With the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in March, we decided to include April data in our first 2020 report to better illustrate any early indicators of effects of the pandemic on the financing environment. Additionally, we have broken out specific statistics by month and industry (technology/life sciences/other) to offer more targeted insights. During the first four months of 2020, Cooley handled 465 disclosable deals representing more than $13.4 billion of invested capital. Median pre-money valuations remained relatively strong across deal stages, though valuations did decrease in Series C transactions. In a possible preview of future quarters, the percentage of down rounds increased to 16% of transactions during April, a level not seen since Q4 2016.
Deal terms during the four month period were mixed. The percentage of deals using full participating liquidation preferences decreased to 7.4% of transactions in April, compared to 7.6% of transactions from January to March. However, there was a slight increase in the percentage of deals involving recapitalizations compared to prior quarters. This will be a data point to monitor in the coming months.
For more venture financing trends, view our interactive data visualization on Cooley GO: cooleygo.com/trends
Deal Volume
160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20
0 Jan 2019 Apr 2019 Jul 2019 Oct 2019 Jan 2020 Apr 2020
12 mo. moving avg. Life sciences Other industries Technology
Median Pre-Money Valuation
Seed Series Series C
$ million $350
$300
$250
$200
$150
$100
$50
$0 Jan 2019 Apr 2019 Jul 2019 Oct 2019 Jan 2020 Apr 2020
Seed Series
Series A
Series B
Series C
$ billion $6
Amount Raised
$5
$4
$3
$2
$1
$0 Jan 2019 Apr 2019 Jul 2019 Oct 2019 Jan 2020 Apr 2020
12 mo. moving avg. Life sciences Other industries Technology
$ million $2,500
Median Pre-Money Valuation
Series D
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0 Jan 2019 Apr 2019 Jul 2019 Oct 2019 Jan 2020 Apr 2020
Series D or higher
Up, Down and Flat Rounds
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2*
2018
2019
2020
Up
Flat
Down
Liquidation Preference: Participation Features
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2*
2018
2019
2020
Capped
Full
None
Pay-to-Play
25% 20% 15% 10%
5%
0%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2*
2018
2019
2020
Recapitalization
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2*
2018
2019
2020
Tranched
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2*
2018
2019
2020
Life sciences
Technology
*Q2 2020 comprises only April deals
About the Cooley Venture Financing Report This report provides data reflecting Cooley's experience in venture capital financing terms and trends. Information is taken from a subset of the transactions in which Cooley served as counsel to either the issuing company or investors. For more information regarding this report, please contact one of our Cooley lawyers.
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