Last Updated on 2024-10-11
If you are interested in being noticed by top venture capital firms, there are things you need to prepare. Find out what you need to know about VCs and which firms are popular today.
To manage business operations, you need capital. Your money helps you pay for rent and equipment, and cover payroll costs. Some entrepreneurs spend out of pocket. But that isn’t always sustainable. Your savings or your initial investment might run low.
One way to help fund your business is by getting investors to pitch in. There are top venture capital firms that choose to invest in a specific niche. For example, if you’re in tech, there are investors out there willing to invest in you. Get a suitable investment by making sure your business is profitable enough to get more investors.
Entrepreneurs have to make sure that the business keeps thriving with proper funding. That’s where venture capital funding comes in. But what is it?
Related Video: Startup Funding
What is Venture Capital?
Venture capital is a type of financing, particularly for startups and small businesses. Also, a VC firm is a private entity that looks at companies with high long-term growth potential.
Venture capital firms help manage money from high net-worth individuals, insurance companies, pension funds, and other private entities. That is why it is good to get your business to gain a good track record to get noticed.
Venture capital firms make decisions based on the following factors:
Related Video: How to be a VC
Solid Management
In any business, management is one of the most important factors that investors consider. They need to know if the members of the management team have experience in building businesses.
Suppose you are looking to get investment from one of the top venture capital firms; prepare a list of experienced managers in your organization. VCs would prefer to invest in a business led by professional managers. Hence, a great business plan will not get so much attention if your managerial team is inexperienced.
Market Size
Top venture capital firms like to get their money’s worth. What is a good product if nobody buys it, right? Your business must be able to attract an addressable market size to get the support of VCs. Most times, top venture capital firms will expect your business plan to include detailed market analysis.
Competitive Edge
VCs look for businesses that have a competitive advantage. The company they will support must be able to generate profit before their competition enters the market.
Risk Assessment
Venture capital firms are taking investment risks. Of course, they want to mitigate the risks while you’re busy producing ROI. That’s why you must take a risk assessment for your business. Make sure that you are clear about your accomplishments and your goals.
Top Venture Capital Firms
Here is a list of top venture capital firms you can turn to today according to ranking:
1. Accel
Accel participated in investment deals that totaled $14.8 B in the last 12 months. Notable investments include Facebook, Verizon Communications, Walmart, Adobe Systems, and Cisco.
2. Index Ventures
Index Ventures is an international VC firm that holds offices in SF and London. They participated in deals that amounted to $9.9 B in the past year. They also invested in Facebook with Accel. Other notable investments include Roblox, Ayden, Revolut, and Slack.
3. LocalGlobe
LocalGlobe is an early-stage seed investor based in London. Also, they participated in deals that totaled $620 M in the last 12 months. Notable investments in their roster include Robinhood, Wise, Figma, Zoopla, and Algolia.
4. Entrée Capital
Entrée Capital is one of the top venture capital firms that provide multi-stage funding. They focus on innovative startups and businesses internationally. Notable investments include Adyen, Deliveroo, Rapyd, Monday.com, and Gusto.
5. Point Nine Capital
Point Nine Capital is another early-stage venture capital firm that primarily focuses on online marketplaces and SaaS. The latest fund size amounted to €100m by November 2020. Some of their notable investments include Delivery Hero, Zendesk, and Revolut.
6. Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners is another venture capital firm that makes global investments. Their latest fund size is $2.5B by February 2021. Some notable investments they have are Shopify, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Canva, and Wix.
7. Eurazeo (IdInvest Partners)
Eurazeo (IdInvest Partners) is a private equity venture capital firm that specializes in direct investments. Some of their notable investments include Grab, Farfetch, Sunrun, Moncier, and Action.
8. Seedcamp
Seedcamp makes investments of smart capital into pre-seed and seed-stage startups. They can provide €200k with a lifelong education platform, business network, and funding to support severe and ambitious founders. Their notable investments roster includes Revolut, UiPath, Wise, Hopin, and Sorare.
9. Mangrove Capital Partners
Mangrove Capital Partners is a top venture capital firm that is contrarian, bold, and patient with its investments. They help innovative founders who start to grow globally disruptive companies. Some notable investments include Wix, Skype, Gong.io, WalkMe, and Letgo.
10. Balderton Capital
Balderton Capital is one of the leading European VCs that is focused exclusively on funding European-founded startup businesses. Last June 2021, their fund size amounted to $680 million. Their notable investments include The Walt Disney Company, Revolut, Sinch, The Hut Group, and Yoox Net-a-Porter.
11. Cherry Ventures
Cherry Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund that champions founders situated in Europe. Their latest fund size last June 2019 totaling €175m. Some notable investments they have are Cazoo, AUTO1 Group, FlixBus, Xometry, and Forto.
12. Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is another leading venture capital firm with offices in the US, India, China, Hong Kong, and the UK. Their latest fund size amounted to $195M last February 2021. Notable investments include Apple, Google, Pinduoduo, Meituan, and Nvidia.
13. SV Angel
SV Angel is a venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley. They are participating in deals that amounted to €487m in the last 12 months. They invested in Facebook, Square, Snap Inc., Stripe, and Airbnb.
14. Boldstart Ventures
Boldstart Ventures is a first check venture capital firm. They are a lead investor for pre-production founders. Since February 2021, their latest fund size is at $75 million. Some notable investments in their roster include Spotify, Akamai Technologies, Gong.io, Snyk, and LivePerson.
15. Northzone
Northzone is another venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage European tech startups. Since November 2019, their latest fund size amounted to $500 million. Notable investments include Klarna, Spotify, Hopin, Kahoot!, and AVITO.
The ranking of these venture capital firms is determined by the number of unicorns and future unicorns. The level of their deal activity also defines them.
Venture Capital and Business
When you want to get the proper funding for your business, you have to start doing your homework. Drill down on your business plan, set realistic goals, and deliver the results that the top venture capital firms want to see. Get them to trust that your business will profit in a reasonable amount of time. From there, you might have a bigger chance of success.
Getting your business to launch is one of our top priorities. Here at Full Scale, we don’t only nurture the best talent. We help companies deliver quality software products. Our developers are committed to working with you to reach your business goals.
Our rigorous hiring process helps weed out the best in the industry. So you can shift your focus to growing your business. Contact us and let us know how we can help you achieve the right results for your business.
Matt Watson is a serial tech entrepreneur who has started four companies and had a nine-figure exit. He was the founder and CTO of VinSolutions, the #1 CRM software used in today’s automotive industry. He has over twenty years of experience working as a tech CTO and building cutting-edge SaaS solutions.
As the CEO of Full Scale, he has helped over 100 tech companies build their software services and development teams. Full Scale specializes in helping tech companies grow by augmenting their in-house teams with software development talent from the Philippines.
Matt hosts Startup Hustle, a top podcast about entrepreneurship with over 6 million downloads. He has a wealth of knowledge about startups and business from his personal experience and from interviewing hundreds of other entrepreneurs.