Now that stocks are officially in bear market territory, and measures to curb coronavirus have turned the biggest tech hubs into work-from-home zones, we decided to check in to see if the downturn has yet impacted startup funding totals.

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The broad finding: Not quite yet. A 附近上门 global analysis of sizable venture funding rounds ($10 million and up) shows that reported totals are down about 11 percent in 2020 compared to the same period last year.

Overall, investors have put $41.1 billion to work in reported rounds of $10 million and up through March 17 of this year, compared to $46.2 billion in the same period in 2019. Although it looks like a moderate decline, it鈥檚 actually too early to tell, given that a sizable percentage of financings actually get reported weeks or months after the date they close.

This year鈥檚 totals have been boosted by supergiant financings for a handful of companies, with a lot of the money going toward transportation. That includes -incubated autonomous transportation startup ($2.25 billion venture round), ride-hailing rivals and ($1.2 billion and $856 million, respectively) and electric aircraft developer ($590 million).

Major funding recipients in sectors other than transport, meanwhile, include plant-based meat producer ($500 million), banking upstart ($500 million) and data warehousing provider ($479 million).

Why are big deals happening in the current environment? Partly, it鈥檚 because big, complicated private financing rounds typically take weeks or months to close.

Thus, it鈥檚 not entirely surprising to see some of the largest private investments getting announced over the same period that major stock indexes are posting their largest declines in years. A deal put together in a more bullish climate might be made public in a more bearish one.

Earlier indications of funding cutbacks may be more easily seen for smaller rounds at early and seed stage, when sought-after deals come together more quickly. However, this is difficult for us to track here at 附近上门 because reporting delays are also most frequent at these earliest stages. So, it鈥檚 hard to determine whether a drop in funding is due to delayed reporting or fewer checks being written.

Historically, however, startup funding has trended sharply lower in recessionary times, including after the implosion of the dot-com bubble in 2001 and the financial crisis of 2008-9.

If past cycles are any guide, we can expect a sharp startup funding slowdown in coming months. We鈥檒l keep monitoring the funding totals for indications of that coming to pass.

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The company, which is based in Indonesia, provides a wide range of services, from rides to payments to food delivery.

Gojek鈥檚 investors include , and . The company first raised money with its $2 million in December 2014, and has more than in funding, according to 附近上门.

The financing deal was finalized over the past week, Bloomberg reported. It鈥檚 an impressive sum that comes as the world economy feels the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. stock market, for example, has sunk and investors have suggested that there will be a slowdown in venture capital funding.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not stopping there as we are still seeing strong demand among the investment community to partner with us,鈥� co-CEOs Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi wrote in an internal memo to employees, which was obtained by Bloomberg. 鈥淭here are a number of exciting ongoing conversations that we will be able to update you on very soon.鈥�

Gojek competes perhaps most notably with Singapore鈥檚 , another ride-hailing giant that鈥檚 trying to be the 鈥渆verything in one鈥� app with rides, payments, food delivery and other services. Grab–which has nearly $10 billion in funding, according to 附近上门–and Gojek were reportedly in talks about a merger, though Gojek denied it, according to Bloomberg.

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wants to plug the institution鈥檚 financial services to Grab鈥檚 users, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the deal.

Although Grab started off as a ride-hailing app, its services now go far beyond that. The company wants to be an 鈥渆veryday everything鈥� app–it currently lets users book rides, meals and hotels, and offers payment services, among other things.

The company operates throughout southeast Asia, including in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The new investment makes Grab extremely well-capitalized. It last raised an extensive Series H round in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, it received a investment from the , followed by a infusion with as the lead investor as part of the Series H round.

With the new funding from Mitsubishi UFJ, Grab鈥檚 total funding comes to about , according to 附近上门.

While it attracts large amounts of venture capital, Grab also invests. Last year it participated in 鈥� $8 million Series A.

Grab is backed by firms including SoftBank Vision Fund, Invesco, , and automakers like and .

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shares were worth about $60 apiece before the company reported its yesterday. From an IPO price of $72 and a 52 week high of $88.60, Lyft was in the doldrums. Concerns about its ability to grow and cut losses were easy to understand.

