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| Monzo picks up $80M after June down round | |  | | (Courtesy of Monzo) | | | UK challenger bank Monzo has raised £60 million (about $80 million) from investors including Novator, Kaiser, TED Global and Goodwater, TechCrunch reported. The new funding adds to a £72.7 million down round the company raised in June at a £1.1 billion valuation, according to PitchBook data. Monzo had previously been valued at £1.7 billion after it raised a £113 million round in June 2019. The digital bank is also backed by the likes of General Catalyst, Accel and Y Combinator.
Though Monzo has raised a substantial amount of new funding since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the company has also had its share of struggles, including employee furloughs and the closure of its Las Vegas office. The startup also indicated in an annual report that its losses had more than doubled from £47.2 million to £113.8 million between fiscal year 2019 and fiscal year 2020, though it also more than tripled its revenue and added some 2.3 million new customers during that same period. | | | | | | | | | | A fresher look at private fund benchmarks | | One of the pitfalls that come with assessing the performance of private market funds is that you are always looking far into the past. It often takes investors several months to report accurate data, and sometimes even longer, creating a lag that can make it difficult to discern the completeness of a dataset.
The latest edition of PitchBook Benchmarks introduces a new view of fund performance that aims to provide the most up-to-date and accurate numbers possible, with an adjustment that allows us to present preliminary fund performance data from Q2 as well as our final data from Q1. The change is applied across the full panoply of private market strategies, with detailed data across VC, PE, private debt and more: | | | | | | | |
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| Analyzing the present & future of private financial markets | | Throughout the 2010s, as the private markets evolved and grew immensely, the expansion-stage ecosystem came into being. Analyzed at length across the Road to Next series throughout this year, the latest edition explores the present, near- to medium-term and longer-term prospects of private financial markets, especially at the expansion stage.
Underpinned by a variety of PitchBook datasets, the report contextualizes capital overhang, dealmaking and emergent liquidity trends such as SPACs against the maturation and potential duration of private holding tenures. In addition, the report also features insights from Deloitte leaders as to evolving diligence needs and the rapprochement between private and public markets.
Read it now | | | | | | | |
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| Dyal Capital, Owl Rock Capital could combine through SPAC deal | | | | | | | | | | | Pinterest's stock is soaring in 2020, despite claims of racial discrimination by former employees that surfaced in June. Now, shareholders are taking the company to court over claims of a toxic culture. [The Verge]
Congress is considering a bill that would ban imported goods made with forced labor in China's Xinjiang region. Companies including Apple, Coca-Cola and Nike are lobbying to weaken it. [The New York Times]
Professional investors do their investing in financial markets. It's almost a tautology. But an iconoclastic operator named Rishi Ganti is sure there is a better way. [Institutional Investor] | | | | | | | |
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| | Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: | | 454 Deals | 1524 People | 392 Companies | 16 Funds | | | | | | |
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| Sterling Group adds credit-focused MD | | | The Sterling Group has hired Jenny Harris as a managing director of the firm's credit fund. Sterling joins the Houston-based middle-market firm from BNP Paribas, where she was a managing director working to provide leveraged credit for private equity deals. | | | | | |
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| | | Logistics startup ShipMonk has raised a $290 million round led by Summit Partners. Based in Florida, the company provides order fulfillment and inventory management services to small and medium-sized ecommerce companies. ShipMonk expects revenue of over $140 million 2020, more than double last year's figure. Founded in 2014, the startup raised a $10 million Series A in 2018. | | | | | | | | Event management startup Bizzabo secures $138M | | | New York-based Bizzabo has closed a $138 million Series E round led by Insight Partners, with support from existing backers Viola Growth, Next47 and OurCrowd. The company is a developer of software for events that can be held virtually, in person, or through a combination of the two. Bizzabo said the number of events hosted on its platform has grown by 65% this year. | | | | | | | | Virta Health becomes unicorn with $65M round | | | Diabetes care company Virta Health has been valued at more than $1.1 billion after raising $65 million in Series D funding led by Sequoia Global Equities, with support from Caffeinated Capital. The San Francisco-based startup helps individuals improve metabolic health and manage diseases like diabetes without medication. | | | | | | | | Genesis Therapeutics collects $52M | | | | | | | | | Fintech startup Step banks $50M | | | Step, which offers banking services to teens and families, has raised a $50 million Series B led by Coatue. Existing investors Stripe, Crosslink Capital, Collaborative Fund and Dreamers VC also took part in the funding, among others. Based in Palo Alto, Step raised $22.5 million at an $80 million valuation in June 2019, according to PitchBook data. | | | | | | | | Ridecell drives off with $45M | | | | | | |
