It’s been another banner year for venture capital (VC) investment as investors sunk $11.7 billion in supply chain technology across 371 deals during the first three quarters of 2019, according to a report released by Pitchbook on Dec. 6.
In 2018, VC investors funneled a record $19.3 billion into freight technology services across 534 deals.
Summarizing the report’s key findings, Pitchbook analyst Asad Hussain said he sees continued disruption in the last-mile food delivery space as companies continue to bring thousands of small-scale restaurants into their delivery networks.
Through 3Q 2019, according to Hussain, investors have channeled approximately $5 billion into last-mile delivery companies.
An increasing number of autonomous vehicle startups are also moving into the industrial/logistics sectors, driving earlier adoption and revenue generation.
Here are a few other trends and takeaways from the report:
Deal size, valuations grow:
Over the past five years, the median late-stage pre-money valuation of supply chain technology startup deals has risen by a CAGR of 40%. The median valuations of angel and seed and early-stage deals rose by a CAGR of 5% and 19%, respectively.
Late-stage valuations at record levels:
So far in 2019, the median late-stage pre-money valuation has risen to $250 million, up 64% compared to last year.
Deal count declined:
Despite pouring an impressive $11.7 billion into freight tech companies in 2019, investors are not poised to beat the 2018 record number of deals. Deal count through 3Q 2019 is down 7% compared to last year.
The value of those deals, however, is about the same as it was during the same period in 2018.