Joshua Mayers

Venture capital funds worldwide recorded the best performance among all private capital strategies in the first quarter of 2021, according to PitchBook's latest Benchmarks, with an IRR of 19.8%. Buyout and growth funds came in second and third—at 17.8% and 17.1%, respectively—before a noticeable drop-off in the results from other strategies. The trend of VC and private equity standing out in terms of performance has persisted for several years now (see the quilt chart below).

Empty San Francisco streets are indicative of difficult times across VC, as startups increasingly turn to salary cuts to weather the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News) Even as workers at venture capital portfolio companies have been losing their jobs, a growing number of startups are attempting to ride out the coronavirus pandemic by implementing salary cuts for rank-and-file employees and CEOs alike, according to a new survey.

The Bay Area garnered a decade-low percentage of annual US VC deal flow in 2019, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, and its share of deal value was the lowest since 2013. To some degree, regional parity is also evident when looking at CEO compensation at VC-backed tech and biotech companies, as seen in new data from compensation data provider J.Thelander Consulting, whose latest Private Company Compensation Survey closes this week.