But Lyft’s Q2 results showed two important things, each positive. Namely that the company could grow more quickly than expected, and that it could lose less money while doing so. In more colloquial terms, Lyft showed investors that it may have a path to profitability after all.

It’s a shot in the arm for companies like , , , and others (more on their fundraising here). The ride-hailing business was once the hottest game on the planet. Now, after Lyft and Uber each went public and quickly slipped from their IPO prices, market sentiment is more muted.

Lyft’s results, however, could help turn the tide.

Positive Results

Lyft beat on revenue and profit in the second quarter. The ride-hailing company generated revenue of $867.3 million (+72 percent year-over-year) against an $809 million. The firm’s adjusted profit of -$0.68 per share was also ahead of an expected loss of $1.74 per share in the quarter.

Beating on both top and bottom lines is good. Doing so while raising your forecast is even better. As part of its Q2 results, Lyft raised its forecast for its full-year 2019 results and more. Here are its new performance expectations:

• 2019 revenue: $3.47 billion to $3.5 billion, up from a range of $3.275 billion to $3.3 billion. (The company’s expected year-over-year growth rate is now in the low 60s, instead of the low 50s.)
• 2019 adjusted EBITDA: -$850 million to -$875 million, about $300 million lower than its previously expected -$1.15 billion to -$1.175 billion in adjusted losses. (Adjusted EBITDA is a profit-adjacent metric that many young companies prefer to more rigorous profit metrics, like GAAP net income.)

Faster growth? Check. Slimming losses? Check. Lyft even managed to grow its “active rider” count by 44 percent in Q2 2019 compared to the year-ago quarter, while driving “revenue per active rider” up 22 percent over the same timeframe.

What’s not to like? Well, a few things. Let’s talk about the other side of the coin.

Negative Results

We’ll start our discussion of negatives by looking at the company’s costs.

Three out of four of Lyft’s main expense categories saw their cost as a percent of revenue rise compared to the year-ago quarter. Indeed, Lyft spent more as a听percent of revenue on “Operations and Support” (17 percent of revenue in Q2 2019), “Research and Development” (14 percent of revenue in Q2 2019), and “General and Administrative” (22 percent of revenue in Q2 2019) than it did in Q2 2018.

Lyft did cut its “Sales and Marketing” line item sharply, from 35 percent of revenue in Q2 2018 to 19 percent in Q2 2019. However, it seems that Lyft wasn’t able to curtail cost expansion in revenue-percentage terms in other areas, casting doubt on its ability to lower losses in ratio terms in the near future.

And the impact of that is Lyft’s deficits, while falling, are still wide and persistent. The firm’s adjusted losses should reach $200 million in Q3 2019 according to the company’s own projections, for example. The unadjusted number will be worse.听 In Q2 2019 the company also generated an adjusted profit of around -$200 million, a figure tucked inside of a sharper $644.2 million net loss.

So, we can expect Lyft’s fully-loaded Q3 loss to be far higher than the $200 million adjusted mark.

The same principle applies to the firm’s full-year results. Yes, Lyft’s expected adjusted losses are now under $1 billion for the year. Its GAAP losses (results calculated using regular accounting rules) will be larger.

Finally, Lyft’s gross margins appear to be getting worse over time. In the first half of 2019, Lyft’s cost of revenue clocked in at 66.5 percent of top line. That gave the firm a gross margin of 33.5 percent. In the first half of 2018, the firm’s cost of revenue was just 61.3 percent. The firm’s 2018 and 2019 Q2 gross margin of about 42 percent and 27 percent tell a similar story.

There’s nuance to the figures, however. The company’s share-based compensation costs and “[c]hanges to the
liabilities for insurance required” make the resulting figures hard to fully grok. So I suspect that you can read Lyft’s gross margin results several different ways.

The figure that came up most on , notably, was “contribution margin,” not “gross margin.” You can check page 17 of Lyft’s for more on how the firm lowers its effective cost of revenue to show a higher contribution margin. Investors are more focused on the adjusted metric than the GAAP-based gross margin percentage.

So, you can read Lyft’s numbers any way you please. You can find lots to like, and you can also find a bucket of red ink and some key performance metrics that don’t look very good.

So What?

