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| Wall Street wins signal the start of a synthetic biology revolution | |  | | (Courtesy of Ginkgo) | | | Venture capitalists foresee a bright future for synthetic biology companies that are notching big breakthroughs after a decade of innovation. - The excitement is driven in part by public debuts for two leaders in the field: Zymergen went public in April at a roughly $3 billion valuation, and Ginkgo was valued at $15 billion in a SPAC deal.
- The cost to design and produce engineered cells has fallen rapidly, and new opportunities in everything from agriculture to cancer drugs keep sprouting up.
- One investor's take: "I think in 10 years we will probably look back and will recognize that this is the most important technological revolution of our time."
| | | | | | | | | | How VC managers have adapted over time | |  | | (OsakaWayne Studios/Getty Images) | | | In the high-risk, high-reward game of staking startups, venture capitalists have shown a willingness to rewrite their playbook—changing their industry focus and oscillating between more and less specialized approaches.
Our recent analyst note dives into how US VC manager styles have drifted over the last 15 years. Key takeaways include: - Veteran venture investors have become increasingly split between highly specialized and generalist firms, with fewer managers taking the more moderate, targeted approach.
- New GPs tend to specialize, often leveraging the networks and industry know-how they developed in past roles.
- In recent years, specialist firms have dominated in terms of overall fundraising, bringing in $100 billion across 678 funds. Leading biotech investors, in particular, have become more specialized.
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| A message from RBC Capital Markets | | |
| What's moving the software sector? | | AI, machine learning and deep learning are essential for addressing the growing amount of data we generate today. We see significant investments in machine learning, deep learning and AI in what we call edge computing.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and cloudification. Almost every vertical now uses AI, machine learning and deep learning to improve products, services and customer experience. But how has the pandemic influenced the software sector?
Join our industry experts as they explore what's leading software development, where technology is taking us next and the areas that are driving software investment. | | | | | | | |
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| | A glimpse inside Female Founders Fund founder Anu Duggal's summer home that pays homage to the power of women. [The Wall Street Journal]
Could processing actually help reduce food's carbon footprint? [BBC]
Biologist Juliane Diller was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon at age 17. Fifty years later, she runs Panguana, a research station founded by her parents in Peru. [The New York Times] | | | | | |
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| | Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: | | 46 Deals | 245 People | 62 Companies | 3 Funds | | | | | | |
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| Encore Consumer Capital elevates Kate Wallman | | | San Francisco-based Encore Consumer Capital has promoted Kate Wallman to a managing director. Wallman joined Encore as a vice president in 2016, and previously worked at Boston-based private equity firm Lineage Capital. Encore invests exclusively in the consumer products sector. | | | | | |
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| BharatPe eyes $2.5B valuation | | | Tiger Global is in talks to invest about $250 million into Indian fintech specialist BharatPe, TechCrunch reported. The Series E could value the company at $2.5 billion, up from the $900 million valuation it reportedly received earlier this year. The startup offers a platform for mobile payments and loans aimed at small businesses. | | | | | | | | | Neo4J, a graph technology startup, has raised a $325 million Series F at a valuation of more than $2 billion. The round was led by Eurazeo and joined by investors including GV, Creandum, Greenbridge Partners and DTCP. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company has raised more than $515 million in venture funding to date, according to PitchBook data. | | | | | | | | | Hydrosat has raised $5 million in seed financing led by Cultivation Capital. The company uses thermal infrared imagery to provide geospatial analytics services to commercial and government customers. | | | | | |
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| Invictus devotes $40M to Cypher Learning | | | Invictus Growth Partners has invested $40 million in e-learning specialist Cypher Learning. The San Francisco-based company offers a learning-management systems platform serving more than 20,000 organizations globally in over 40 different languages. The funding is Cypher's first outside financing round. | | | | | | | | WM Partners strikes deal for Vega | | | WM Partners has agreed to acquire Vega, a Canadian provider of plant-based nutrition products, from food and beverage conglomerate Danone. WhiteWave Foods, a Danone subsidiary, has owned the company since buying it for $550 million in 2015. | | | | | | | | Brookfield continues vying for Inter Pipeline | | | Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has changed its offer to acquire Canada's Inter Pipeline from a cash-and-stock bid to an all-cash offer worth $5.6 billion or more. Brookfield has also pledged to up its current bid if Inter Pipeline is unable to wiggle out of a C$350 million (around $282 million) termination fee it would have to pay after it agreed to an all-stock acquisition offer from Pembina Pipeline earlier this year. | | | | | |
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| Germany's Boxine in talks to go public via SPAC deal | | | Children's entertainment specialist Boxine is in talks to merge with a blank-check company, 468 SPAC I. The combined entity would have a pro forma post-money market cap of around €1 billion (about $1.2 billion). The SPAC has signed a letter of intent that includes raising €100 million through a PIPE deal. | | | | | |
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| Fortino Capital amasses $124M for latest VC fund | | | Belgium-based investor Fortino Capital Partners has closed its third fund on €105 million (about $124 million). The vehicle will be used to back early-stage B2B software and technology startups in Europe, with a focus on the Benelux region, France and Germany. Initial investment sizes will range from €1 million to €3 million. The fund's predecessor launched in 2016 with €80 million in capital. | | | | | | | | MetaProp closes $100M fund | | | MetaProp, a venture capital firm that makes early-stage real estate technology investments, has raised $100 million for its third fund. The New York-based firm has previously backed brokerage startup Side, text message marketing company Attentive and VergeSense, an office analytics provider. The fund's predecessor closed on $40 million in 2018. | | | | | |
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| Credit Suisse pares ties with SoftBank | | | Credit Suisse is curtailing business with SoftBank, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Swiss bank and the Japanese conglomerate's founder, Masayoshi Son, have also ended a longtime personal lending relationship, according to the report. SoftBank-backed specialty finance company Greensill Capital collapsed in March. Credit Suisse, which had been financing some of Greensill's loans and packaging them up into bond-like instruments, is left recovering $10 billion in funds on behalf of investors. | | | | | | | |
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