Carta

What makes Carta a Great Place to Work? Our employees (aka Cartans), of course. At Carta, our company culture is a top priority and the most defining part of our culture is the people who show up every day and do great work. We’re honored to be recognized as a U.S. Great Place to Work for the second year in a row. 🎉

Last week, we hosted 40+ climatetech founders and VCs for breakfast in our NYC office with our friends at Remarkable Ventures. 🍳 This week, we hosted our June climatetech VC breakfast with Olga Laouchez (Yermolenko) from Portfolia. This quarter, the topic was climate adaptation and resilience and we covered a *lot* of ground. 🌍 Thanks to everyone who came out and contributed to these events. We love meeting and getting to know you and the work you do. We'll see everyone at #ClimateWeekNYC this September! 📅

After hitting an all-time high of 1,035 IPOs in 2021, public offerings plummeted to just 181 in 2022 and 154 in 2023. This year, IPOs are trending upward with 81 IPOs completed as of mid-June—pacing to an 18% increase over 2023. Isabelle Dufour Freidheim, founder and managing partner at Athena Capital, emphasizes the changing market focus: “Profitability is in high demand now for fast-growing tech companies. Investors have adopted a risk-off approach in the recent environment.” This shift is reflected in the success of larger, profitable IPOs like Reddit and Astera Labs, both up 87% and 54%, respectively, since their market debut (as of market close on June 26, 2024). Adam Nash, CEO at Daffy, notes a promising trend: “We’ve had a few IPOs now where the quality of the company is high, and the market seems to be receiving them well.” With the IPO market gradually opening up, the focus is on quality and profitability, setting a new tone for companies eyeing public exits. 🚀📈

Summers are sizzling for closed deals on Carta: 9% of priced rounds were completed in August 2023. Compare that to 7.4% in July and 7.6% in September 2023. Summer slowdown—where? The average percentage of priced rounds during Q3 across recent years remains consistently strong. So, will August 2024 net out ahead of July and September this year? Time will tell. Predictions welcome 🔮

Here to help save your summer 😎 Automate your workflows on Carta: lnkd.in/g7qXxYsr

Some say the tech sector has a monopoly problem. I agree—but not the type of you are thinking about. The monopoly that I want to address is not about a sector or technology. It’s the way a few regional hubs dominate the venture capital economy. Here’s why we need to broaden venture: First, the facts:  Companies in the West combined to raise 53.3% of all capital raised by startups on Carta from Q2 2023 through Q1 2024. California led the pack, pulling in nearly 45% of all VC funding over the same 12-month period.  There are other hubs, of course: Massachusetts( ~12%) and (New York (~10%).  But venture funding remains far too concentrated. This concentration has positive and negative effects. On the positive side, these VC hubs attract entrepreneurs and talented employees, who accelerate the flywheel of innovation. On the downside, these centers of gravity pull both talent and capital away from other regions. Expanding venture: We need to broaden the venture sector to expand this engine of  innovation and economic productivity to more people and places across the U.S. Policy can help. Here’s how: Many startups raise their first capital through angel investors and emerging fund managers. This is especially true for startups that are outside of traditional hubs and lack access to the more established VC channels.  To broaden the ecosystem we first need to broaden the investor base. More investors means more capital available for founders and emerging managers to raise, as well as giving more investors the opportunity to benefit from the economic value of private markets.  The Policy: Investing in private companies, including startups, is restricted to accredited investors. Change the rules for who’s allowed to invest. Modernize the accredited investor definition: The accredited investor definition largely uses a national standard of wealth and income to determine who can invest in private assets. To broaden venture, policymakers can address: ⇒ Regional thresholds: Appropriately expanding the number of accredited investors by adopting regional thresholds. ⇒ Onramps: Expand avenues to qualify through sophistication assessments. Policy can constrain innovation—or unlock it.  Modernizing the accredited investor definition can expand the reach and impact of venture capital.

Startup hiring is down year-over-year. Venture capital is hard to come by. So how should founders think about compensation and team structures in this current environment? We welcomed Darcy Casarella, Director of Talent at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), to The Data Minute podcast this week. Darcy and Peter Walker cover everything from Q1 hiring trends to fractional execs to the major shifts we’ve seen in equity comp vs. salary. 🎧 Headphones on to stream the latest episode of The Data Minute: https://lnkd.in/gX3fFk4F 📪 Subscribe to get new episodes every other week.

Good times were had by all at Camp Carta this week 🏕️ 📍 We met up at base camp (Jax Vineyards) where our campers (emerging and established fund managers) met the Carta Fund Admin team members that support their funds every day. 🏆 There were games, food, and gifts—including our Field Guide to Carta Fund Tax. (Because navigating fund tax can feel like trekking through uncharted wilderness🌲) Everyone left wanting s’more 🍫 … so we’re already busy planning our next adventure. Happy trails until we meet again 🎶 (P.S. See you next week, New York 🧳🗽) We’re incredibly grateful for the engagement and energy each of you brought to this event. Moxxie Ventures Lux Capital Crossover Capital, LLC ... and so many more! If you joined us, share your pictures below, or tell us your favorite thing about #CampCarta.

Fund tax is complex, especially if you’re new to it. Carta Fund Tax consolidates fund admin and tax, reducing the back-and-forth between players, ultimately saving you time. Our tax dashboard tracks real-time progress of your returns so you know when they're ready to share or file. Our tax experts offer 1:1 support throughout tax season so you can better understand your returns. The LP document center gives investors one place to easily review and retrieve K-1s. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gmmetjm3

Launch founders and anyone else! Join Peter Walker next week on Wednesday, June 26th, for an insightful masterclass on the early-stage market, powered by data. https://lu.ma/37m9laxe