Venture funding in Asia got off to a brutal start in 2023, declining 33% from the previous quarter and a massive 57% from the first quarter of last year.
In a report on Friday (April 7), Crunchbase, which tracks trends, investments and news of global companies from start-ups to the Fortune 1000, said total venture funding in the region fell to US$15.2 billion — the lowest in at least the past three years.
The firm said that a year ago, first-quarter funding in Asia hit US$35.5 billion and was US$22.4 billion in 4Q2022.
The first quarter saw only 1,358 funding deals, a 5% drop from 4Q, and a huge 42% dip from a year ago when 2,329 deals were announced, it said.
Late stage and growth
Crunchbase said the biggest drop among all rounds year-on-year was in late-stage and growth rounds — both in terms of dollars and percentage.
Late-stage and growth rounds only saw US$7 billion in investment — a 64% drop from 1Q2022, which saw US$19.7 billion, Crunchbase data showed.
The firm said those big rounds also declined quarter-on-quarter, dropping 29% from the US$9.9 billion realised in 4Q of last year.
It said the numbers of those big late rounds also dipped to 148 announced deals — dropping almost 50% from the 289 deals in 1Q2022 and 29% from 4Q.
Crunchbase said the drop is not unexpected.
It said when investors started to pull back in the market early last year, late-stage growth rounds were the first affected, as VCs shied away from high valuations.
Sources: theedgemarket