For venture-backed startups, four years is an unusually long time to go between funding rounds.
However, these are unusual times.
When startup investment hit record levels in 2021, scores of companies nabbed big rounds at valuations that turned out to be overly optimistic. In the following years, many didn’t raise new funding.
Some were able to forge ahead with existing reserves. Others tried to raise, but couldn’t manage to at acceptable terms. Quite a few didn’t make it, while others quietly persevered.
In recent months, however, we’re seeing some of the more patient startups finally clinching fresh funding. Per Crunchbase data, at least 18 heavily funded startups 1 that last raised in 2021 or earlier have reported new financings this year.
Big rounds in the mix
Some of these new financings are on the large side, too.
Take Grammarly, which announced last week that it secured $1 billion in funding from longtime investor General Catalyst. Previously, the 16-year-old company had raised $400 million in venture funding, with its last round in 2021.
Or consider Innovaccer, a San Francisco-based provider of AI-enabled tools for tracking and analyzing healthcare data. It landed $275 million in Series F funding in January, after raising its last round in late 2021.
In the spacetech sector, meanwhile, Loft Orbital, a provider of pre-assembled satellite platforms and pre-booked launches aimed at offering customers a speedier route to orbit, announced a $170 million Series C earlier this year, after a funding gap of more than three years.
Often unclear how valuations have fared
Most of the time, companies raising a new round after a lengthy fundraising gap do not disclose their most recent valuation. This leaves the number open to some speculation. And given the prevalence of pumped-up valuations in 2021, we’d expect quite a few heavily funded companies took a cut in order to secure fresh financing.
Many companies are also closing on smaller sums relative to their prior rounds. For instance, Saildrone, a developer of autonomous sea vessels for use in defense and other industries, picked up $60 million last month from Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund. Saildrone’s previous fundraise nearly four years ago totaled $100 million.
Another example is Flock Freight, a platform for managing shared truckload shipping that picked up a $60 million Series E three weeks ago. That’s a lot smaller than its 2021 Series D of $215 million.
Raising capital is still a favorable indicator
All things considered, raising capital after a long break is still generally a positive indicator, although more favorable for some than others.
As we can see in our list of recent investment recipients, some companies that take a few gap years between funding rounds haven’t lost their luster with investors. Others may have taken some major pivots or accepted a valuation cut to stay aloft.
As the amount of time since the market peak grows longer, we’ll stay tuned to see how many more of these companies that haven’t raised funding for years manage to secure fresh capital.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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