As per the research conducted by Yostartups for 2018 startup funding, 23,000 investment deals were signed by startups around the world, with total investments amounting to $393 billion. Additionally, another 6,572 deals were also signed, for which the investment figures were not disclosed. This marks an increase of 23.3% in the total investment amount as compared to 2017. There were close to 21,000 companies from across 131 countries that raised start-up funding and investments in 2018.
The United States has taken the lead as the top country with the highest startup funding in 2018 at $157.03 billion, followed by China at $110 billion, India at $11.2( and flipkart deal of $16 billion buyout) and the United Kingdom at $22.7 billion. The top 4 countries in terms of the number of deals are the United States, United Kingdom, China and India with 7568, 1570, 1505 and 798 deals signed respectively.
Startup funding in 2018, saw seed rounds taking the lead with the maximum number of deals signed in this category; while on the other hand, private equity and Series C have outshone the other types of funding rounds in terms of the investment amount. There were 8182 deals of venture funding which included Series rounds from A through J that raised $247.8 billion. Seed funding witnessed 3,777 deals in all, raising total investments amounting to $6.9 billion.
The top sectors in the global limelight for startup funding in 2018, were software & SaaS, fintech, medtech, media & entertainment, and health & wellness. These sectors have recorded the highest number of deals in 2018 accounting for 52.75% of the total disclosed deals. The top overall industries that performed exceptionally by raising impressive amounts last year include fintech, e-commerce, transportation & logistics, media & entertainment, and medtech. These industries received a combined investment of $230.9 billion. The average investment amount to be raised in 2018 by startups is $28.8 million, thanks to the rise of late-stage rounds, that has helped in achieving this number.
Globally, the startups have more access to Seed Capital and Late Stage Funding. It?s becoming easier to raise a seed round across most of the countries. However, the next rounds are getting tougher, once the startup crosses the valley of death after the first funding. Although there is abundant capital available for late stage deals, it's getting increasingly difficult for startups to prove the business model and get funded.
Asia Raises the Benchmark as a Fast Growing Global Hub
Asian startups raised around $179.8 billion in startup funding in 2018, surpassing the total investments raised by other startup prominent regions like Europe and North America. The startups in East Asia (China, Japan, HK SAR, China Taiwan, and South Korea) raised $119.7 billion, and startups in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, and the Maldives) raised $38.9 billion becoming two prominent areas in lending Asia this status. The startups in South-East Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Cambodia) followed with $15.9 billion and the West Asian startups (Qatar, Israel, Turkey, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Yemen, Armenia and Bahrain) ranked next with $5.2 billion of the total startup funding in 2018.
North America moves down to the second place.
North American countries other than the United States did not attract much of startup funding in 2018. Cumulatively, the investments amount raised in Canada, Bermuda, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Honduras sum up to $7.3 billion. This decline has helped elevate Asia's status as the epicentre for all kinds of startups funding activities in the world.
Europe Ranks Third Globally Owing to Low Investments in South and East Europe
Startups in Europe raised around $49.1 billion in funding in 2018, with North and West Europe holding a higher concentration of these investments over the other regions. The United Kingdom recorded $22.7 billion of investments with fintech, software & SaaS, medtech, media & entertainment, and real estate grabbing a majority of this amount. While North Europe (United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, Iceland, Estonia, and Latvia) raised total investments worth $29.8 billion, the startups in West Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Luxembourg) witnessed around $16.56 billion of investments flowing in. Startups in Germany and France have acted as a significant catalyst in propelling the growth of investments and the ecosystem in the region. South European (including Greece) and East European startups saw relatively low levels of investments at $2.1 billion and $0.5 billion respectively.
Africa yet to see its true potential
Startups in Africa witnessed around $2.54 billion in investments in 2018. A large share from these total investments was raked in by startups in South Africa with total funds amounting to $1.4 billion, while the East, North and West African startups raised $0.6 billion, $0.24 billion and $0.23 billion respectively.
Long way to go for Oceania and South America to Achieve Make it to the Top
Startups in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) lag globally owing to the low levels of investments in 2018. The total investments received stood at $2.8 billion, with only the fintech sectors in these countries witnessing more than $1 billion in investments. South America too failed to raise competitive amounts with cumulative investments of $3.4 billion. None of the sectors in the South American startup ecosystem was found to cross the billion dollar mark in the investments received.
Performance Highlights for Top Countries
Startup Funding In United States of America for 2018
American startups share a staggering 44.4% of the total funding in 2018 at the global level. This large share was brought in owing to the high amount of investments picked up by the fintech, medtech, and software & SaaS sectors in the US. Regarding the investment amount raised, the US holds a 38.5% share in the total investments with seed funding surpassing the global average funding rates.
Startup Funding In China for 2018
China trails closely behind the US with a 27% share in the total investments raised globally. Both seed funding and venture funding rounds reported transactions that are much higher than the global average funding rates. Chinese startups bagged 9.2% of the total deals completed this year. Some of the soaring sectors in the Chinese startup ecosystem this year were the transport & logistics, media & entertainment, and the fintech industries.
Startup Funding In India for 2018
India witnessed deals that made up for 4.7% of the total deals globally and attracted 9.5% of the total startup investment amounts raised. E-commerce, food & beverage, and fintech are three of the exceptionally performing startup sectors in India this year. While seed funding amounts were quite lower than the global average, venture funding amounts were twice the global venture funding figures this year.
Startup Funding In United Kingdom for 2018
The top three sectors that have brought in the maximum startup investments in the UK in 2018 are fintech, software & SaaS, and hardware & manufacturing. The UK attracted 8.8% of the total deals and 5.6% of the total investments raised in 2018. Seed funding rounds in the UK recorded a good performance and deals that were at par with the global average funding amounts; however, venture funding rounds in the country were quite low in comparison to the global venture funding rounds.
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Media Team - Yostartups
Email: Info@yostartups.com