Fueled By Mega-Funds, VC Fundraising Hits Record In 1Q by PitchBook
While there is much talk throughout the industry of a cooling in VC investing, that slowdown doesn’t seem to have translated to venture fundraising. The first quarter was filled with numerous announcements of firms closing massive new funds, with several securing north of $1 billion in capital commitments. GGV Capital is the latest to post such news, yesterday revealing it closed on multiple vehicles totaling $1.2 billion. The firm joins Founders Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Accel, which each announced $1 billion or more of fund commitments last month.
Fueled by these mega-funds, 1Q saw a record total of $16.7 billion raised for VC funds—the next closest quarter was 2Q 2015 with $15.8 billion. This recent rise in fund size may be linked directly to the growth in deal value at every stage of the VC lifecycle. It will be interesting to see how this trend in larger funds plays out in the coming months, especially if deal values continue to rise.
