Investors bet on agtech to ease supply woes

First-time PE managers get creative to fundraise; secondaries, real estate prop up fund performance; Apollo, EQT exit Blume Global for $414M

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription. Log in The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A February 20, 2023 The Daily Pitch is powered by PitchBook's industry-defining research and best-in-class data In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find: Our latest market map highlights notable companies in the precision agriculture segment. Preliminary data for Q3 2022 shows PE and VC dragging down private capital returns—with strategies like secondaries keeping the overall figure in the positive. Smaller PE firms have carved out niches such as sports media and entertainment in order to secure commitments.   Today's Top Stories   Explore the many fields of agtech (OlegRi/Shutterstock) Last year was a difficult one for agriculture: The war in Ukraine cut off global access to a critical grain supply, avian flu outbreaks sent egg prices soaring and climate change took a toll on harvests with wildfires and droughts. Investors are betting on agtech to help ease these challenges. Our Q4 2022 Agtech Market Map lays out the key areas investors are focusing on to make a difference, broken out by segment with notable companies. explore the market map   Share: Emerging managers go niche to score in tough fundraising climate (Vasyl Shulga/Shutterstock) After a record fundraising year in 2021, PE managers found it hard to attract capital in 2022, particularly those raising a first-time fund. Smaller PE shops have discovered that deep industry connections and a targeted strategy can go a long way toward securing commitments, even when some limited partners are dialing back their alternatives exposure. read more   Share:   A message from Configure Partners   Delivering capital structure solutions in the face of uncertainty The era of cheap and easy money is over. Weakened corporate fundamentals and similarly lacking credit quality have resulted in a more conservative lending environment. Hold sizes and leverage are down, while pricing and scrutiny are up, significantly complicating the process of sourcing financing. Sponsors turn to Configure to increase capacity, scale their business, and secure optimal financing. In a challenging credit environment, outsourcing debt placement allows Configure clients to better allocate resources to finding, underwriting, and ultimately closing deals. Download the latest Sponsor Finance Report for capital markets insights and more information on how Configure helps its clients win.  Share:   Secondaries, real estate buoy private capital through Q2 2022 While the S&P 500 plummeted in the first three quarters of 2022, a handful of private markets strategies surprised investors with their resilience. Asset classes like secondaries and real estate buoyed overall private capital returns through Q2 2022 while PE and VC headed into negative territory. Our Global Fund Performance Report uses data through Q2 2022, as well as some preliminary Q3 figures, to provide a comprehensive look at how private market strategies have held up across PE, VC, real estate, real assets, private debt, funds-of-funds and secondaries. read the report   Share: Private debt secondaries flooding the market overwhelm limited capital (pogonici/Shutterstock) Private debt secondaries experienced record transactions in 2022—totaling $17 billion—largely driven by limited partners seeking to rebalance their investments. But the market remains undercapitalized. Despite heavyweight buyers dedicating capital to private debt secondaries, the market has been pulling out all the stops to absorb big-ticket LP portfolio sales, and it's been difficult to find buyers for some larger GP-led transactions. read more   Share: Recommended Reads As more VCs are forced to continue managing previous investments while failing to raise their next fund, investors are preparing for a zombie hoard. [CNBC] A look at hedge funds' highest earners in 2022. [Bloomberg] One writer's unsettling conversation with Bing's new chatbot. [The New York Times]   Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: 17 Deals 157 People 70 Companies See what our data software can do   Quick Takes     The Daily Benchmark     2016 Vintage North American Secondaries Funds     Exit & IPOs     Apollo, EQT sell Blume Global for $414M     Hilco considering Cath Kidston sale     Fundraising     Northleaf closes secondaries fund on $1.3B     EIF commits $32M to Rivage Investment's climate debt fund     Corporate M&A     Qatari consortium plans $6B bid for Manchester United       The Daily Benchmark   2016 Vintage North American Secondaries Funds Median IRR 24.15% Top Quartile IRR 33.05% 1.73x Median TVPI Select top performers Industry Ventures Special Opportunities Fund III Industry Ventures Secondary VIII Timber Bay Fund I *IRR: net of fees 23 Funds in Benchmark » Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks   