INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Rocio Wu is a venture partner at F-Prime Capital who focuses on early-stage investments in software/applied AI, fintech and frontier tech
investments. More posts by this contributorWhile some U.S
epidemiologists have estimated that COVID-19 cases will peak in April, but PitchBook reports that dealmaking was down -26% in March,
including many highly valued VC-backed businesses such as WhatsApp, Venmo, Groupon, Uber, Slack and Square
Other early-stage VCs seem to have arrived at a similar conclusion.Also, early-stage investing seems more resilient
During the last recession, angel and seed activity increased 34% as interest in the stage boomed during a period of prolonged
growth.Furthermore, there is still capital to be deployed in categories that interested investors before the pandemic, which may set the new
order in a post-COVID-19 world
And looking at the deals on the early-stage side that were made year to date, especially in March, the vertical categories that garnered the
most funding were enterprise SaaS, fintech, life sciences, healthcare IT, edtech and cybersecurity.Image Credits: PitchBookThat said, if VCs
emerge when the pandemic is over.
