FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2021
SEATTLE, January 14, 2021 – Though the past year had a lot of uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the US VC industry demonstrated its resilience and long-term mindset, achieving new records in total exit value, deal value and capital raised by VC funds, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, the authoritative quarterly report on venture capital activity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem jointly produced by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), with support from Silicon Valley Bank and Velocity Global. The US VC liquidity market exceeded expectations in 2020, with a group of massive IPOs driving exit value over 2019’s strong showing. 2020 seemed to mark an inflection point in determining other feasible options for startups looking to go public, most notably the soaring number of public listings of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) vehicles last year. On the dealmaking side, the earliest stages of venture were hit hard at the outset of the pandemic as sourcing, diligencing, and investing in these companies went fully online after years of leaning on in-person connections to close deals. While late-stage companies have been the strongest piece of the venture ecosystem in 2020, early stage activity rebounded over the second half of the year. Many in the industry assumed nontraditional investors would pull back from VC during the pandemic-induced crisis, but participation has only strengthened. The robust exit market from the past two years will continue to drive distributions back to LPs, reaffirming allocations to the strategy. VC fundraising activity remained a hallmark of strength in 2020 bolstered by public market liquidity from a strong IPO market, near-zero benchmark interest rates, and the large number of LPs underallocated to venture coming into the year.
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