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Rotten Apple? New York Tech Exits Have The Worst Quarter In Two Years

There were also no IPOs in Q3'15 and Q4'15. Despite this, there has been one New York-based, VC-backed tech exit at a $1B+ valuation in each of the past three years.

Overall in 2015, New York VC-backed tech companies saw record highs in funding, reaching $7B in equity funding for the year. But the year ended with a whimper: funding dropped 35% in Q4’15 on a quarterly basis. And exits also fared poorly in Q4’15: there were only 8 VC-backed tech exits.

We used CB Insights to analyze New York financing trends, exit activity, and active investors in exited NY-based tech companies.

Deals and dollars

New York-based VC-backed tech companies received more than $1B in funding in 6 of the last 7 quarters. But the 2015 results were largely driven by outstanding quarters in Q2’15 and Q3’15. The spike in Q3’15 is partially attributable to three $100M+ mega-deals, including a $275M Series E in FanDuel, $200M corporate minority in Buzzfeed, and $130M Series D in ZocDoc.

As already noted, funding in Q4’15 dropped 35% quarter-over-quarter from $2.2B in Q3’15 to $1.4B in funding in Q4’15. Q4’15 also saw the second lowest deal total since Q2’14 with 207 deals completed. Additionally, Q4’15 had less deals when compared to the same quarter a year prior which saw 214 deals in Q4’14.

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