What the numbers say: Generative AI, clean energy tech, esports, and future of work startups are a few of the standout sectors that raised substantial seed funding so far this year. On the other hand, investments in alternative proteins, consumer products, fast delivery, e-commerce, and cannabis companies declined. Relevance: XetHub, a collaborative platform for developing generative AI apps, raised $7.5M in seed funding from Madrona earlier this January. Within the energy sector, French magnetic confinement fusion startup Renaissance Fusion secured $16M in funding led by Lowercarbon Capital. Esports web3 and online mobile gaming platform Matchday secured $21M in seed funding. The largest round within the future of work domain went to construction crew management and scheduling startup Rivet, which nabbed a $5.3M round led by Defy.vc. Where to see the impact: Seed stage funding has shown resilience to the venture funding drop. However, the median time taken by seed startups to raise subsequent Series A rounds has increased to 25 months. Investors are taking longer to ink deals to ensure they can perform proper due diligence on potential investment opportunities. |
