Capital concentration in frontier labs makes the first round harder for founders without a Silicon Valley network, but alternatives have multiplied: revenue-based financing for recurring ARR, improved venture debt after the SVB collapse, public grants like ENISA and CDTI Neotec, and AI-leveraged bootstrapping that shrinks the team you need.
After the 2021 historic peak and the 2022 correction, startup funding in 2023 has been redefined: Series A rounds dropping from $15M to $8-10M, due diligence extending to 14 weeks, and metrics like the real Rule of 40 and NRR above 110% as the new minimum.
Crunchbase and CB Insights first-quarter data confirm that global startup funding has rebounded, but nearly all of the growth is concentrated in startups presenting themselves as AI. The rest of the ecosystem remains in correction.
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