Is The Venture Capital Market Finally Cooling Off?

Plus: Feds Charge Two 20-Year-Olds In Alleged NFT Money Laundering, ‘Rug Pull’ Scheme

With every Under 30 package, we include a special “Big Money” list, featuring the 30 founder-honorees with the most venture funding across the 20 industry categories. For as long as I’ve been editing the Under 30 list (four years!), to be considered for “Big Money,” a company had to have raised at least $15 million.

In 2022, there were so many Under 30 honorees who’d raised upwards of $15 million that to make the list more meaningful, we raised the threshold to $25 million. And since we published the list in December, it feels that not a day goes by where an Under 30 doesn’t pitch me on their latest eye-popping venture round.

This is because it’s been a record-setting year for comma-filled venture capital checks.

Now, amid a geopolitical crisis and a downward-trending stock market, some in the industry say the overheated venture capital climate is finally beginning to cool down, my colleague Becca Szkutak reports. (For more news on dealmaking, from VC to IPOs, consider signing up instantly to the Deal Flow newsletter she writes with our colleague Kevin Dowd.)

“How much can we back up with numbers and data that we have product market fit? All these things that can signal and de-risk a business are becoming that much more critical,” says Loren Straub, a general partner at B2B seed-focused Bowery Capital. 

Read on about venture capital’s return to normalcy.

This Week's Money Moves

Ukrainian-born businessman Dmitry Azarov helped Lush expand in Russia. The British cosmetics retailer is among the brands cutting ties to the country, leaving Azarov facing the prospect of firing 600 employees and closing up shop.

A new crypto venture fund that just raised $125 million has plans to become a DAO by 2025, though details on execution remain scant.

Eric Schmidt and Marc Benioff are backing Sandbox AQ, a company that aims to protect businesses from cyberattacks involving quantum computers. The funding amount? “Well into the nine figures,” says Sandbox AQ’s CEO. 

What’s inside this year’s $140,000 Oscar gift bag? A Scottish plot of land, Botox and a shot at “self love,” among other seriously swag items.

These Israeli high school pals raised $35 million to invest in startups “at incorporation.” For one of the cofounders, this thesis has already earned him a 100x return.

Cresco Labs, the Illinois-based cannabis producer, will acquire Columbia Care for $2 billion. If completed, Cresco will become one of the largest U.S. cannabis producers and retailers with over 100 dispensaries across 18 states.