The writing was on the wall – was the venture capital industry not paying attention?
Last year was especially brutal for venture-capital funding to US startups. Funding to startups overall was down 31% from 2021, PitchBook data shows. But what about funding to the firms and funds themselves?
That number was actually the highest it’s been in 10 years. The amount of money VC firms raised themselves hit $170.8 billion in 2022, according to PitchBook data, up from $158.5 billion in 2021. So no, some VCs probably didn’t see the writing on the wall because the capital kept flowing in last year.
