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In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find: - A primer on the growing industry of decentralized finance—and its potential for true disruption.
- Andreessen Horowitz has launched a $400 million seed fund, as the firm embraces seed-stage investing anew.
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| How decentralization could disrupt—and democratize—the future of finance | |  | | (imaginima/Getty Images) | | | "Disrupt finance" has been the watchword of many fintech startups in the past decade. Yet even the most innovative of the bunch still rely heavily on traditional financial infrastructure, limiting their ability to be truly disruptive.
Decentralized finance, on the other hand, poses a far more systemic threat. DeFi runs on public, open-source and permissionless blockchains, eliminating the intermediaries that legacy financial services rely on. Our latest analyst note provides a rundown of the DeFi space, its principles and its possibilities. The note includes: - A market map of the DeFi ecosystem, covering segments such as lending, DEXs and derivatives.
- A breakdown of DeFi blockchain platforms, products and projects.
- Data on the record-breaking venture investment in DeFi—and why our analysts believe it has reached an inflection point.
| | | | | | | | | | A16z embraces seed deals—again | |  | | (jesadaphorn/Getty Images) | | | Andreessen Horowitz has raised a new $400 million seed fund, signaling a renewed focus on the earliest stages of company creation. - The Silicon Valley leader was once a far more aggressive seed investor, putting early bets on the likes of Instagram and Slack.
- But in late 2013, a16z pumped the brakes on its seed strategy. The rationale: avoiding conflicts of interest between competing startups.
- The seed investing landscape looks far different today, with super-sized deals of $25 million or more becoming commonplace.
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| A message from Elements Global Services | | |
| The past year has made the M&A space more exciting and dynamic than ever | | This momentum will likely continue, and M&A is making waves globally. Organizations are focusing on stability and growth when considering strategic goals.
While M&A understandably generates excitement, it's important to be aware of the challenges that accompany global expansion in the M&A sector—specifically the difficulties of setting up and registering a brand-new entity in another country.
Find out how Elements Global Services can help with entity formation in the M&A sector by reading this new white paper, Entity Formation for Mergers & Acquisitions, which illuminates these points: - Benefits, risks and considerations of global M&A
- How Elements can help ensure successful M&A ventures
This white paper offers insights into navigating the challenges of M&A, with a trusted partner, in over 135 countries.
Download white paper | | | | | | | |
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| UK's Cazoo makes public debut after $7B SPAC merger | |  | | (Image courtesy of Cazoo) | | | Online used car retailer Cazoo has begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange following its merger with US blank-check company Ajax I. - The London-based company agreed to merge with Ajax I in March in a deal worth $7 billion. Cazoo will receive over $1 billion in proceeds from the listing to invest in its infrastructure and brand across the UK and Europe. Existing shareholders will receive around $80 million in cash from the deal.
- Prior to its merger, Cazoo raised £450 million (about $619 million) in total funding from investors including General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners and BlackRock.
- Founded in 2018, Cazoo has sold over 35,000 cars in the UK and is actively expanding into France and Germany. The company reported revenue of £113.9 million and a gross profit of £3.7 million in Q1 2021.
| | | | | | | | | | Why the University of Nebraska Foundation is scrapping hedge funds in favor of real assets and private equity. [Institutional Investor]
As the new managing partner of Salesforce Ventures, Alex Kayyal wants the investor to move away from its reputation as one of the best corporate venture capital firms. [Protocol]
Banks and hedge funds with money to spend are now looking to Reddit for investment advice. [The Wall Street Journal] | | | | | |
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| | Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: | | 6 Deals | 66 People | 8 Companies | | | | | | |
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| 2016 Vintage Non-US PE Funds | | | | | | |
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| PitchBook Webinar: Private fund strategies, manager style | | Join our upcoming webinar on Sept. 1 to hear PitchBook analysts discuss private fund strategies through the lens of manager style. Using the PitchBook Private Manager Style framework, we will explore how to assess qualitative characteristics of private market managers.
Key topics include: - Understanding the broad levers private market managers use to build portfolios and how this has changed over time.
- Understanding how a manager's exposures fit within an existing private markets portfolio.
- Ensuring a manager's actual investment history is consistent with its stated strategy.
- How to quickly compare managers.
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| | | | | | | | | | Zeal has raised a $13 million Series A led by Spark Capital. The Bay Area-based company is the developer of API-based infrastructure intended to help employers build custom payroll products for W2 employees and contractors. | | | | | |
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| Blackstone strikes deal with dental provider | | | Blackstone Tactical Opportunities has made a strategic growth investment in Deca Dental, a Dallas-based dental provider with nearly 100 locations across Texas, Florida and Washington. The investment will be used for continued expansion. Deca Dental CEO and founder Sulman Ahmed will continue in his current role and lead the board of directors. | | | | | | | | Advent circling drugmaker Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB | | | | | | | | | Ontario Teachers' partners with Acorn Health | | | | | | |
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| PE-backed EngageSmart to go public | | | EngageSmart, a provider of customer engagement and payments software, has filed documents with the SEC for an IPO. The Massachusetts-based company (formerly known as Invoice Cloud) received a growth investment from General Atlantic in 2018 and has been backed by Summit Partners since 2015. | | | | | | | | Rivian confidentially files for IPO | | | Amazon-backed Rivian has registered confidentially for an IPO. The electric truck company is seeking a valuation of roughly $80 billion and plans to go public in late November, Bloomberg reported. The Orange County, Calif.-based business was valued at $27.6 billion earlier this year, according to a PitchBook estimate. | | | | | | | | | Restaurant software maker Toast has filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The company recorded $703.7 million in revenue for the first six months of 2021, more than double the same period last year. Its leading investors include Tiger Global with 12.78% of Class B shares and Bessemer Venture Partners with 12.48%. Boston-based Toast was valued at $4.9 billion last year, according to PitchBook data. | | | | | |
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| A-Star Partners targets $250M debut fund | | | Kevin Hartz, an early investor in PayPal and Airbnb, former Coatue partner Bennett Siegel, and Gautam Gupta, a former finance executive at Opendoor and Uber, are raising a $250 million venture fund, the Information reported. The firm, called A-Star Partners, has already invested in a number of companies and plans to focus on consumer and fintech startups from seed to late stage. Limited partners in the fund include Thomas Laffont, co-founder of Coatue, as well as Peter Thiel and Max Levchin. | | | | | |
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"An abundance of both digital and physical infrastructures, collaborative co-working spaces, accelerators, incubators, angel networks, and events have helped market the Baltic region and lure VC operators and investors. Visa programs are an additional resource all three nations have utilized to invite individuals outside the Baltic region to start businesses or relocate."
Source: PitchBook's Q2 2021 European Venture Report | | | | | |
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