Welcome to the Aumni Venture Beacon: Year End 2023 Report, which examines trends through the lens of legal and economic terms found in VC closing documents. Aumni leverages a database of more than 550k transactions to provide aggregated and anonymized insights into key dynamics shaping the venture market.

‍

We invite you to explore our 49 charts and corresponding insights that reveal the nuances of the private markets landscape. 

‍

After a subdued first six months, valuations started to recover in the second half of 2023, but still ended the year down overall. The magnitude of declines YoY varied greatly across stages, from relatively flat in Series C to more than 50% in Series D+.

‍

‍

Meanwhile, data shows growing variability of fundraising outcomes (both up and downside) amid late-stage deals, in particular Series D+, as compared to early-stage transactions, indicating increasing uncertainty at the mature end of the market. 

‍

As down rounds became more prevalent, changes in liquidity preference trends emerged.  At the same time, we saw a growing appetite for convertible notes, where median interest rates continued to rise through the year. 

‍

For the first time, the Venture Beacon also dives into how Limited Partnership Agreements (LPAs) are being structured, shedding light on changing dynamics between General Partners (GPs) and Limited Partners (LPs). As it becomes more difficult for VCs to close new funds and obtain investments from LPs, various LPA terms are becoming more favorable for LPs, specifically around distributions.

‍

Explore these findings and more in the Aumni Venture Beacon: Year End 2023 Report.