| | | | | It's US vs. China in race to build chip technology of tomorrow | |  | | President Joe Biden has sought to ramp up funding for semiconductors. (Doug Mills/Getty Images) | | | A chip shortage has thrown the global semiconductor industry into chaos, but startups building next-generation chips are thriving. - VC-backed semiconductor companies raised a record $2.64 billion in Q1 alone.
- Chinese startups have won the lion's share of those VC dollars, followed by the US. President Joe Biden is calling for $50 billion to invest in semiconductor manufacturing and research as part of an effort to keep up with China's aggressive R&D spending in the sector.
- New chip designs are targeting self-driving cars and other AI applications where efficiency is paramount.
| | | | | | | | | | Buyout of AOL, Yahoo signals PE's biggest bet on digital media | |  | The new business will be called Yahoo and continue to be led by CEO Guru Gowrappan (left), shown with NFL quarterback Sam Darnold and Yahoo fantasy sports analyst Liz Loza in 2019.
(Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images) | | | Apollo Global Management has for years wanted to become a major player in the media world. The firm finally got its wish Monday. - After days of speculation, Apollo has agreed to acquire a 90% stake in Verizon Media, a portfolio of online news sites including Yahoo and AOL, from Verizon for about $5 billion.
- The deal marks a major bet for private equity on the embattled digital media industry, which has struggled to compete with Google and Facebook for a share of the digital advertising market.
- Apollo will control a collection of news sites including TechCrunch and Rivals after the investor spent years betting on legacy media publications such as newspapers.
| | | | | | | | | | A message from Bridge Bank | | | | PNW's VC ecosystem posts a record $5.4B in value for 2020 | | The Pacific Northwest represents one of the strongest emerging tech and VC ecosystems in the US. And it lived up to that reputation in 2020, as startups across the region raised a record $5.4 billion in fresh funding.
This installment of Bridge Bank's Markets to Watch series unpacks the top trends that have defined a decade that witnessed VC investment value expand at a CAGR of 19% across the PNW. Additionally, the report contains analysis of the region's leading database software and cloudtech & DevOps segments.
Read the report | | | | | | | | | | How recent cyberattacks shed light on information security market gaps | | Information security venture funding set a record in Q1, with $4.4 billion invested in the vertical. But recent nation-state attacks, like the SolarWinds hack, have shown how legacy vendors are ill-equipped to manage software supply chains and cloud environments, propelling startups to address these market gaps.
Our new installment of Emerging Tech Research explores the major trends that shaped the information security industry in Q1, including rising demand for emerging opportunities and how legacy incumbents are losing market share to next-gen vendors. Among the takeaways: - Late-stage VC deals outnumbered early-stage deal count, suggesting that investors are focusing on companies that can achieve IPOs.
- Despite a robust pipeline of exit candidates, US-based companies achieved neither IPOs nor SPAC mergers in Q1.
- Endpoint detection & response vendors have been racing to add security operations software via mergers and acquisitions.
| | | | | | | | | | Fidelity cuts Ant valuation in half | |  | Ant Group founder Jack Ma drew the ire of Chinese regulators in November when he publicly criticized them for stifling innovation.
(Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) | | | Asset manager Fidelity Investments has slashed its estimated valuation of Ant Group to $144 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, dealing yet another blow to the Chinese financial powerhouse. - Fidelity reportedly pegged Ant's valuation at $295 billion last August. The mutual fund company was one of many global investors to pile into Ant in 2018, according to PitchBook data, when the company was said to be worth about $150 billion.
- Ant is in the midst of a major restructuring in the wake of its failed IPO. The group announced plans in April to apply to become a holding company overseen by China's central bank.
- China cracked down on the fintech giant on the grounds that it posed a risk to the financial system. Yet the drama is also widely seen as a rebuke to billionaire Jack Ma, Ant's majority shareholder, who criticized Chinese regulators in a speech last fall.
| | | | | | | | | | On the podcast: How the startup ecosystem has fared in the pandemic | | More than a year after Sequoia issued its "Black Swan" letter, the US startup ecosystem has rebounded, with VC exit value, deal value and fundraising all setting records in 2020.
The latest episode of "In Visible Capital" takes a look at the lasting impact of the pandemic on the startup ecosystem, including: - The rise in valuations for fintech companies and the growth of so-called embedded finance.
- How the skyrocketing price of bitcoin has driven a broader surge of VC investment in cryptocurrency.
