US venture capitalists are sitting on $311bn in unspent cash, as they shy away from risky bets on Silicon Valley start-ups and concentrate on finding ways to return capital to their own backers.
American VC groups have deployed just half of a record $435bn they raised from investors during the pandemic-era boom between 2020 and 2022, according to private markets data company PitchBook.
That has added to a pile of unspent reserves — known in the industry as “dry powder” — which has accumulated as venture firms adopt a more cautious stance to investing amid declining start-up valuations, preferring to find ways to back more established tech groups or prop up their existing portfolio of companies.