Lyft’s shares are up. That’s good for other companies in the space. To that point, when Lyft’s shares first took off after reporting its figures, Uber’s shares rose as well. Something similar, if invisible, happened to Lyft’s private-market comps.

Let’s close by talking about Lyft’s future, and the related futures of its rivals.

Tucked into Lyft’s earnings call were notes about price that are worth understanding. Lyft and Uber probably need to charge more for rides, and capture a larger share of total ride revenue, to reach real profitability. Happily at Lyft, at least, progress on that front is being made.

From the earnings call, quotes from Lyft folks:

We exited the quarter with tremendous momentum and we’re making a substantial increase in our guidance as a result. Our guidance incorporates modest price adjustments that went live toward the end of June. More specifically, we began to adjust prices on select routes and in select cities based on costs and demand elasticities. We expect that these changes will accelerate Lyft’s path to profitability, and further, we believe these price adjustments reflect an industry trend. […]

The price adjustments are modest, but we anticipate that these changes will increase revenue per active rider on both a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis, and we expect that these changes will accelerate our path to profitability and further as I mentioned, we believe these price adjustments are an industry trend. In terms of active riders, we’ve enjoyed a huge benefit in the first half of 2019 related to the publicity from our IPO.

The price changes could provide Lyft with revenue and profit lift in the coming quarters. That’s good, and it means that Uber may also enjoy the ability to raise prices. If they can听each drive up per-ride rates, perhaps they can lose less money more quickly.

And grow more quickly to boot. That would help their valuations and the values attached to the tens of billions of dollars in equity currently tied to the fate of their yet-private competitors.

Lyft’s IPO was a downer for similar companies. Now, the company is pushing its market cohort in the opposite direction. That’s welcome chance, we’re sure.

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The company announced that $2 billion of 鈥檚 previous financial commitments will be targeted towards its well-established Indonesian operations. Indonesia is Grab鈥檚 largest market and also the home of its biggest regional competitor, .

SoftBank CEO said there鈥檚 plans for a second Grab HQ in Indonesia, . While the $2 billion capital commitment to the country — made possible by SoftBank — isn鈥檛 new, Son reportedly said that 鈥渙n top of that, we will invest more.鈥�

For SoftBank, which recently announced a second Vision Fund, making bets on ride-hailing companies isn鈥檛 a recent trend. Back in 2018, the Japanese conglomerate invested roughly $7 billion in Uber. SoftBank also invested in China鈥檚 and . One analyst put SoftBank鈥檚 stakes in these three companies as worth anywhere between $22.1 billion and $26.5 billion, .

As we鈥檝e covered time, time, and time again, Singapore鈥檚 Go-Jek and Indonesia鈥檚 Grab keep adding cash to their seemingly never-ending funding rounds (Grab鈥檚 Series H and Go Jek鈥檚 Series F.) It鈥檚 because ride-hailing, you guessed it, costs a lot of money. But, as our EIC Alex Wilhelm tell us, the industry can wrack up billions in bets and hopes without even proving profit. It shows that some investors are okay with a future of potential profit, as they stay distracted by booming growth in the present.

Plus, as TechCrunch鈥檚 , this capital commitment could help Grab be in better cahoots with the local Indonesian government and the tech scene there, since the announcement was made after a meeting between the company, SoftBank, Indonesia鈥檚 president and other high-ranking officials.

To wrap up with some context, Grab and Go-Jek are both barreling toward become 鈥榮uper-apps鈥� 听in Southeast Asia and beyond. I鈥檓 betting it won鈥檛 be too long until we鈥檙e back here reporting on the new cash, or promises, the companies make to do so.

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From Finland to Singapore to China, we found over $8 billion in funding has gone to women-led companies in 2019 so far.

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Even though we’re seeing billions being invested into companies with female founders or co-founders, it’s worth noting that those totals pale in comparison to funding totals for startups with only male founders. And while there is more to come on that note, let鈥檚 first highlight the top five women-led companies that have raised so far this year.

Finland: RELEX Solutions

Solutions, a Finish supply chain optimization company, scored $200 million dollars in investment from Bay Area鈥檚(TCV), showing that women-led companies can compete for cash in high tech, STEM fields.

