Is Boston Riding Out the VC Winter Better Than Others

Is Boston Riding Out the VC Winter Better Than Others

Author

Peter Walker

|

Read time: 

1 minute

Published date: 

June 20, 2023

Of 5 major VC cities, Boston showed the smallest decline in both median Series A valuations and total capital from Q1 2022—a resilience that stands out in...

LinkedIn: Is Boston Riding Out the VC Winter Better Than Others

Data from Series A fundraising across the US may surprise you.

Is Boston riding out this VC winter best?

Chart below shows the percent difference (from Q1 2022) in median pre-money valuations (orange) and total invested capital (black).

Obviously, given everything else going on, you would have expected both the orange and black lines to have fallen in each of our 5 chosen areas. And they mostly have - but the differences are pretty stark.

In SF, valuations are down about 30% but invested capital is down 78%. Ouch. Still more investment happening here than in any other area but the drop has been steep.

New York

  • Largest gap between the valuation decline and invested capital decline. Does this mean NY will see Series A vals fall further?

San Jose (Silicon Valley, really)

  • Only area where valuations are just a bit above Q1 2022 for Series A. Lots of AI influence here.

Boston

  • The area where invested capital and valuations have moved basically in lockstep - and are quite healthy, all things considered

Los Angeles

  • Valuation decline has actually outpaced investment decline in this area. Fairly unique pattern.

If valuations at this early stage are driven in large part by capital flows, we may see valuations decline further for SF, NY, and San Jose. Could be wrong here though, would love your thoughts on where Series As are headed over the rest of 2023.

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#cartadata #SeriesA #valuations #fundraising #startups #founders

Peter Walker
Author: Peter Walker
Peter Walker runs the Insights team at Carta, focused on discovering key data and narratives across the private capital ecosystem. In a former life, he was a marketing executive for a media analytics startup and led the data visualization team at the Covid Tracking Project.

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