European early-stage VC funds expect to deploy €2.8 billion in SaaS companies by the end of the year
Summary
With the early-stage tech sector experiencing high levels of uncertainty around funding, AlbionVC, with support from Google Cloud, has created the aVC index to inform founders whether fundraising market conditions are improving or deteriorating. During the period, only 4% of all portfolio companies received externally led term sheets despite reported ample investor capital and softer valuations. Robert Whitby-Smith, Partner at AlbionVC, said: “The background of our first aVC index is the slowest start of the year in my 20-year career as an early-stage tech investor and the data reflects this with a quarter of funds reporting no new term sheets in Q2. The aVC index also showed that dry powder is not driving additional risk-taking, with 25% of funds choosing not to issue new term sheets in Q2 despite ample available investment capital. Oksana Stowe, UK&I Head of VC and Startup Ecosystem at Google Cloud, said: “The aVC index provides a vital tool for the SaaS ecosystem, empowering founders with valuable insights to navigate their fundraising journey in the forthcoming quarters.”