VC Deals   Genetic medicines specialist Aera Therapeutics has raised $193 million in a combined Series A and B led by Arch Venture Partners, GV and Lux Capital. Cargo drone airline Dronamics has raised a $40 million pre-Series A. Investors in the round included Founders Factory, Speedinvest and Eleven Capital. GrainChain, a fintech startup for the agricultural industry, has secured $29 million from investors including Overstock.com, Pelion Venture Partners and Brigham Young University. Corporate catering startup Zerocater has raised a $15 million Series C led by Cleveland Avenue. Puzzle, which offers accounting software, has raised a $15 million Series A led by General Catalyst. Berlin-based Dance has secured €12 million in a round led by HV Capital, Eurazeo and BlueYard for its electric bike subscription service. SendOwl has raised $9 million in a round led by The General Partnership. The startup provides the infrastructure needed to sell digital products. Mexico-based fintech startup Vexi has secured an $8 million Series A led by Magma Partners. VivaCity, which offers traffic monitoring and smart traffic control sensors, has secured £7 million. Investors in the round included EnBW New Ventures, Foresight Group and Gresham House Ventures. Andreessen Horowitz has led a $6 million investment into crypto security startup Stelo. Web3 gaming startup Unagi has raised a $5 million seed round led by Sisu Game Ventures, TechCrunch reported.   PE Deals   Brokerage PCF Insurance Services has raised a $500 million preferred equity investment co-led by The Carlyle Group's global credit arm and HGGC. Crescent Capital and Owl Rock also took part in the deal, which values PCF at $4.7 billion. Exponent has agreed to purchase Flavor Specialty Ingredients for $220 million from IFF. The company manufactures base aroma chemicals. Antin Infrastructure Partners has invested in PearlX, which uses solar panels, battery storage and electrification to decarbonize multifamily rentals. Aliter Capital has made a follow-on investment in engineering services company Edwin James Group. The firm first invested in the company in 2017 and backed its subsequent five acquisitions. Arlington Capital Partners-backed Tex Tech Industries has acquired some of SGL Carbon's assets at a site in Gardena, California, where high-temperature materials are manufactured for applications including aerospace and defense.   Exit & IPOs   Apollo, EQT sell Blume Global for $414M Apollo Global Management, EQT and other investors have sold Blume Global, a North American intermodal freight manager, to Sydney-based logistics software company WiseTech Global. View details   View 115 competitors »   Hilco considering Cath Kidston sale Hilco Capital is considering a sale of fashion retailer Cath Kidston, Sky News reported. The firm purchased the company just eight months ago. View details   View 43 competitors »     Fundraising   Northleaf closes secondaries fund on $1.3B Toronto-based Northleaf Capital Partners has held the final close of its third flagship secondaries fund, Northleaf Secondary Partners III, on $1.3 billion, more than 60% larger than its predecessor fund. View fund   View 208 investments »   EIF commits $32M to Rivage Investment's climate debt fund The European Investment Fund has committed €30 million (around $32 million) to Rivage Investment's impact debt fund as a cornerstone investor. The European Climate Debt Solutions Fund has a target of €250 million and will provide growth debt to around 40 climate-tech companies. View details   View 96 investments »     Corporate M&A   Qatari consortium plans $6B bid for Manchester United A Qatari consortium including the country's former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani is preparing a roughly $6 billion bid for English soccer team Manchester United, Bloomberg reported. View details   View 11 competitors »     Chart of the Day   Source: Introducing PitchBook Patent Research   Who's in the newsletter today? Investors Aliter Capital Andreessen Horowitz Antin Infrastructure Partners Apollo Global Management Arch Venture Partners Arlington Capital Partners BlueYard Brigham Young University Cleveland Avenue Crescent Capital EQT Edwin James Group Eleven Capital EnBW New Ventures Eurazeo Exponent Foresight Group Founders Factory GV General Catalyst Gresham House Ventures HV Capital Hilco Capital IFF Lux Capital Magma Partners Overstock.com Pelion Venture Partners Rivage Investment Sisu Game Ventures Speedinvest The General Partnership WiseTech Global Companies Aera Therapeutics Blume Global Cath Kidston Dance Dronamics GrainChain HGGC Manchester United Northleaf Capital Partners Owl Rock PCF Insurance Services PearlX Puzzle SGL Carbon SendOwl Stelo Tex Tech Industries The Carlyle Group Unagi Vexi VivaCity Zerocater Limited Partners European Investment Fund   About PitchBook | Terms of use | Advertise with us | Contact Follow us: This email was sent to edwardlorilla1986.paxforex@blogger.com via the PitchBook Platform. 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