'Cause I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I lose this fight... 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance... if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.
- Rocky
- Rocky
Six years into my angel investing activities feel like round 6 of a boxing match. Somewhat banged up, and you know you will have to go the distance. Let’s look at what happened in this last round.
Picture credit: fanpop.com
Public markets and private tech startups
2015 had ended with late stage companies reducing headcount by 10-25% to focus on revenue growth and profitability. But within the first week of February, valuations of SaaS companies were ravished and fell by more than 50%. The DJII had a low point on February 11, but by late spring valuations had recovered before U.S. election fever started setting in. the public market took a sharp upturn after the U.S. election and the DJII ended with at 19762.60, close to historical highs.
Market uncertainties resulted in ‘only’ 14 tech companies going public in 2016, with Talend, Twilio, Nutanix, Coupa some of the more notable names. There is an almost unbelievable pipeline of 182 unicorn companies, the majority of which could go public within the next 18-24 months.
In line with prior years, the median size of the seed round in the first half of 2016 continued to increase to $625 thousand. Areas where seed investments were concentrated: Automotive, AR/VR,M machine learning, food and beverage, and agriculture.
My startup portfolio
It was a year where my portfolio companies honed operational procedures, fine tuned product, hustled to get contracts. Investment highlights:
- Readypulse merged with Experticity In January
- RetailNext raised additional funding in Q2
- I made follow on investments in DecisionNext and 3ten8.
Net-net, the value of my portfolio stayed relatively flat: One significant markup versus one investment entering the deadpool. No exits and no liquidity.
My dealflow was the usual mix of proprietary deal flow including the Band of Angels and from notable accelerators such as Y Combinator, Angelpad and Alchemist. I plied the startup scene in Germany and started to some interesting prospects in enterprise related software. The Silicon Valley based accelerators continued to graduate interesting startups, but there was nothing to move me over the line, and for the longest time it seemed the year might pass without new investments. But in November I put down money twice
- I made an early stage investment in Shopinbox. ShopInbox helps consumers claim refunds from their credit card companies when prices drop, take advantage of extended warranties, and more.
- I also made an investment Practice Fusion. The Band of Angels was the earliest investor in the company, and Practice Fusion has gone on to dominate the EHR space for small medical practices and continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
Unfortunately, Evergive entered the deadpool. James and Mary made the tough decision to sell the technology and close the company. Evergive had set out to simplify the way Americans donate $270 Billion annually and quickly focused on faith based organizations. However, the team had to realize that the TAM of engaged members is but a small subset of the market. This divide appears to be intrinsic to the broader faith sector and poses an insurmountable hurdle in achieving venture scale adoption metrics.
Things that kept me engaged and interested
I spent time with 3DPrinterOS, 3ten8 and Savvy on operational topics and fund raising related activities. I wrote 11 blog posts on founders, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other topics relevant to my investing theses and activities.
And I came to realize that just like a boxing match, these were just the early rounds. The contest will continue for many years to come, and some rounds will be better than others.
“To become a champion, fight one more round.”
– ‘Gentleman Jim’ Corbett
