As US$650b was poured into private companies by VCs in 2021, we look at the sectors seeing the most attention. Afterall, the Ubers of tomorrow are the Series A companies of today.
The market leaders of tomorrow are the startup unicorns of today. Before names like Uber, Airbnb and Coinbase became public powerhouses, they were surviving through VC fundraising.
Looking into private company funding can shine a light on the sectors with the most room for growth. Almost US$650b was pumped into private companies by Venture Capital firms in 2021. This smashed 2018’s record of ~$320b. There were more than 10 unicorns minted every single week as 500 companies burst past a billion-dollar valuation.
Where was this money going?
Of course, crypto was a huge benefactor. Over $30b poured into the space from VCs according to Pitchbook. Just a month ago, NYDIG closed out a US$1b funding round. The firm essentially offers fintechs access to the crypto space. They provide the infrastructure for companies to build their own crypto trading platform on top of. See some of the other crypto startups which raised hundreds of millions here. Crypto generally falls into the FinTech category, the most popular investment sector last year.
The health sector saw US$29b in funding across 700+ deals. Noom was the biggest, raising US$540m. The company specialises in weight loss with apps built around calorie and exercise tracking. Ro was the second biggest healthcare winner, raising US$500m. Ro offers mail-order subscription services for prescription drugs.
Finally, the Space Race was recommenced in 2021 as billionaires launched themselves past the atmosphere. While Branson and Bezos headlined the show, on a fundamental level space activity has never been greater. By June, more rockets were launched in 2021 than all of 2020.VCs contributed over US$6b to the still-nascent industry.
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