BRIDGING THE VALLEY:
Innovative approaches to solving the early-stage funding crisis
In recent years, the funding market has seen a substantial increase in the average size of Venture Capital (VC) funds. From a median fund size of approximately €20 million in 2013, it has grown more than fivefold to over €105 million by 2019. Whilst this might seem like a positive development at face value – more money available means more money to invest in startups – practice shows that this trend is having a detrimental effect on early stage startups. As fund sizes grow, many VCs are forced to move towards larger ‘ticket sizes’ in order to effectively and efficiently invest the large amounts of capital they have been entrusted with.