+ (Unicorns). One third of the list (104 companies) was filled during 2018. The total cumulative valuation of global unicorns is equal to $1031B.
EUROPE
European startups are narrowing the gap with the USA:
Big exits of venture-backed companies (Spotify, Adyen, Farfetch, Elastic, Avast, Zoopla, iZettle etc.) added up to $107B in value, compared with $136B in USA (Dropbox, Qualtrics, Github).
The importance of Venture Capital:
Since 1998, 152 companies in Europe and Israel reached $1B+ valuations, of which 63% were venture backed. Out the 25+ companies that reached $1B+ valuations in 2018, as much as 92% were venture backed.
BALTICS
The year of Mega VC-backed rounds:
Taxify - $175M
Vinted - $58M
AdHive - $17.5M
CoinMetro - $14.8M
Veriff - $7.7M
LITHUANIA
The total number of startups in Lithuania has skyrocketed:
The number of young, innovative companies has grown by 58% as of the last year. Currently there are 500+ startups in Lithuania.
The record high amount of VC investments:
Lithuania startup community succeeded in attracting over EUR 70 million (5x increase compared to the amount attracted last year).
OPEN CIRCLE CAPITAL
It was the remarkable and productive, first year, for our fund:
5 Investments were secured:
TIPI – Asynchronous team communication tool;
PERFECTION.AI – Platform that connects AI solutions to game dev needs;
TASKER – SaaS solution for managing tasks, processes and employees;
TEAMGATE – A simple and transparent full process Sales CRM system;
VISION TECHNOLOGIES - Platform for internet sales of prescription glasses.
2 additional investment agreements signed in December;
2 Investor Day events organized – 28 startups were able to pitch regional VC investors;
Open Circle Capital was among co-founding parties of Lithuania Business Angels Network (LITBAN – part of EBAN);
Fund partners were actively participating in regional VC ecosystem events: Slush, Wolves Summit, Switch etc.
Sources:
Dealroom.co - “How many European $billion+ tech companies are there“;
Startup Lithuania – “In 2018, Lithuanian startups attracted EUR 70 million in investments“;
CB Insights - “The Global Unicorn Club“;
Crunchbase.com - Database;
Dealroom.co – “European startups are narrowing the gap with the USA“.
