Technology

Funding for tech startups has been on an inevitable upswing for years, a result of a virtuous circle where wildly successful tech companies on the public markets whet the appetites of investors and investors& backers to find more diamonds, a push met by a pull from the rush of talent with entrepreneurial aspirations out to put that money to work. 2019 has felt a bumper year in that longer trend, with 9-figure rounds ($100 million or more) and &unicorn& statuses so prevalent that the numbers have started to cease to be news items in themselves.

With 2020 now just days away, a look at the 50 biggest funding rounds for start-ups in the past year draw out some trends. We&re pulling out the top five below for a closer look, but itinteresting too to see some of the other trends emerging across the rest of the pack.

Automotive remains a huge pull when it comes to raising big bucks: part of the reason is because the space is capital intensive, as it straddles both software and hardware (that is, not just equipment but cars). Capex is another reason for some of the other big investment rounds of the year, such as the biggest of them all, for an internet data center startup.

Asian companies figure massive in the list, and account for 7 of the 10 biggest rounds in the list.

Small players: there were only three companies in health tech in the top 50, only one in education technology, and only three in the areas of AI and robotics. I don&t know if that means these areas simply don&t require as much capital investment, or if these challenges are simply not as interesting right now for investors as those more squarely focused on revenue generation and business needs. Hopefully the former, as the wider tech world faces a lot of cynicism and skepticism from the public, and could use a better profile from solving actual problems.

Note: for this piece we have focused on investments made in pre-IPO technology companies, and on new equity investments rather than secondary or debt rounds.

Venture capital investment exploded across a number of geographies in 2019 despite the constant threat of an economic downturn.

San Francisco, of course, remains the startup epicenter of the world, shutting out all other geographies when it comes to capital invested. Still, other regions continue to grow, raking in more capital this year than ever.

In Utah, a new hotbed for startups, companies like Weave, Divvy and MX Technology raised a collective $370 million from private market investors. In the Northeast, New York City experienced record-breaking deal volume with median deal sizes climbing steadily. Boston is closing out the decade with at least 10 deals larger than $100 million announced this year alone. And in the lovely Pacific Northwest, home to tech heavyweights Amazon and Microsoft, Seattle is experiencing an uptick in VC interest in what could be a sign the town is finally reaching its full potential.

Seattle startups raised a total of $3.5 billion in VC funding across roughly 375 deals this year, according to data collected by PitchBook. Thatup from $3 billion in 2018 across 346 deals and a meager $1.7 billion in 2017 across 348 deals. Much of Seattlerecent growth can be attributed to a few fast-growing businesses.

Convoy, the digital freight network that connects truckers with shippers, closed a $400 million round last month bringing its valuation to $2.75 billion. The deal was remarkable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was the largest venture round for a Seattle-based company in a decade, PitchBook claims. And it pushed Convoy to the top of the list of the most valuable companies in the city, surpassing OfferUp, which raised a sizable Series D in 2018 at a $1.4 billion valuation.

Convoy has managed to attract a slew of high-profile investors, including Amazon Jeff Bezos, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and even U2Bono and the Edge. Since it was founded in 2015, the business has raised a total of more than $668 million.

Remitly, another Seattle-headquartered business, has helped bolster Seattlestartup ecosystem. The fintech company focused on international money transfer raised a $135 million Series E led by Generation Investment Management, and $85 million in debt from Barclays,Bridge Bank, Goldman Sachs and Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year. Owl Rock Capital, Princeville Global, Prudential Financial, Schroder - Co Bank AG and Top Tier Capital Partners, and previous investors DN Capital, Naspers& PayU and Stripes Group also participated in the equity round, which valued Remitly at nearly $1 billion.

Up-and-coming startups, including co-working space provider The Riveter,real estate business Modus and same-day delivery service Dolly, have recently attracted investment too.

A number of other factors have contributed to Seattlelong-awaited rise in venture activity. Top-performing companies like Stripe, Airbnb and Dropbox have established engineering offices in Seattle, as has Uber, Twitter, Facebook, Disney and many others. This, of course, has attracted copious engineers, a key ingredient to building a successful tech hub. Plus, the pipeline of engineers provided by the nearby University of Washington (shout-out to my alma mater) means thereno shortage of brainiacs.

