Elon Musk and all his endeavors always hold a special place here. This year, we can highlight everything from his Starlink initiatives — with thousands of satellites aimed at democratizing internet access — to the Cybertruck and its late-year unveiling, which generated plenty of buzz.
He is always heavily criticized,
but the world would be a much duller place without Musk. As someone who always sides with the entrepreneur, I say: let the man building the future build in peace.
Another topic we debated at length was the ongoing saga following WeWork's failed IPO attempt (which we revisit below). That said, I believe Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank, is an extraordinarily visionary individual — we still have to wait and see where his bets ultimately land. In WeWork's case, there was a fundamental financial mismatch: the company aimed for a valuation far above its actual worth, dropping from US$ 47 billion to US$ 8 billion after the fiasco.
Still on the IPO front, tech listings fell short of market expectations. Uber and Lyft dragged their valuations down – and have stayed there, with roughly a 30% decline. Zoom managed a more impressive performance, reaching its IPO with balanced books, though it now faces stiff competition from Microsoft Teams, which has gained significant ground.
And to close the list, something that couldn't be left out: ACE reached 15 exits this year.
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VC Retrospective
Crunchbase surveyed the verticals that attracted the most investment in 2019 in the United States, including both large deal sizes and high round counts (across all stages). No surprises there — the leading segments were fintechs, real estate, insurtechs, and automation. What they share in common: significant maturity and traction. Where, naturally, check sizes are also larger.
- Fintechs: it was a year in which every startup decided to become a bank. We witnessed the rise (including in Brazil) of digital banks, offering everything from loans to digital wallets. Here, Crunchbase highlights the American Chime, which raised US$ 700 million in 2019 (discussed further below), and the Brazilian Nubank, with its mega round of US$ 400 million in July, reaching a valuation of over US$ 10 billion.
- Real Estate: setting aside the entire WeWork saga, space rental remains strongly on the rise. In the US, the standout startups are Knotel (a WeWork competitor, no less), Knock, and Compass, which together raised over US$ 1.2 billion in investment.
- Insurtechs: the US experienced a boom in this sector three to five years ago, so it is only natural to now see those startups advancing to later stages. Companies that received Seed rounds back then are now attracting larger checks — such as Root Insurance and Lemonade, which raised US$ 300 million in 2019.
- Automation: these are essentially startups that provide technological shortcuts for work that would otherwise require human intervention. In 2019, this vertical attracted US$ 2.89 billion in investment, with UiPath standing out with a Series D round of US$ 568 million.
Text by Pedro Weingertner