 | | (Jenna O'Malley/PitchBook News) | | | When I was six, my parents bought me a fish tank full of minnows.
They didn't last long. Over time, the water grew stagnant and clogged with algae, the fish hovering zombie-like at the bottom of the tank. What it needed was a good cleaning from an ultra-powerful aquarium filter. Instead, it was dumped in the backyard.
A challenging economic environment can work like one of these filters, sifting through the markets and discarding weak or toxic elements. This cleaning process has been particularly conspicuous in the world of private real estate investing, where a confluence of crises—a pandemic followed by a war and a banking crisis—has worked much like the Fluval FX4 Canister Filter, a multichambered, $200 aquarium filter my parents probably should've bought from PetSmart.
In private real estate in particular, these difficult market conditions work much like the turbo-charged cleaning device, categorizing certain managers as healthy and others as waste. But in the world of private markets, it's a bit more nuanced than in a home aquarium.
This is the Weekend Pitch, and I'm Jessica Hamlin. You can reach me at jessica.hamlin@pitchbook.com or on Twitter @jessicaAhamlin. | | | | | | | |
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| A message from Masterworks | | |
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From 1995 to 2021, a period containing three recessions, 10 corrections, three bear markets, and four bull markets, this asset's prices outpaced the S&P 500 by 131%.
So what is this safe-haven asset? It's blue-chip art—and it's never been easier to invest in, thanks to Masterworks, the award-winning platform for art investing. Masterworks' investors have realized a profit with each of its 13 exits, totaling more than $35 million in payouts.
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See important disclosures at masterworks.com/cd | | | | | | | |
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When blocking Microsoft's Activision deal, which segment of gaming did UK regulators say would be hurt by a lack of competition?
A) Mobile gaming
B) Console gaming
C) Cloud gaming
D) Arcade gaming
Find your answer at the bottom of The Weekend Pitch! | | | | | | A fintech and insurtech
back-to-back double feature | |  | | (Fer Gregory/Shutterstock) | | | Insurtech companies are developing fresh approaches to traditional insurance activities such as underwriting and claims management, but the market has slowed over the past 18 months. Meanwhile, despite a difficult economic environment, investors continue to recognize opportunities in enterprise fintech. Two reports—one a complete overview of the insurtech segment, the other about enterprise fintech—lay out trends, deals and data on these two areas.
Our first showing: Insurtech inspired great interest during the COVID-19 pandemic, but investors' ardor has since cooled. Can this once passionate affair ever rebound?
After that, stick around for enterprise fintech, an action flick about how VC investment in the sector continues to dominate the bulk of total fintech funding. | | | | | | Investors eye leaner companies in today's M&A market | | Easy venture capital has helped unicorns fatten and flourish in recent years, but in today's conservative M&A market, investors are finding fewer buyers for mature startups commanding price tags of $1 billion-plus.
What's hot is smaller companies—think less than $100 million in value—and those still owned by their founders.
Our analyst note on The Decline of Unicorn Acquisitions in a Conservative M&A Market and the Q1 2023 Global M&A Report provide the VC and PE perspectives on which assets are still attractive amid the middling macroeconomic environment for such deals. | | | | | |
Surveying sustainable investing practices
| | Last chance! We're conducting our 2023 Sustainable Investment Survey to measure how investors and other private market participants are thinking about impact strategies and/or ESG risk factors. Please share your firm's approach to sustainable investing and what drives it.
All who complete the 10-minute survey will have the opportunity to enter a prize drawing, and for each completion, PitchBook will make a donation to World Central Kitchen. | | | | | | | |  | | (Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock) | | | "Cloud gaming is inevitable; however, it is too far off on the horizon. This deal will not affect how that story will be told."
—Andrew Sheppard, managing director at Transcend Fund, on the UK's Competition and Markets Authority's decision to block Microsoft's blockbuster $68.7 billion bid to acquire video game giant Activision Blizzard. | | | | | | Fire sale: $300M San Francisco office tower, mostly empty. Open to offers. [The Wall Street Journal]
A new satellite, funded by a nonprofit, aims to pinpoint emissions of methane—a gas that plays a major role in global warming. [The New Yorker]
How a brazen plot to rig oil auctions cost Venezuela billions. [Bloomberg] | | | | | | Keep an eye out for these fresh insights and research reports coming out this week. - Analyst Note: Applications for Synthetic Biology in Agriculture
- Q1 2023 Information Security Report
- Emerging Tech Future Report: Generative AI
- 2023 Global Fund Performance Report
- April 2023 Global Markets Snapshot
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This edition of The Weekend Pitch was written by Jessica Hamlin, Jacob Robbins and Emily Burleson. It was edited by Andrew Woodman and Laural Hobbes.
Were you forwarded The Weekend Pitch? Sign up at pitchbook.com/subscribe. | | | | | |
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| | Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: | | 18 Deals | 214 People | 61 Companies | | | | | | |
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