Business
VC Interest In Pitch Decks Up 62% In Q1, According To 2021 DocSend Startup Index
One Year Into Pandemic, VCs' Growing Demand For Deals Outpacing Startup Supply by 53% SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dropbox (NASDAQ: DBX) today
About this update from Dropbox, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"One Year Into Pandemic, VCs' Growing Demand For Deals Outpacing Startup Supply by 53%\n\n\nSAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dropbox (NASDAQ: DBX) today announced that DocSend, a secure document sharing platform, released quarterly data based on its Pitch Deck Interest metrics that show venture capital investor interest and engagement (demand) with startup pitch decks (supply) were up 62% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to Q1 of 2020. During the 12 month timeframe, overall VC demand has increased 53% faster than the available supply of startup pitch decks.\n\n\"Accounting for the accelerating national vaccine rollout, we knew the first quarter would represent the beginning of a rebound, but I don't think anyone expected VC and startup activity to be this high; investor confidence is booming and beginning to outpace the supply of startups seeking fundraising,\" said Russ Heddleston, DocSend co-founder and CEO. \nIn High Demand, Startup Founders Seek Investor Attention to Raise Capital En Masse \nQ1 saw a 41% Y-Y increase in the overall supply of startups seeking funding — pitch deck link creation per founder jumped from 6.25 in 2020 to 8.79 in 2021. \nWhen founders share their pitch decks with VCs using DocSend, they tend to create a new unique link each time to tailor their pitch decks to the specific investor. Therefore, more link creation means founders are sharing their decks more widely with more VCs and suggests they are less intimidated by the economic uncertainty of the pandemic.\nOne explanation for the unprecedented surge could be that startups conceived during the depths of the pandemic are now seeking funding in full force, and they are confident in their chances of securing term sheets. \nAdditionally, the wave of activity could also represent the pent-up demand from more conservative founders who were waiting for positive signs of economic recovery before taking their startups to the next stage. \nAlong with the dramatic year-over-year increase, links created per founder in Q1 were substantially higher than Q4 of 2020 — 7.4 versus 8.79, a 19% quarter-over-quarter increase. \nInvestor Attention: A Valuable, Increasingly Scarce Commodity \nWith more supply comes greater demand on VCs' time — the average time investors spent reviewing decks was down 17% year-over-year in Q1 and down more than 3% from ...