For the first time in years, it felt like venture capitalists slowed their cadence this summer. In days of yore, such “summer slowdowns” were par for the course, as investors took long holidays in August, leading to a general paucity of VC activity.
Then the market went nuts for a few years, and such breaks became rarer as investors, by our read, wanted to stay close to their workstations to avoid missing out on a hot deal that might close in hours or days, instead of the traditional weeks and months. The decline in activity that many of us felt has been reflected in Q3 data that TechCrunch has analyzed to date.
What about a Q4 comeback?
But the slowdown was tied in the eyes of many to a possible rebound. Our own Rebecca Szkutak wrote in September that some folks were anticipating a Q4 resurgence of venture capital activity. The bounce back was partially expected due to a “wait and see but come back later” vibe among venture players we’ve spoken to in recent months.
But even more, it’s been argued that venture investors sitting on funds that they held in reserve would want to do some deals in the fourth quarter to avoid going to their backers (LPs) and saying, thanks for the management fees; we did nothing with your capital.