Hi there,
 

Here is this week in charts.

Rock and roll. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with nearly $10T under management as of June. That’s almost as much as the entire hedge fund and private equity and VC industries combined. To put that $10T in perspective, total global venture funding in Q3’21 represented just 1.58% of BlackRock’s AUM.

You come at the king, you best not miss. New York is absolutely booming, with record funding and deal highs. The city saw nearly 1/2 the funding of Silicon Valley and 2/3 the number of deals in the third quarter. NY is emerging as a real challenger to the king.

Bubble this, bubble that. American economist Robert Shiller’s valuation measure — the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio — is the second highest it’s been since December 1999 before the dot-com bubble burst. The ratio is calculated by dividing a stock’s price by its average inflation-adjusted earnings over the past 10 years. Amid record-setting venture numbers, the bubble takes are coming in hot. While there are some excesses in today’s venture ecosystem, it ain’t 1999 — see my reasoning here. 

Valuation inflation. With 800+ unicorns worldwide, the term "unicorn" is increasingly meaningless. But let's be honest, we'll keep using it. We’re seeing a massive amount of “valuation inflation” at the late stage. In 2020, late-stage deals had a median valuation of $523M. In 2021 YTD, it’s a unicorn-minting $1.1B. That’s a 110% increase. 

Air bud. Reports of marijuna poisonings in dogs are on the rise in California — and in other states where cannabis has been legalized. Dogs aren’t just getting stoned on their owners’ stash — they’re also finding edibles out “in the wild.” For pups who accidentally ingest edibles meant for humans, the effects can be serious and a vet should be contacted immediately.

The ol’ scale fail. The shortened Y axis exaggerates the difference here — how different is 95% from 98%? False advertising at work. Do better Chevy.
 

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal

P.S. Get the lowdown on what venture’s crazy quarter means for your strategy right now and heading into 2022. Sign up for our State Of Venture webinar (October 26) here.