In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Leah Hodgson from PitchBook.  We met Leah at Slush while she was digging into the stories behind the data that PitchBook gathers and publishes about the VCs and their activities. 

PitchBook started off in the US but Leah is the longest-serving journalist for the European news team.  Leah’s job is about completing the picture around the data and she appreciates the freedom within this kind of press organization where she can follow the pulse of the market and dig deep into the stories she thinks are most important. These data-driven ideas include looking at the dip most recently in fundraising deals and figuring out details about why investment trends are happening.  A good discussion was also had about series round labeling (pre-seed vs. seed? A round? B round?) and what they mean. This was not fully solved in our discussion but perhaps an understanding of the labeling and intention came out of it.  Of course, we also spoke about what makes a company interesting for the team to report on including the basic levels of investment PitchBook considers to be worth covering.