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| Soaring PE deal value in Q4 could set the stage for 2021 | | In the second quarter of 2020, private equity deal value in the US sunk to its lowest point in seven years. By Q4, that figure had more than doubled, as the industry recorded its highest quarterly deal value in at least a decade.
With firms still sitting on piles of dry powder and plenty of major deals in the pipeline, that impressive recovery from the doldrums of the pandemic could be a sign of even more robust dealmaking to come in 2021. Sponsored by Grant Thornton, PitchBook's 2020 Annual US PE Breakdown has more on last year's second-half surge and the other twists and turns that defined the PE market in a year unlike any other. Other key takeaways include: - The exit market defied expectations, with 2020's annual exit value increasing over 2019
- The PE industry set annual records for both growth equity deal value and add-on rate
- Thematic funds targeting tech, longer investment horizons and other strategies continued to raise ample capital
| | | | | | | | | | TripActions hits $5B valuation with new round led by a16z | |  | | (Tom Merton/Getty Images) | | | TripActions has been valued at $5 billion after raising a $155 million Series E led by Andreessen Horowitz, Addition and angel investor Elad Gil. The round also received support from existing backers Zeev Ventures, Lightspeed and Greenoaks Capital. The company has now raised more than $750 million in total private funding.
TripActions' corporate travel management software lets clients like Lyft and Twilio track and analyze travel expenses. The valuation jump—up from $4 billion in 2019, according to PitchBook data—came despite the enduring impact of COVID-19 restrictions on corporate travel, which reportedly led TripActions to lay off a quarter of its staff last March.
Despite those headwinds, the Bay Area-based company said it has continued to grow, and it now manages over $3.6 billion in annual client travel budgets. TripActions is seeking to double employee headcount to around 1,500 in the next year, Reuters reported. | | | | | | | |
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| A message from Silicon Valley Bank | | |
| New records for healthcare fundraising, investments and exits | | At a time when innovation is more important than ever, Silicon Valley Bank's proprietary life sciences and healthcare research reveals that 2020 was a record-setting year for healthcare venture fundraising and investment. With venture fundraising increasing by 57% to $17 billion and record IPO valuations, the outlook for 2021 looks bright for healthcare companies and investors.
Read Silicon Valley Bank's Healthcare Investments & Exits 2021 Annual Report to learn about SVB's perspective and 2021 outlook.
Sources: PitchBook and SVB proprietary data. | | | | | | | |
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| Monzo founder steps aside, citing stress | |  | Tom Blomfield called his resignation "bittersweet."
(Courtesy of Monzo) | | | Monzo founder Tom Blomfield has decided to leave the challenger bank after struggling to maintain his mental health.
Blomfield told TechCrunch he has been unhappy at Monzo in the two years since it has grown from a "scrappy startup" into a major UK bank with almost 5 million customers, and he said the pandemic has worsened his mental health.
Last May Blomfield moved from CEO to the newly created role of president and resigned from the Monzo's board. He revealed that the move was intended to give him the opportunity to assess whether he wanted to leave the company.
Blomfield founded Monzo in 2015 and led its rise to one of the UK's most valuable fintech startups, worth around £1.2 billion (about $1.7 billion). The company has raised nearly £450 million in VC funding, according to PitchBook data, from backers including Novator, General Catalyst and Accel.
| | | | | | | | | | What Democratic control of the Senate could mean for VC | |  | Sen. Chuck Schumer has become Senate majority leader.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images) | | | President Joe Biden's legislative agenda got a boost after Democrats won a slight majority in the Senate recently.
Many venture capitalists and lobbyists expect ambitions to be tempered by the party's slim hold on power. But action on Democratic priorities like climate change, immigration and taxes could spell changes for investment and innovation in high-growth startups. | | | | | | | | | | Executives at Apollo Global Management—as well as the firm's LPs—are still awaiting the results of an investigation into Leon Black's business ties with Jeffrey Epstein. [Bloomberg]
America's suburban populations are changing. Increasingly, the use and look of the suburban spaces they inhabit are changing too. [Vice]
Half a lifetime ago, Chris Barrett played a role in New York's deadly mafia wars. Now, he's built a mini-empire on the gray market by selling pizza laced with THC. [Grub Street] | | | | | |
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| | Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: | | 498 Deals | 1699 People | 496 Companies | 27 Funds | | | | | | |
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| 2011 Vintage Global Debt Funds | | | | | | |
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| ATL Partners picks new partner | | | | | | | | | Blackstone brings on Michael Hovey to lead insurance unit acquisitions | | | Blackstone has hired Michael Hovey as a senior managing director in charge of acquisitions and strategic partnerships for the firm's Insurance Solutions unit. Hovey was previously a managing director at Morgan Stanley, serving as co-head of insurance investment banking for North America. | | | | | |
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| Soci secures $80M Series D | | | | | | | | | Cancer treatment startup picks up additional $35M for Series A | | | Plexium has raised $35 million in a funding co-led by Lux Capital and Pivotal BioVentures, with participation from investors including The Column Group and DCVC Bio. The new capital brings the company's Series A total to $63 million. Based in San Diego, Plexium is a developer of protein degrading therapeutics designed to treat cancer and other diseases. | | | | | |
