It’s more than a feeling. According to new data coming out from the research firm Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association, venture firms are raising — and deploying — a lot less money than in recent years.
What to know: overall deal count in the U.S. has fallen more than 25% between the first quarter of last year and this year. Less than 3,000 deals were closed between the start of the year and the end of March, which doesn’t sound so terrible until you realize things haven’t been so slow, comparatively, since 2018 (see chart below).
Late-stage deal value also dropped like a boulder in the first quarter. While it’s obvious from recent headlines that the era of the “mega round” has come and gone (for now), it’s something else to read that late-stage values have declined for the seventh straight quarter to...
