Uber and Lyft closed the biggest VC deals of 4Q 2015

Dow Jones VentureSource confirms ridesharing as the biggest fundraisers; the VC slowdown is real

Maybe it’s not surprising, but data just released by Dow Jones VentureSource confirms that, in the U.S., Uber and Lyft secured the top two spots for biggest venture capital deals of the fourth quarter in 2015.

Uber took first place by a long shot with a $2.1 billion round from a long list of Chinese investors: China Broadband Capital Partners LP, China Life Insurance Co., China Minsheng Banking Corp., China Taiping Insurance Group, China Vanke Co., CITIC Securities Co., Guangzhou Automobile Group, HNA Group, T. Rowe Price, and Tiger Global Management.

Strangely, Dow Jones says December 3 was the close date for the round, but that’s actually the date when rumors of this round first started surfacing. Only last week did Uber finally confirm that this round was nearing the $2 billion mark.

The second biggest fundraising of Q4 2015 was completed by Lyft on the last day of the year. Half of its $1 billion round came from automotive giant General Motors (GM) with additional support from Janus Capital Group, Kingdom Holding Company, and Rakuten Ventures.

Rounding out the top deals of the quarter were Jet.com ($350 million round led by Fidelity Investments), Avant ($325 million round led by General Atlantic), and Sunnova Energy ($300 million led by Triangle Peak Partners).

In other words, the biggest financing rounds in the sharing economy are also the biggest financing rounds overall. It’s hard to imagine these companies continually remaining private and accelerating these private infusions of capital, so this data may also give more fuel to the fire pushing sharing economy companies to go public this year.

Zooming out from the top VC deals, Dow Jones also confirmed what we’ve all noticed: there’s a slowdown in investing.

In total, U.S. companies raised $17 billion across 902 venture capital deals in the quarter. Compared to the previous quarter, that's an 11 percent drop in capital raised and a four percent drop in number of deals. Compared to the same quarter in 2014, that’s a seven percent drop in amount invested and 10 percent drop in number of deals.

Any way you slice it, the data shows less money for companies and less deals happening.

Interestingly, Dow Jones says venture fundraising has actually increased, with 72 funds raising $8.16 billion last quarter.

Again, this seems to vibe with what we’ve heard from investors: we’re not experiencing a catastrophic bubble bursting but rather a tightening of the waistband. Companies now need to prove more than ever that they deserve every dollar bill they’re asking investors to contribute. There’s still money, but getting it is harder.