Therelong been plenty of smart people in Seattle, mostly working at Microsoft and Amazon, however. The issue has been a shortage of entrepreneurs, or those willing to exit a well-paying gig in favor of a risky venture. Fortunately for Seattle venture capitalists, new efforts have been made to entice corporate workers to the startup universe. Pioneer Square Labs, which I profiled earlier this year, is a prime example of this movement. On a mission to champion Seattleunique entrepreneurial DNA, Pioneer Square Labs cropped up in 2015 to create, launch and fund technology companies headquartered in the Pacific Northwest.

Boundless CEO Xiao Wang at TechCrunch Disrupt 2017

Operating under the startup studio model, PSLteam of former founders and venture capitalists, including Rover and Mighty AI founder Greg Gottesman, collaborate to craft and incubate startup ideas, then recruit a founding CEO from their network of entrepreneurs to lead the business. Seattle is home to two of the most valuable businesses in the world, but it has not created as many founders as anticipated. PSL hopes that by removing some of the risk, it can encourage prospective founders, like Boundless CEO Xiao Wang, a former senior product manager at Amazon, to build.

&The studio model lends itself really well to people who are 99% there, thinking ‘damn, I want to start a company,& & PSL co-founder Ben Gilbert said in March. &These are people that are incredible entrepreneurs but if not for the studio as a catalyst, they may not have [left].&

Boundless is one of several successful PSL spin-outs. The business, which helps families navigate the convoluted green card process, raised a $7.8 million Series A led by Foundry Group earlier this year, with participation from existing investors Trilogy Equity Partners, PSL, Two Sigma Ventures and Founders& Co-Op.

Years-old institutional funds like SeattleMadrona Venture Group have done their part to bolster the Seattle startup community too. Madrona raised a $100 million Acceleration Fund earlier this year, and although it plans to look beyond its backyard for its newest deals, the firm continues to be one of the largest supporters of Pacific Northwest upstarts. Founded in 1995, Madronaportfolio includes Amazon, Mighty AI, UiPath, Branch and more.

Voyager Capital, another Seattle-based VC, also raised another $100 million this year to invest in the PNW. Maveron, a venture capital fund co-founded by Starbucks mastermind Howard Schultz, closed on another$180 million to invest in early-stage consumer startups in May. And new efforts like Flying Fish Partners have been busy deploying capital to promising local companies.

Therea lot more to say about all this. Like the growing role of deep-pocketed angel investors in Seattle have in expanding the startup ecosystem, or the non-local investors, like Silicon Valleybest, who&ve funneled cash into Seattletalent. In short, Seattle deal activity is finally climbing thanks to top talent, new accelerator models and several refueled venture funds. Now we wait to see how the Seattle startup community leverages this growth period and what startups emerge on top.

2019 was a packed year for commercial space and space startups, but 2020 isn&t likely to see any kind of slowdown. In fact, itgoing to get a lot busier in a few key ways that could have the effect of driving even more enthusiasm, energy and funding into the emerging space tech industry.

The biggest thing happening in space next year is easy to pick out already: NASACommercial Crew program. Both of the partners the agency selected to work with it on returning human launch capabilities to American soil, Boeing and SpaceX, are in the process of accomplishing the last key things they need to get done before actually putting astronauts on board their spacecraft, and it seems very likely that 2020 is when we&ll finally see those missions fly.

Herea breakdown of that and other things to watch for 2020 in space tech that will define the industry, and determine whether it continues to be a hotbed of investment and activity, or whether it slows in terms of VC and startup interest.

Crew flights

Like I said, the commercial crew program will be the single most important thing to watch in 2020 in terms of the space industry. Thatnot because SpaceX and Boeing/ULA gaining the ability to launch astronauts on behalf of NASA will directly open up opportunities for startups and entrepreneurs: Itnot likely going to, in fact.

Instead, actually successful crew flights from commercial space companies will see as a broad confidence booster and a sign that the infrastructure required for a true space-based startup boom is proceeding apace. Commercial crew flights are primarily intended to give the U.S. a key strategic capability in the global space technology space, but they also open up a new, continuous revenue stream for the larger and more established companies in this ecosystem & Boeing and SpaceX for now, with the potential to open it up even further.

Having two companies with spacecraft certified for human flight in the U.S. will mean those players have more revenue and available capital to re-invest in the ecosystem, including through partners and suppliers, and it also potentially means that private commercial astronauts will have more opportunity to take a ride and embark on missions for commercial research, experimentation and development in space.