Venture capital backed companies in the United States raised nearly $130 billion last year, setting a record despite the COVID-19 pandemic, figures from data firm CB Insight released on Friday show.
While the investment total is up 14% from 2019, the number of deals is down 9% to 6,022. And so-called mega-rounds, deals that are $100 million or higher also hit a record amount and number with $63 billion raised in 318 deals.
The trend of big investments doesn’t look like it will slow in 2021 as there is a lot of capital chasing investments, say some venture capitalists.
Already on Thursday Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) Metric, a startup that provides customer analytics and improvement tools for online businesses, said it raised $200 million in its latest financing round, which values the firm at more than $1 billion.
In 2020, many of the mega rounds were raised by tech companies that got a boost from COVID-19, which drove up remote work and e-commerce.