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| Penn Foster secures new impact backing | | | BayPine and Two Sigma Impact have made an investment in Penn Foster, a Pennsylvania-based provider of workforce development technology used by major employers such as Walmart and Lowe's, public agencies and other community organizations. An investment group led by Bain Capital Double Impact previously acquired Penn Foster in 2018. The investment is Two Sigma Impact's first since its launch last year. | | | | | | | | CD&R to purchase activewear brand | | | Clayton Dubilier & Rice has agreed to acquire S&S Activewear, an Illinois-based distributor of imprintable apparel and accessories, in partnership with the company's current owners and management. Upon the deal's closing, S&S president Jim Shannon will become CEO and CD&R operating partner John Compton will become chairman of the company's board. | | | | | | | | Vestar takes control of Dr. Praeger's | | | | | | | | | Bridgepoint to buy Prescient Healthcare | | | Bridgepoint Development Capital has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Prescient Healthcare from Baird Capital, which has backed the company since 2017 and will re-invest alongside Bridgepoint. Based in London, Prescient Healthcare is a provider of product strategy advisory services for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. | | | | | | | | Ridgemont stakes Softdocs | | | Ridgemont Equity Partners has made a growth investment in Softdocs, a South Carolina-based provider of enterprise content management software for the education industry. Founded in 1998, the company has partnered with almost 700 organizations. | | | | | |
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| Bain Capital readies rapid $400M dividend | | | Bain Capital has made plans to pay itself a $400 million dividend by adding debt to building products company US LBM through high-risk junk bonds, according to Bloomberg. Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in the Illinois-based company in December. | | | | | | | | Plaid launches incubator for diverse founders | | | Financial services company Plaid has launched a nine-month incubator program for early-stage, underrepresented founders. Dubbed FinRise, the program will offer participants access to networking opportunities, discounted services and other resources. FinRise plans to hold a virtual bootcamp for its first cohort this spring. | | | | | | | | Instacart to cut nearly 1,900 in-store jobs | | | Instacart has plans to let go of 1,877 in-store workers, including 10 from a Kroger-owned Illinois grocery store that recently unionized, according to a letter received by the United Food & Commercial Workers union from law firm Stinson. The move comes as Instacart shifts from using its own workers to having its clients use their employees to fulfill orders using the company's technology. Instacart plans to offer the workers who lost their jobs between $250 and $750 apiece. | | | | | |
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| IG Group set for $1B Tastytrade takeover | | | London-based online trading company IG Group has agreed to pay $1 billion for Tastytrade, the operator of an online financial network focused on individual investors. Based in Chicago, Tastytrade raised $20 million in funding from TCV at a $320 million valuation in 2018, according to PitchBook data. | | | | | | | | Joby Aviation looks to go public in SPAC deal | | | Electric air taxi company Joby Aviation has hired banks as it explores a deal to go public by merging with a blank-check company, Reuters reported. Joby was valued at $2.6 billion last year, according to PitchBook data, and is reportedly seeking a valuation of about $5 billion in the potential SPAC deal. In December, the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based company acquired Uber Elevate and sold a $75 million stake in itself to the ridehailing company. | | | | | | | | Mytheresa shares soar after PE-backed retail IPO | | | The parent of Mytheresa, a German online fashion retailer, saw its shares climb more than 19% on Thursday in their first day of trading after an IPO in New York. The company priced its offering of more than 15.6 million shares at $26 apiece, raising nearly $407 million and resulting in an initial $2.2 billion valuation. Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board took control of Mytheresa from Neiman Marcus in 2018, a deal that sparked multiple lawsuits from Neiman Marcus creditors. | | | | | | | | Haemonetics set to snap up Cardiva Medical | | | Medtech company Haemonetics has agreed to buy Cardiva Medical, a maker of vascular closure devices that filed for an IPO on the NYSE earlier this month. Haemonetics will make an upfront cash payment of $475 million and pay up to $35 million in additional funding, based on Cardiva's sales growth. Cardiva has received prior backing from investors including PTV Healthcare Capital, Amkey Ventures and EW Healthcare Partners. | | | | | | | | Payoneer in SPAC merger talks | | | Online payments company Payoneer has held discussions about merging with a blank-check company, Bloomberg reported. The deal with the SPAC, led by The Bancorp founder and CEO Betsy Cohen, could reportedly value the combined company at $2.5 billion. Backed by investors like Greylock Partners, Wellington Management and TCV, Payoneer was valued at over $900 million after raising a $180 million Series E in 2016. | | | | | | | | Chinese edtech startup mulls US IPO | | | Huohua Siwei, a Chinese edtech startup, has plans to go public in the US, Bloomberg reported. The company, known as Spark Education in English, could reportedly raise $500 million in the offering. Huohua Siwei has several high profile investors, including Tencent, The Carlyle Group, Sequoia China and KKR. | | | | | | | | Patreon could make public debut this year | | | Patreon, the developer of an online platform that allows content creators to get direct financial support from their fans, has been considering an IPO or SPAC merger, The Information reported. Backed by Index Ventures, Initialized Capital and others, Patreon has raised over $250 million in total funding, reaching a $1.4 billion valuation last year after a $90 million Series E, according to PitchBook data. | | | | | |
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"In the technology sector, M&A activity remained relatively strong, declining only modestly from 2019's record highs to $315.4 billion and increasing as a share of total deal volume to 20.8%. Despite the Nasdaq's stellar performance, the sector was not immune to the effects of the pandemic."
Source: PitchBook's 2020 Annual M&A Report | | | | | |
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