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| BC Partners-backed GardaWorld ups offer for G4S | | | Canadian security company GardaWorld has increased its bid for UK-based security business G4S to £3.7 billion (about $4.9 billion), or 235 pence per share. G4S shareholders rejected a previous 190-pence-per-share bid from GardaWorld, saying it undervalued the business. BC Partners acquired a majority stake in GardaWorld last year in a deal that valued the company at some $4 billion. | | | | | | | | Insight Partners set for $1.9B ecommerce SBO | | | Insight Partners has made an investment in CommerceHub, with Bloomberg reporting the deal is a majority transaction that values the New York-based ecommerce platform operator at $1.9 billion. GTCR and Sycamore Partners, which combined to acquire CommerceHub for $1.1 billion in 2018, will both retain stakes in the company. | | | | | | | | Novacap nabs deal for Logibec | | | Canadian firm Novacap has acquired Logibec, a developer of healthcare software based in Montreal, from GI Partners, which had backed the company since 2015. Novacap is investing in partnership with Investissement Québec, which primarily backs local companies such as Logibec. | | | | | | | | | New State Capital Partners has acquired KMS, a Wichita, Kan.-based wholesale distributor of refurbished merchandise including clothing, hardware and houseware. KMS management will remain in place and retain a minority stake in the company. | | | | | | | | Granite Creek bets on vehicle relocation | | | | | | | | | Crest Rock takes control of Lumin8 | | | Crest Rock Partners has acquired Lumin8 Transportation Technologies, a supplier of services and technology related to traffic and intelligent transportation systems. Colorado-based Lumin8 was formed earlier this year through the merger of three smaller traffic and transportation companies. It operates in the Mountain West and US Southeast. | | | | | | | | Beauty company lands $150M from L Catterton | | | L Catterton has made a $150 million minority investment in Function of Beauty, a New York-based provider of customizable hair, skin and body care products. CircleUp and GGV Capital also participated in the round, which comes after the company pulled in a roughly $12 million Series A led by GGV in 2017. | | | | | |
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| Freight startup mulls SPAC merger | | | Transfix, the operator of an online freight marketplace, is discussing a potential merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, Tuscan Holdings Corp., Bloomberg reported. The New York-based company was valued at $800 million after a funding round in 2018, according to PitchBook data. Lerer Hippeau, NEA and G Squared are among Transfix's investors. | | | | | | | | Vista exits Upserve for $430M | | | Vista Equity Partners has sold Upserve, a provider of restaurant management software, to Lightspeed POS for around $430 million in cash and stock. Vista had backed the Providence, R.I.-based company since 2017. Headquartered in Montreal, Lightspeed is a provider of cloud-based omnichannel commerce platforms for small and medium-sized businesses. | | | | | | | | Roblox buys VC-backed cognitive test developer | | | Video game platform creator Roblox has purchased Imbellus, a developer of simulation-based cognitive assessments designed to be an alternative to standardized testing. The startup will adapt its assessments to help Roblox grow its recruiting efforts. Los Angeles-based Imbellus has raised more than $20 million in private funding from Owl Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Thrive Capital and others; it was reportedly valued at $57.7 million in 2018. | | | | | | | | Kind lines up latest snack deal | | | Snack specialist Kind has agreed to acquire Nature's Bakery, a Nevada-based company that bakes and sells fig bars and other soft-baked foods. Nature's Bakery has received previous backing from VMG Partners. The deal comes about two weeks after candy colossus Mars agreed to buy Kind for a reported $5 billion. | | | | | | | | Wondery gets takeover interest from Amazon | | | Amazon is in discussions to buy Wondery in a deal that could value the podcast startup at over $300 million, The Wall Street Journal reported. Founded in 2016 by former Fox TV executive Hernan Lopez, Wondery was worth $125 million after a $10 million Series B in 2019, according to PitchBook data. In September, the company reportedly hired advisers to explore a sale. Apple and Sony have also been among the suitors vying to buy Wondery, according to a Bloomberg report last month. | | | | | |
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| JMI Equity eyes $1.3B for Fund X | | | JMI Equity has set a $1.3 billion target for its 10th flagship fund, according to an SEC filing. With offices in Baltimore and San Diego, JMI makes growth investments of between $15 million and $125 million in software companies across education, healthcare IT, human resources and other sectors. The firm raised $1.2 billion for its ninth flagship fund in 2018. | | | | | |
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| Seattle-based wealth managers seal merger | | | Laird Norton Wealth Management has acquired Filament, combining two wealth advisory firms that are both based in Seattle. Laird Norton was founded in 1967 and Filament in 2006. The combined firm will manage some $6 billion in client assets. | | | | | |
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