I’ve invested in more than 100 private startup deals in the past six years.
And the COVID-19 pandemic has been downright brutal for many of the companies I’ve invested in. Here are a couple of examples…
Wonderschool was a very promising “Airbnb for day care” startup – at least until COVID-19 happened. Since then, it’s had to lay off 65 employees. The silver lining, I guess, is if Wonderschool survives the downturn, it should come out of this with far less competition.
Eaze was the largest cannabis delivery service. This one was already struggling before COVID-19 happened, but since then, things have gotten worse. You can read more about its recent struggles on TechCrunch.
I’ve also invested in a lot of tech companies that are thriving during the crisis. Take Aircall, for example. This startup makes it easy for companies to build call centers and phone systems. With so much of the world working from home, Aircall has seen a healthy uptick in business.
Clubhouse is another portfolio company that is thriving in this environment. Clubhouse makes it easy for software developers to collaborate remotely.
In the end, I expect a lot of companies I invested in to fail during this crisis. But hopefully some of them will come out of it stronger than ever.
The COVID-19 crisis will pass eventually. I certainly don’t plan to stop investing in promising startup deals because of it.