US firms dominate top 10 VC investors list in IoT tech space in 2018

The US was home to majority of the global top 10 venture capital (VC) investors in the Internet of Things (IoT) tech space in 2018, according to GlobalData.

The top 10 VC investors (Baidu, Amazon Alexa Fund, Intel Capital, Robert Bosch, Northern Light Venture Capital, Khosla Ventures, Parkwalk Advisors, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners and GV Management) participated in 52 funding rounds equating to a total proportionate investment value of US$350.2m in 2018.

The number of investments by these 10 VC firms increased by 89.1% in 2018 compared to the 2014–2017 average. Their total investment value also recorded an increase of 145.2%.

Of the top 10 VC investors, six were headquartered in the US. On the other hand, China-based Baidu registered the highest number of investments in the IoT tech space in 2018. American VC firm Andreessen Horowitz led in terms of investment value.

China-based Northern Light Venture Capital registered the highest growth in the number of investments in 2018 over the 2014–2017 average while the US-based Parkwalk Advisors witnessed the highest growth in investment value in 2018 compared to the 2014–2017 average.

All the top 10 VC investors, except Intel Capital, witnessed increase in number of investments in 2018 as compared to the 2014-2017 average. Intel Capital also recorded decline in investment value in 2018 as compared to the 2014-2017 average investment value.

The top five countries by number of investments (the US, China, the UK, Canada and India) accounted for 75% of the total investment volume and 83% of the total investment value in global IoT tech space in 2018.

The US led with 46% of total investment volume and 41% of total investments in 2018. On the other hand, Chinese start-ups garnered 36% of total investments while accounting for just 14% of investment volume. While the average funding size of deals stood at US$11.1m for the US in 2018, China led by a significant margin at US$33m.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, explains:

“VC investors continue to show confidence in American IoT start-ups. However, with countries such as China and India emerging as innovation hubs, VC investors are also considering IoT start-ups in these countries worthy of investments.”

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