Venture Studio Winners - Dec. 2022
December was stronger than November, but weaker than prior months
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Key takeaways
Venture studio startup funding was stronger in December than November
7 startups raised nearly $300mm in total equity, double that of November
One round was an inside round, another brought on a strategic partner for follow on financing
New investors include IGM Financial, Riverwood Capital, Harmony Partners and Skagen Conscience Capital
There were no reported exits
Headcount was flat vs ~1% growth in prior months
28% of studio startups grew in December vs 27% in November
21% had declining headcount in December vs 19% in November
The fastest growing startups were in cybersecurity, healthcare and vertical talent
Fastest growing studio startups
Studio startup summary metrics
Studio startup funding
Diagram Ventures startup Nesto, a digital mortgage platform, raised $80mm. The round was led by IGM Financial (press release)
Thrive Capital startup Cedar, a patient payment and engagement platform for hospitals, raised $68mm in follow on capital. The round was led by Memorial Hermann Hospital (Crunchbase)
AlleyCorp startup Pearl, which produces Medicare patient enterprise software, raised a $56mm on an inside round. The company had previously raised $20mm, led by A16Z (Crunchbase)
Greylock startup Gladly, a customer service platform, raised $55mm. The round was led by Riverwood Capital (VC News Daily)
Juxtapose startup Nectar, a DTC allergy care company, raised $17mm. The round was led by Harmony Partners (Press Release)
General Inception startup Partillion Biosciences, which is developing a functional single-cell analysis platform, raised $4.9mm (Crunchbase)
Zinc Labs startup BelleVie, a UK-based homecare service, raised £2.1mm. The round was led by Skagen Conscience Capital (Northstar Ventures)
Team Global startup Enpal, a Berlin-based solar power leasing firm for homeowners, secured an €855mm debt facility. Financing was led by Blackrock (Saur Energy)
Studio startup exits
There were no reported exits in December 2022.
Venture studios with highest hitrate (exits + growers)
Methodology and data limitations
Startup and studio data comes from our database of venture studios and their startups. See data methodology and limitations for more background.
In this analysis we use employee counts as a proxy for traction, but this is an imperfect metric. Some startups accelerate hiring ahead of revenue and other startups may be growing revenue quickly but have not accelerated their hiring. More recently, it’s common for even high performing startups to limit hiring or reduce headcount to prepare for future macro conditions.
Not all funding or acquisitions are announced, and those cases will be undercounted in the summary metrics above.
The table of fastest growing startups includes U.S. based startups launched since 2020. In the ventures studio table, We measure startups / year or startup velocity by taking the number of startups launched since 2017 and dividing by 5. This figure undercounts studios who do not disclose all their startups.
Conclusion
December was a stronger month for venture studio startup funding than November. Headcount growth, a proxy for traction, decelerated but still grew slightly. However, more startups conducted layoffs than in November.
The bright spots are again in cybersecurity, healthcare and vertical talent. These verticals are particularly well suited to venture studios - industries that benefit from high level partner relationships and the ability of the studio team to diligence many potential verticals to select the right entry point.