, one of the company鈥檚 three founders, told 附近上门 News that her company began with a focus on automatic store replenishment. She said she wanted to take the 鈥渉ands off鈥� of filling shelves, restocking items and taking inventory. It then grew to cover the entire supply chain process, including workforce optimization.

TCV鈥檚 vote of confidence in the company emphasizes how the retail market is evolving, as retailers have to operate an online-digital world and competition continues to stiffen.

鈥淏ecause that鈥檚 basically what TCV does…they look for business areas ripe for change, and as we all know, a lot of things are going on in retail in the moment,鈥� Smaros told me on a call in her office from Finland.

The new funding round will help the company hire more data scientists and developers, specifically in the United States, which she said is the company鈥檚 鈥渂iggest growth market.鈥�

Singapore: Zilingo

, a Singapore-based fashion company, landed $226 million in February in a round led by . 听The deal brought Zilingo鈥檚 total funding to $308 million, the company said. Especially noteworthy is the fact that company founder , who used to work for Sequoia India, is the first Indian woman founder-CEO of a unicorn, according to .

Since starting in Singapore, the company has expanded to Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States. Zilingo is currently working diligently on its expansion in the Philippines and Australia, Bose told me. Additionally, it is investing in the 鈥渋nfrastructure and technology鈥� needed to 鈥渄igitise the fashion and beauty supply chain,鈥� she said.

China: DaDa and Horizon Robotics

厂丑补苍驳丑补颈鈥檚 , led by co-founders and , is an e-tutoring for English that led by .

Fellow unicorn Beijing-based , a Chinese AI semiconductor valued at up to $3 billion, also scored a Series B round of $600 million last month. Two of the company鈥檚 co-founders are women: and .

The Horizon Robotics round was led by, , and several other automotive groups. While technically a Series B, the round was large enough to constitute several Series B-focused funds, as we reported in February.

Singapore: Grab

Finally, we look at a company we鈥檝e written about extensively and tops the list with the largest cash infusion: Grab. The company was responsible for three of the biggest funding rounds for female-led companies so far this year. In fact, this week the Singapore-based ride-hailing company scored $1.46 billion from SoftBank Vision Fund.

United States: Confluent And Andela

As far as our home turf鈥攚e did see some impressive capital this year. Top deals scored for U.S.-based companies with female leadership include, which raised a Series D of $125 million from , and , which raised a Series D (the same day) of $100 million, led by .

It Could Be Better

Despite the statistics and venture capital funds make to be better, the data still tells us that the number of VC-backed startups founded by women is staying 听鈥渟tubbornly stagnant.鈥�

In the wise (paraphrased) words of , change may only come when venture capitalists are convinced that women founders can bring in money. (I highly recommend checking out featuring here.)

(Note: I’d love to write more about women and diversity within the tech industry, so if you want to chat you can reach me at natasha@crunchbase.com)

From the venture capitalist perspective, this has always been a challenge. Finding the investors who want to back 鈥渦nderserved鈥� founders is hard, said , the managing director of .

On a personal level, Francetic said her biggest allies when starting her own firm were the backers who loved the idea of a female-led, midwest, energy fund. These were selling points, not dealbreakers, she said.

Interestingly, it helped that her fund was in Chicago instead of Silicon Valley.

鈥淲e were outside the echo-chamber鈥� we can provide a level of rationality that isn鈥檛 heavily influenced by the community of folks over there,鈥� she said. Their fund is actively looking for female-led companies to invest in within the energy space. And by 鈥渁ctively looking鈥� I mean that Amy said if you鈥檙e reading this and fit that definition, e-mail her.

To circle back to 鈥檚 podcast, Hamilton believes that people who have perfectly good ideas aren鈥檛 getting funded because they don鈥檛 look like Mark Zuckerberg. These underestimated founders, Hamilton said, will bring big returns. Thankfully, some investors agree.

Editorial update:听A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that ImpactAlpha raised $100 million. The reference has been removed.

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This announcement comes days after its Indonesian rival, raised $100 million as part of an ongoing Series F. So far, Go-Jek鈥檚 series F is totaling up to $1.2 billion, according to .

In the table below, we show the many tranches of Grab鈥檚 Series H round.

