Global venture capital investments tumble in Q3

The value of venture capital investments worldwide dropped 30% in the third quarter to $56.93 billion, while the number of funding rounds declined 34.9% to 3,323, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows.

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Largest funding rounds

Companies in the Asia-Pacific region had five of the 10 largest funding rounds in the quarter.

China-based Runpeng Semiconductor (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., a developer of integrated circuits and chips, secured about $1.73 billion in the largest funding round globally in the period. Investors included private equity firms Chengtong Fund Management Co. Ltd., Faw Equity Investment (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Huaxin Investment Management Co. Ltd., Qianhai Zhongchuan Equity Investment Fund Management Co. Ltd. and Shenzhen Bao'an District Industry Investment Guidance Fund Co. Ltd.

Two European transactions placed second and third in terms of value. Swedish steel producer H2GS AB raised about $1.61 billion from a group of investors including Altor Equity Partners AB, Just Climate LLP, Kinnevik AB and Temasek Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd.

Verkor, which designs and manufactures battery cells, closed its series C funding round with a total of $1.55 billion on Sept. 14. Private equity firms Bpifrance Investissement SAS, CMA CGM Ventures, Demeter Investment Managers, EQT Ventures and KIC Innoenergy SE participated in the funding round.

Investments by sector

The technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector dominated global venture capital investments in the third quarter, attracting 35.5% of the total value. Healthcare, which accounted for 16.1% of the total fundraising, was next.

The application software industry raised $8.23 billion, the biggest amount raised within the TMT sector, despite a 41.5% decline in venture capital investments compared with the third quarter of 2022.

Among the top 10 TMT industries with the largest aggregate transaction value, semiconductors was the only industry that saw year-over-year growth in venture capital investments.