seed_funding_chartJon Swartz of USA Today reviews Q3 2016 venture funding trends, citing strong investor interest in selective markets based on Crunchbase data. Seed funding in 2016 is up for the following five sectors: augmented and virtual reality, machine learning, automotive, food and beverage, and agriculture.

All isn’t gloom and doom in tech. In key categories, fewer start-ups are landing more early funding and increasingly are acquisition targets of cash-rich companies such as Apple and Google, says Gene Teare, head of content at Crunchbase, which was founded by TechCrunch and spun off last year.

“We see seed investors using a mix of approaches when picking focus industries,” Crunchbase CEO Jager McConnell says. “When interest in a sector heats up across all stages, like virtual reality this past year, it’s common to see seed investors increase activity to capitalize on heightened demand for talent.”

Read the story here.

 

  • Originally published November 8, 2016