According to Grab CEO , Softbank鈥檚 involvement will help it give users more choice and convenience, and 鈥渆nhance income opportunities.鈥�

, a partner at Investment Advisers, says the investment will help Grab pursue 鈥渘ew opportunities across on-demand mobility, delivery and financial services as it continues to grow its offline-to-online platform across Southeast Asia.鈥�

While it started as a ride-hailing company, Grab also grew to include food and parcel delivery, bike and car rentals, and payments. It also from just Singapore to Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Back in December, 附近上门 Reporter Savannah Dowling tracked Grab鈥檚 seemingly never-ending Series H. All within the same round, the company got money from a range of companies: automakers like . and . Also involved were big tech players like . Before SoftBank, the company鈥檚 most recent infusion of cash came from Yamaha Motor Co. – an investment of $150 million.

Notably, this round will be used to invest more heavily in Indonesia,said. It doesn鈥檛 hurt that Grab鈥檚 top competitor,is based in Indonesia. 听As we鈥檝e reported previously, Go-Jek started off as a motorcycle hailing application and then included services like grocery and pharmacy delivery. Like Grab, it鈥檚 expanding in Southeast Asia.

In the meantime, Grab says its Indonesian business revenue more than doubled in 2018. 听 it holds 60 percent of the two-wheel market and 70 percent of the four-wheel market on Go-Jek鈥檚 home turf.

that despite this new cash, the round isn鈥檛 over until it says it鈥檚 over. So with $4.5 billion and counting, we鈥檒l keep our eyes on Grab (and rival Go-Jek) to see who becomes Southeast Asia鈥檚 next 鈥淲eChat鈥� first.

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Global car manufacturer, Toyota, will in Southeast Asia鈥檚 ridesharing heavyweight , . The capital infusion will bring Grab鈥檚 total known funds raised to , inclusive of a round in October 2017 recorded by 附近上门. The round will bring Grab鈥檚 valuation up to $10 billion.

Grab, Southeast Asia鈥檚 poster child for big deals in the region, that it acquired Uber鈥檚 Southeast Asian operations back in March, effectively making it the main ridesharing powerhouse in the region. The company that it launched an investment arm called Grab Ventures to contribute to the growth of Southeast Asia鈥檚 promising, yet underfunded early-stage startup scene. Grab has acquired two startups: Indonesia-based and India-based , according to 附近上门.

This is not the first time Toyota has invested in Grab. The car company鈥檚 trading arm Toyota Tshusho participated in Grab鈥檚听led by Japan鈥檚 and China鈥檚 in July 2017. That strategic investment was the beginning of Toyota Motors partnership with Grab. The companies worked to optimize and improve the performance of Toyota vehicles operating on Grab鈥檚 platform, according to .

Much like its China-based corporate backer (and ridesharing counterpart), Didi Chuxing, Grab will use its latest $1 billion investment from Toyota to expand into other verticals like food delivery and payments. It will also allow the company to deploy services like user-based insurance, according to CNBC鈥檚 report. In any case, the round represents yet another giant raise for the sharing economy, which has been on the receiving end of huge rounds in other industries ranging from scooters to bikes.

From The听:

• Shares of payments processor听听doubled in their first day of trading on the Euronext Amsterdam, delivering the Dutch company an initial market capitalization of over $16 billion.

Bird swooping in on $2B valuation

• What has two wheels and might be worth two billion?听, oddly. The quickly-growing scooter company is making waves this week after news broke that it鈥檚 seeking to raise another $200 million at a $2 billion valuation.

• , a real estate startup that specializes in quickly purchasing and reselling homes, has raised $325 million in a fresh funding round led by General Atlantic, Access Technology Ventures, and homebuilder Lennar. The new financing reportedly values the four-year-old company at over $2 billion.

• , a developer of fuel cell generators that can be used to power large buildings, has filed to raise up to $100 million in an IPO. Founded in 2001, Silicon Valley-based Bloom previously secured more than $800 million in venture funding.

Tracking top cybersecurity rounds

• More than 25 early-stage, U.S.-based cybersecurity-related startups have raised at least $10 million so far this year. 附近上门 News takes a look at the largest investment recipients.