NGP Capital Launches State of Jobs Report of Venture-Backed Startups
NGP Capital, a global venture capital firm that invests in early-stage B2B companies from Series A onwards within enterprise software, industrial tech, cybersecurity, and infrastructure, has released its State of US Startup Jobs Report, which reveals job openings by privately owned, venture-funded technology startups and growth companies in the U.S. from the past year.
Between January 2022 and March 2023, 190,000 job ads were placed, equivalent to roughly 25 job openings per company. The report segments the job openings by metro area, company stage, and industry and compares B2B and B2C. When comparing Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, job openings went down from 19,000 in April 2022 to 9,000 in March 2023, representing a 52% decrease. The number of job openings began to stabilize at the beginning of 2023 with three consecutive months of 9,000+ job openings per month, suggesting the end of the decline.
“The data indicate a slowdown in startup job growth primarily driven by reduced venture capital investment. We’ve seen a market like this before and the need for a shift to capital efficiency,” said Upal Basu, Partner, NGP Capital. “While the economic slowdown had a significant impact on the startup jobs market, there are signs of recovery. New developments in AI will likely kick-start venture funding, leading to increased demand for new talent. We are optimistic for the remainder of 2023.”
Key Highlights
- New York City and the Bay Area reign champions for prospective job seekers
- New York City and the Bay Area account for more than 50% of the total job openings identified by the report, with around 50,000 job ads analyzed in each market.
- The Bay Area’s highest advertised jobs were in enterprise software, representing 20% of advertised jobs.
- Boston saw the most jobs within healthtech – 29% of all job postings in the market.
- New York and Miami had the most fintech job openings – 17% and 13%, respectively, in each market.
- Chicago saw a sharp increase in martech jobs – representing 25% growth in the market.
- Seed hiring is holding steady
- Seed hiring is hovering at 86% YoY from March 2022 to 2023.
- In contrast, early-stage and late-stage VC-funded companies are both at 47% as of March 2022, indicating a 53% decline YoY.
- Healthtech and life science jobs remain ahead of other industries
- Healthtech and life sciences jobs are performing better, with a current hiring rate of 65% of its March 2022 level.
- In contrast, fintech was hit the hardest, with a hiring rate of only 37% of its March 2022 level, indicating a decline of 63%.
- Enterprise software – the largest industry – was the second hardest hit, with a hiring rate of 40% of its March 2022 level.
- B2C and B2B jobs experienced a similar decline
- B2C companies were quicker to react to the changing market conditions and reduced their hiring activity accordingly.
- B2B companies eventually followed suit, resulting in a roughly equal hiring rate.
- In March 2023, B2C job decline stood at 48% and 51% for B2B companies compared to March 2022.
Methodology
NGP Capital analyzed 7,500 U.S. privately owned companies and tracked the number of job openings between January 2022 through March 2023.
To read the full report, please visit: https://www.ngpcap.com/insights/the-state-of-startup-jobs-in-the-u-s-2023