- How the shift to working remotely has spurred companies to reconsider their office space.
| | | | | | | | | | Justin Zhu's $2 billion digital marketing startup was thriving, until an unorthodox style and tension with investors brought everything crashing down. [Bloomberg]
Are CFOs likely to flock to bitcoin as an investment for corporate cash? Not a chance, says one managing director. [Fortune]
As local newspapers continue to fold, Capital Daily has managed to defy the odds. Now, the media startup behind the Canadian newsletter is hoping to replicate that model across the country. [The Guardian] | | | | | | | | | | | Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: | | 504 Deals | 1529 People | 417 Companies | 38 Funds | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | COVID-19 had visible impacts on retail, education and tech, but what was its impact on B2B, one of the sturdiest sectors of the market? In partnership with PitchBook, INSIGHT2PROFIT dives into the details, ranging from modest, one-time impacts to more lasting changes, depending on the subsectors.
PE dealmaking in B2B products actually rose 20% in 2020, while investments in B2B service companies were nearly cut in half last year. While B2B ecommerce came of age out of necessity, companies changed their purchasing habits, perhaps permanently. With a mountain of data to study, B2B companies can adjust their plans around pricing, cross-selling, product positioning and sales productivity. PE investors will be paying close attention to B2B as the recovery unfolds.
To download the report, click here. | | | | | | | | | | | | 2017 Vintage North American Debt Funds | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sixth Street adds R. Martin Chavez as partner, vice chairman | | | Sixth Street has hired R. Martin Chavez as a partner and vice chairman. Chavez was previously CIO and CFO at Goldman Sachs and has been a senior adviser at Sixth Street since January. A longtime executive in the life sciences space, Chavez will focus on AI and software within Sixth Street's life sciences and healthcare group. | | | | | | | | | | | | Wealthsimple banks $611M for fintech platform | | | | | | | | | SafetyCulture hits $1.6B valuation | | | SafetyCulture has raised $73 million in a round led by Insight Partners, valuing the startup at $1.6 billion. The Australian company is the developer of a safety inspection and observation app that helps users perform workplace checks, train staff and automate tasks and communication. SafetyCulture's tech is used in industries such as construction, manufacturing, hospitality and retail. | | | | | | | | Solid Power nails down $130M to support EV battery development | | | Electric vehicle battery maker Solid Power has secured a $130 million Series B led by BMW Group, Ford and Volta Energy Technologies, a VC firm spun out from the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. The Louisville, Colo.-based company raised a $28 million Series A last October. | | | | | | | | Affinia Therapeutics secures $110M | | | Affinia Therapeutics has raised a $110 million Series B co-led by EcoR1 Capital and Farallon Capital Management. Founded in 2019 and based in the Boston area, the company is developing gene therapies for diseases affecting the central nervous system and muscles. It was valued at $110 million in March 2020, according to PitchBook data. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | PE shops to purchase Boomi from Dell for $4B | | | Francisco Partners and TPG Capital have agreed to acquire Boomi, a developer of cloud-based business software, from Dell Technologies for $4 billion in cash, Bloomberg reported. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Dell Technologies originally acquired Boomi in 2010. | | | | | | | | eStruxture lands over $600M in backing from Canadian firms, banks | | | eStruxture, the Canadian provider of a cloud and carrier-neutral data center platform, has raised more than $600 million in debt and equity funding. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Fengate Asset Management provided incremental equity financing, and Deutsche Bank Credit Solutions and Direct Lending and a group of Canadian banks provided a credit facility to the Montreal-based company. The financing will support eStruxture's acquisition of Aptum's Canadian data center business, and allow the company to execute other capital expansion projects. | | | | | | | | JC Flowers completes buyout of auto refinancing company | | | JC Flowers has completed its acquisition of iLendingDirect, a Colorado-based company that partners with credit unions, banks and other financial institutions to provide automotive refinancing services. The acquisition deal was first struck in February. | | | | | | | | KKR buys New Zealand-based pet food company | | | KKR has acquired Natural Pet Food, a New Zealand-based operator of premium pet food brands. Launched in 2006, the company produces dog and cat food from ethically sourced ingredients like cage-free chicken, sustainable seafood, and grass-fed, free-range meat. Natural Pet Food serves customers throughout New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the US and Canada. | | | | | | | | Butterfly Equity picks up organic egg provider | | | | | | | | | | | | | Payments specialist Flywire files for IPO | | | Flywire, a payments platform provider, has filed for an IPO that Reuters reported could value the company at up to $3 billion. The Boston-based business had raised over $322 million as of this past March, according to PitchBook data. It has received past funding from investors including Advent International, Whale Rock, Marshall Wace and Goldman Sachs. | | | | | | | | MeridianLink files to go public | | | | | | | | | Better Collective bets on The Action Network | | | | | | | | | | "Uncertainty stemming from the Brexit deadline at the turn of the year did not suppress valuations in the UK. Valuations grew impressively across all stages from 2019's figures. UK-based startups now outside the EU bloc have developed their valuations and garnered capital from international sources."
Source: PitchBook's 2020 Annual European VC Valuations Report | | | | | | | | | | | | | Who's in the newsletter today? | | Investors | | | | Companies | | | | Service Providers | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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