'This feels like 1999': Global start-up funding frenzy fuels fears of a bubble
"Private financings could soften significantly, as happened in 2001 and 2009," Sequoia Capital told portfolio company founders and CEOs in a memo reminiscent of its "R.I.P. Good Times" presentation in the 2008 crisis.
Fast forward to July 2021, and tech investors are writing bigger checks than ever. According to CB Insights, start-ups have raised $292.4 billion globally so far this year, on track to beat the $302.6 billion raised throughout 2020.
The number of so-called "mega rounds" — massive, $100 million-plus venture deals — has climbed to 751 in 2021 year-to-date, already beating the 665 mega rounds that were raised last year.
"This feels a lot like 1999 to me," Hussein Kanji, a partner at U.K. venture capital firm Hoxton Ventures, told CNBC. "You had so much supply, so much enthusiasm."
"There was an era where if you put dot-com in your name, your public market stock would go up," he added. "There was so much enthusiasm for catching the next big thing."
