Sectors

Telecoms companies had 91 exits for their portfolio companies last year, with an estimated total value of $50bn.

Telecoms investment funds had a boom in 2014-16 which has not been repeated since. But 2021 saw signs of an uptick with telcos in emerging markets creating investment funds.

Corporate investors shied away from big funding rounds for telecoms startups, with the value of deals down to $2.42bn in 2021 from $5.14bn the year before.

Telefónica Ventures head of investments Pablo Moro tells Global Venturing Web3 and the metaverse are now among its priorities, with play-to-earn, tokenisation, VR and AR among the potential strategic areas.

As telecoms networks continue to expand their services, what even counts as a strategic investment these days? A selection of industry figures tell Global Venturing it can include Web3, ESG and 5G-related technologies.

Job moves in the investment arms of telecoms companies over the past year, many of them involving rotation at SoftBank.

Pfizer Ventures has hired Irena Melnikova, formerly CFO of Umoja Biopharma and MD of SVB Leerink, as an executive director.

Next47 has participated in a $205m series D round for Verkada while UPMC Enterprises has co-led SparingVision’s $75m series B.

Pfizer Ventures has led a $102m series A for Capstan Therapeutics while Globis Capital Partners took part in an $85.4m round for Andpad.