What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
U.S. venture capital investment totaled $36.6 billion across 3,925 deals in the first quarter of 2024, according to the PitchBook–NVCA Venture Monitor. PitchBook reports that deal value fell 29.0% compared with the same quarter of 2023. The data cutoff is March 31, 2024, so these figures describe that quarter only. They do not describe the venture market as it stands today.
What the $36.6 billion figure measures
The headline number comes from one publication and one comparison, so it helps to pin down each part before using it.
- Geography: United States only. The report does not cover global venture activity.
- Measure: Investment dollars, meaning capital that venture investors put into companies during the quarter. It is not a count of companies funded, and it is not money raised by venture funds.
- Period: The first quarter of 2024, with data as of March 31, 2024.
- Comparison: Year over year, against Q1 2023. PitchBook describes the change as a 29.0% decline in deal value.
- Publisher: PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), in the PitchBook–NVCA Venture Monitor. NVCA’s official publication entry dates the report April 11, 2024.
The comparison base matters. Q1 2023 was an unusually large quarter, so a 29% drop from that level is a steep headline, but it is not the same as a collapse from a typical quarter.
Why investment fell: a defensive market, not an empty one
NVCA President and CEO Bobby Franklin opened the report’s foreword with this line: “The first quarter of 2024 did not start on a high note for the US venture capital community.”
Recommended Free Tools
#1 Best Overall
The report’s explanation is that capital was available in aggregate, but investors slowed new activity and focused on companies already in their portfolios. Its model estimates well over $300 billion of venture dry powder, meaning committed capital not yet invested. It also estimates a demand-to-supply ratio near 2.0x across stages. These are the report’s own estimates from its model, not audited totals, and they should be read as such.
The ratio is the key to reading the report’s conclusion. A ratio above 1.0x means companies and deals sought more capital than investors were providing. The report does not say the ecosystem had run out of money. It describes a market in which investors were choosing where to deploy capital more selectively.
Rank #2
Stage by stage, the aggregate hides large differences
A single total blends very different parts of the market. The table below uses the stage categories and values from the PitchBook–NVCA report. Cells marked “not stated” are figures the cited summary does not give, so they should not be inferred from the total.
| Stage | Q1 2024 deal value | Change versus prior year | Notable detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed/seed | $2.6 billion | Down 39.0% | Sharpest decline of the stages with a stated change |
| Early-stage | $10.2 billion | Not stated | Largest stage value reported |
| Late-stage | Not stated | Down 17.0% versus Q1 2023 | Dollar value not given in the cited summary |
| Venture-growth | $4.7 billion | Not stated | Demand/supply ratio of 2.2x; investors provided $1.00 for every $2.20 needed |
The venture-growth stage shows the widest gap between what companies sought and what investors supplied. The early-stage figure is the largest in the table, yet the aggregate decline is still shaped by the steep fall at pre-seed and seed, where companies raise the smallest and earliest rounds.
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteWhy one quarter is not a trend
The report itself warns against reading too much into this quarter. Its words were: “However, it would be a mistake to hyperfocus on the results of a single quarter whose results were a bit farther left on the bell curve than usual.” The same report says activity in the quarter remained relatively on pace with the previous year, which is a different message from the 29% headline.
A fair reading holds both points together: the quarter was weak against an exceptional 2023 comparison, and it was not an outlier that defines the year or the market beyond it.
Two deal counts, two different series
Searches often turn up more than one number for Q1 2024 deal counts. They come from different publishers measuring different series, and they cannot be merged.
PitchBook–NVCA: 3,925 deals
The PitchBook–NVCA Venture Monitor reports 3,925 U.S. deals in Q1 2024. This count pairs with the $36.6 billion dollar figure in the same report.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Best Value
KPMG Venture Pulse: 2,882 U.S. deals
KPMG’s Venture Pulse reports 2,882 U.S. deals for the same quarter, and uses 3,457 deals in Q4 2023 as its quarter-over-quarter comparison. KPMG’s series is separate from PitchBook–NVCA, and the cited material does not explain how the two define a deal, so the gap between 3,925 and 2,882 cannot be reconciled from them.
| Publisher and series | Measure | Q1 2024 value | Comparison stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| PitchBook–NVCA Venture Monitor | U.S. deal value | $36.6 billion | Down 29.0% year over year |
| PitchBook–NVCA Venture Monitor | U.S. deal count | 3,925 deals | Not stated |
| KPMG Venture Pulse | U.S. deal count | 2,882 deals | Compared with 3,457 deals in Q4 2023 |
Always name the publisher beside a deal count, and never place the KPMG count next to the PitchBook–NVCA dollar total as if they described one dataset.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Fundraising is a separate measure
PitchBook also reports that 100 U.S. venture capital funds raised $9.3 billion. That is money flowing into funds from their own investors, which is a different activity from investment into startups. It should not be added to, subtracted from, or compared directly with the $36.6 billion. The cited material does not give a separate date range for the $9.3 billion figure.
Limits of this snapshot
- The figures run through March 31, 2024. Later quarters are published separately and are not covered here.
- Dry powder, demand/supply ratios, and the stage projections come from the PitchBook–NVCA model and are estimates.
- Deal definitions differ across publishers, so counts and dollar figures should be cited with their source.
When citing this quarter, name the publisher, the geography, the period, and the measure in the same sentence. For example: “According to the PitchBook–NVCA Venture Monitor, U.S. venture deal value was $36.6 billion in Q1 2024, down 29.0% year over year.”
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesQuick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
