As we are approaching the end of another unprecedented year, it’s time to look back and share our top blog posts from the past 12 months. And if you haven’t seen it already, you can read our Year in Review post, where we reflect on the incredible pace of the start-up market in 2021. 

Our top three topics from the year: 

1/ Is 10x the new 3x?

Everyone (investors and founders alike) has underestimated the size of the addressable market for tech over the past decade. Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has reset these expectations, leading to huge increases in valuations for both public and private tech companies…not to mention venture capital returns that are far better than what we have traditionally seen!

Read the post: Resetting venture capital expectations: is 10x the new 3x?

And check out other V1 news from 2021: 

• Our anti-portfolio: the opportunities we missed: Early-stage investing is hard, and the toughest lesson you can learn is looking back at companies you had the chance to invest in, but unfortunately passed on. 
• Announcing Fund IV and Ops Fund II
• Looking back at V1’s first IPO, an unusual investment at the time: Coinbase

2/ Climate and energy

Over the past 18 months, we have increasingly focused on investing in climate and energy startups. Public awareness about sustainability and climate change is at an all-time high. There are strong tailwinds on the renewable energy front: the cost of solar is falling off a cliff; storage and EVs are falling down similar cost curves; we’re seeing innovation in financial engineering and the rise of smart grids and smart homes, etc. For all these reasons, we are very excited about the many opportunities for software to solve our planet’s climate crisis. 

Read the post: Areas of interest in climate & energy

And more climate posts:

• Zero Marginal Cost Energy
• Announcing our investment in EnergyBank, a pioneer in long-term energy storage
• Announcing our investment in EnPowered, a payment platform to increase the rate of cleantech adoption

3/ Visions of Web 3.0

A new kind of web is being built around the idea of an “ownership economy” that lets participants get equity upside. 

Read the post: Visions of Web 3

And more reading on Web 3.0/crypto: 

• Bitcoin as a battery: The Solar-Bitcoin Convergence
• What will be the new discovery paradigm in Web 3.0: What will discovery look like in Web 3.0?
• Announcing our investment in Arweave, a decentralized platform that enables anyone to store documents and applications forever 

Thank you to everyone who reads our posts throughout the year, whether via email subscription or visiting the site. We always appreciate your feedback as we’re continuously striving to be better investors and content creators. And we hope everyone has a safe, healthy and joyful holiday season!