What this VC firm learned tracking 200+ startups from zero to 1K employees

March 18, 2024

Hi, Agen. With the war between Ukraine and Russia now into its third year, we look in today’s edition at what’s going on with venture funding to companies connected to Ukraine, which has built a reputation for its tech-savvy workforce and successful startup founders. Plus, these were last week’s 10 largest U.S. startup funding deals, and what one VC firm learned tracking 200-plus startups as they scaled from zero to 1,000 employees.

🇺🇦 Funding still flows to Ukrainian-founded and -staffed startups

Ukraine itself isn’t exactly a huge destination for venture capital investment. But in addition to hosting a lot of early-stage startups, the nation serves as an employment base for a prominent group of Ukrainian-founded unicorns and public tech companies, many of which have continued to draw strong investor interest.

🏅 Autonomous vehicles, software startups top 10 largest deals

Last week was another strong one for large funding rounds to U.S.-based startups. The top 10 list also included three new unicorns.

💡 What a VC firm learned tracking 200+ startups from 0 to 1K employees

How do successful startup founders scale their companies during the hectic, fast-growth early days between zero and 1,000 employees? To answer that question, Index Ventures tracked more than 200 startups as they grew to their first 1,000 employees. We speak with the firm’s partners about the top insights from that project, which are also released in a new book out today.

🙊 It’s true: Funding is flowing to startups fighting disinformation

Between the rise of generative AI, a fraught U.S. presidential election and multiple wars raging around the world, the incentives and means for bad actors to spread inaccurate information are only growing. Enter: A slew of funded startups that are working to tackle everything from online disinformation to AI-enabled fraud.

Related Crunchbase Pro list: Funded Companies Fighting Disinformation

💻 How the decentralization of the CIO impacts the SaaS landscape

Run a SaaS business? The CIO is no longer your only — or even biggest — customer, writes guest author Priya Saiprasad, general partner at Touring Capital. SaaS purchasing power is now diffused within the rest of the C-suite and among executive leaders and individual software users. Here’s how that could impact SaaS startups and their strategy in 2024.

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