The record funding pace continues into the third quarter of 2021 with $160 billion invested globally, matching the huge funding increase in the second quarter and up 78% year over year.
Prior to 2021, global funding had not reached over $100 billion in a single quarter.
Funding in 2021 has far superseded that amount, with the first quarter tracking at $135 billion, the second quarter reaching $159 billion, and the most recent quarter peaking at $160 billion.
Larger funding dominated, with $103 billion (64%) invested in 400 companies that raised rounds of $100 million or more this past quarter. A further $57 billion was invested in over 4,700 companies in rounds below $100 million.
Funding amounts at $100 million or more grew 97% year over year, while rounds below $100 million increased as well by 51% in the same time frame.
In this past quarter, 142 companies joined the Crunchbase Unicorn Board, compared to 145 in the second quarter. These past three quarters are up significantly over all prior quarters for new unicorn companies valued in a private financing above $1 billion for the first time with the board now listing over 1,000 companies, collectively valued north of $3.4 trillion.
Early-stage funding grew the most, up 104% year over year and 11% quarter over quarter, with over 1,900 companies raising at this stage globally.
Despite funding lags for the most recent quarter relative to past quarters, early-stage counts are up year over year by 19%.
Late-stage funding is over $100 billion in the second and third quarters of 2021. Late-stage and technology growth funding dipped quarter over quarter, but is up significantly year over year by 69%.
Over 800 unique companies raised across 849 investments, which was also up year over year compared to just under 600 companies that raised in the third quarter of 2020.
Seed funding counts and amounts typically increase over time, as these deals are added to the Crunchbase dataset after the close of the quarter.
In 2021 to date, we find 26 venture-backed companies that debuted over $10 billion. This contrasts with 2020 where half that count, 13 companies, were valued over $10 billion at IPO.
The largest debut this past quarter was Robinhood. The company raised $1.9 billion and was valued at $32 billion at IPO.
Some of the largest venture-backed public debuts in the last quarter did not follow traditional IPO routes. Lucid Motors, Ginkgo Bioworks and Cazoo went public via SPACs and Wise, Amplitude and Warby Parker via direct listings.
We are on track to hit a blockbuster funding year with $454 billion invested through the first three quarters of 2021. This contrasts with $332 billion invested globally in 2020 across all funding stages.
With many growth companies raising funding at an unprecedented pace, the IPO market is predicted to remain strong through the end of the year and into 2022.
The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of Oct 5, 2021.
Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.
The most recent quarter/year will increase over time relative to previous quarters. For funding counts, we notice a strong data lag, especially at the seed and early stages, by as much as 30% to 40% a year out.
