The Q4 2021 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor
released last week “depicts how the frenetic pace of dealmaking,
exits and fundraising in 2021 toppled previous records, even as the
pandemic’s future trajectory remains unknown,” said Pitchbook.
Highlights include:
US VC-backed companies raised nearly $330 billion in
2021–roughly double the previous record of $166.6 billion raised
in 2020.
Nontraditional investors such as corporate VC funds, hedge
funds, PE firms and sovereign wealth funds participated in
nearly 77% of total annual deal value.
Exits were a huge part of the story of 2021, with more than $774
billion in annual exit value created by VC-backed companies that
either went public or were acquired.
Early-stage VC deal activity in 2021 nearly doubled the prior
record and eclipsed $80 billion for the first time ever.
The report features full data sets in spreadsheet format that
include more than 60 tabs, including sector-specific reports,
analysis of female founder activity and deals by region, state and
combined statistical area (CSA). The chart above shows the top 10
CSAs by number of deals. The chart below shows the top 10 states.
See how these match up with Site Selection’s top states and top
metros for projects from last March, and watch for new scorecards in
the forthcoming March 2022 issue of Site Selection. — Adam
Bruns
Lumina Foundation’s refreshed Stronger Nation online tool shows
progress as well as continuing gaps when it comes to post-secondary
education credentials.
Paper-based packaging company Smurfit Kappa is investing $33 million
to expand the capacity of its plant in Fortaleza to meet the growing
demand for innovative and sustainable packaging. The expansion,
which includes the installation of a new corrugator, will
significantly extend the plant’s Shelf Ready Packaging capability
for customers in a range of sectors including fresh fruit, home
appliances and pharmaceuticals, the company says. The expansion
includes high-end printers for e-commerce packaging, and a new
innovation center. “Almost 30% of the total Brazilian population
resides in the Northeast region, and Fortaleza offers the perfect
platform to strengthen our presence in this attractive and
fast-growing part of the country,” said Laurent Sellier, CEO of
Smurfit Kappa the Americas.
Global technology services company Cognizant has chosen Halifax for
a new global technology and service delivery center expected to
generate 1,250 new jobs over the next seven years, the Government of
Nova Scotia announced this week in approving two payroll rebate
agreements. During the term of the agreements, the company could
spend an estimated $327 million in combined salaries and benefits —
the highest amount through provincial payroll rebate agreements with
one company in more than a decade. The Province would collect income
and consumption taxes from that payroll spending and could return a
maximum rebate of about $27 million to Cognizant. In 2021, the
Province invested $16.8 million to allow four Nova Scotia
universities to expand and enhance their computer science
programming as the demand for training continues to grow in tandem
with the ICT sector, which contributed C$1.8 billion, or 4%, of
provincial GDP in 2020 and directly employed 11,000 people through
1,300 companies.
Chloris
Geospatial, with support from Microsoft’s Planetary
Computer, has launched the Chloris Biomass Map, a publicly available
global map that shows estimates of carbon stock and change in
aboveground biomass of woody vegetation for Earth’s land-based
ecosystems. The data spans 2003-2019 and uses a fusion of space-born
sensors. “We have decided to share this coarser resolution,
non-commercial dataset in its beta version so that everyone can
engage with the data,” said Chloris Geospatial Co-founder and Chief
Scientific Officer Alessandro Baccini
This coarser-resolution version of the Chloris
Biomass Map is freely available to the public for
non-commercial use through Microsoft’s Planetary Computer. Chloris
is also developing a high-resolution commercial version of the
product for use by carbon project developers, corporate buyers of
carbon offsets, investors and others that will be capable of
accurately estimating the carbon stock and change at the scale of
individual carbon projects. Many insights can also be drawn from
these data, says Chloris, “including which countries have seen the
largest sequestration of carbon in their biomass stocks, the
locations of the largest losses of forest carbon, and state-by-state
comparisons of loss and gain dynamics, among others.”
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PHOTO OF THE
DAY
Photo courtesy of Beijing 2022 and
Newsmarket
Beijing 2022 last week released its Pre-Games Sustainability Report, detailing
the measures implemented to reduce and compensate carbon emissions,
protect local ecosystems and create long-term benefits to local
communities and economies in relation to the region’s hosting of the
2022 Winter Olympics, which begin February 4, 2022. Among other
highlights, all venues will be powered by renewable energy for the
first time at the Olympic Games, and natural CO2 refrigeration
systems will be used at four Beijing 2022 ice venues, “the first
time this low climate impact technology will be used in China and at
the Olympic Winter Games,” say the hosts. “The technology can
achieve energy savings of more than 20% compared with traditional
refrigeration methods.” Five of the seven venues in the Beijing 2022
competition zone will be legacy venues from the Beijing 2008 Summer
Olympic Games. The iconic “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium will host
the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, while the Water Cube – the
Beijing 2008 swimming venue – will host the curling competitions.
