U.S. startup funding is up, but number of deals is down
Briefly

My big takeaway is that the venture market continues to be pressured and it's going to continue for a while. We're seeing VCs deploy less capital, making it harder to raise new money, and then there's less money to deploy.
Valuations are up but may be misleading. Over half of the companies raising at high valuations also had high valuations when they last raised in 2021 or 2022, and aren't getting big step-ups.
Female-founded startup funding is significantly down, both from last year and its 2021 peak. VC focus on such companies post-Me-Too has waned.
Investor protections 'have become prominent within term sheets.' VC firms are including more safeguards to protect their investments.
Read at Axios
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