The cold funding month hot streak continued into August, with just $225M across 32 deals announced. Startup investors tend to flock to the Mediterranean for the northern hemisphere summer, so August is always a slow month for funding news. This August was especially quiet, however: half the dollars and deals announced in August 2021.
Has funding slowed? Yes. But, there is some nuance to it— a little nuance called... the bridge round.
In venture land, a bridge round is a round of financing that tides a startup over until its next larger round of funding... and they're the hottest thing to hit startup funding since the Patagonia reversible vest.
The number of bridge rounds is soaring, but their details may never be revealed publicly. Why? Because they're mostly small, at flat or lower valuations than the startup's previous round, and often funded by prior investors.
Put simply, not very sexy to talk about. |