“Down round” is a dirty word for some investors, but not for Notable Capital's Hans Tung. Hans is his partner in managing Notable Capital (formerly GGV Capital), a venture firm focused on investments in the United States, Latin America, Israel and Europe.
Hans, whose portfolio includes Airbnb, StockX, and Slack, appeared on TechCrunch's Equity podcast to talk about the overall state of venture and why he still believes down rounds make so much sense. According to Hans, “IPOs are really just a milestone, not the end goal. An IPO is the beginning of retail investors getting on board with this. So if you think about long-term valuations, it's only going to go up temporarily. Notably, by September 2023, almost 11% of VC deals in that year had been revised down, according to PitchBook data. worth it.
Hans also discussed why he remains bullish on fintech and which areas of the fintech space he is particularly excited about.
Of course, we took a closer look at recent changes at his own company. The company evolved from GGV Capital, a 24-year-old cross-border company that rebranded its US and Asia operations as Notable Capital and Granite Asia, respectively. GGV's transformation is the latest in a series of changes we've seen in the venture capital world, including personnel changes at Founders Fund, Benchmark and Thrive Capital.
Press play to hear Hans' thoughts on these topics and more. Stocks return on Monday. See you soon!
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For the full transcript of the interview, if you prefer reading to listening, check out the complete archive of episodes on Simplecast.