Tech takes on digital twins

BlackRock jumps on the venture debt train; Nvidia doubles down on AI with Cohere bet; a lackluster year for unicorns

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription. Log in The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A June 9, 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 analysts predict that the market size for digital twins—virtual replicas of real-world assets created by sensor data and analytics—will more than double by 2025. Unicorn creation was up in May, but 2023 is still shaping up to be a lackluster year for billion-dollar valuations. BlackRock's plan to acquire Kreos Capital demonstrates increased investor demand for exposure to venture debt and private credit.   Today's Top Stories   Digital twins are poised for massive growth Digital twins are virtual replicas of real-world assets created by sensor data and analytics. As a concept, their roots stretch back to tools used by NASA in the 1960s; today, they're used in the automotive, energy, healthcare and manufacturing spaces. According to PitchBook's estimate, the market size for digital twins reached $6.5 billion in 2022, and it's projected to grow to $15.6 billion by 2025. PitchBook's latest emerging space brief explains what's behind that growth, types of digital twin processes and different usages. read it now   Share: BlackRock's latest acquisition signals venture debt appetite (Tada Images/Shutterstock) BlackRock announced yesterday that it will acquire Kreos, a provider of growth and venture debt in technology and healthcare. The acquisition demonstrates mounting optimism around opportunities for diversification and higher returns with venture debt. read more   Share:   A message from Silicon Valley Bank   We're still your team. You're still our priority. When you bank with us, you get 30 years of fund banking experience and the largest dedicated team in the market. Learn more Share:   Nvidia doubles down on AI with Cohere bet Nvidia founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huan (jamesonwu1972/Shutterstock) Nvidia is benefiting from the AI rush, briefly hitting a $1 trillion market cap that put it among the likes of big tech giants Microsoft and Apple. To compete and cement itself among those players, Nvidia is making more aggressive investments in startups, including taking part in yesterday's $270 million Series C for generative AI startup Cohere. read more   Share: Unicorn creation remains lackluster Ten startups snagged billion-dollar valuations in May, making it one of 2023's strongest months due to the ongoing slump in unicorn formation. Just 41 startups crossed the billion-dollar threshold before the end of May, the slowest pace for that period since 2018. Notable deals included generative AI startup Runway's reported $100 million Series D at a $1.5 billion valuation and Chinese energy company Fox ESS' reported $141 million round at a $1.4 billion valuation. explore the tracker   Share: Founder-owned companies fill M&A gap as sellers strike Corporate acquirers and PE firms drove M&A's ascent over the past two years, yet the exit market is described as stagnant. The grease keeping the wheels turning is founder-owned businesses, according to our recent analyst note. Acquisitions of these companies, which have never received outside capital, hit 61.5% of M&A deals in Q1, up from a recent low of 53.8% in Q4 2020. Likewise, their share of total deal value increased from 31.3% to 43.5%. As acquirers keep buying but avoid selling, the investable opportunities in nonbacked businesses—around 2.6 million in the US and Europe—are ever more appealing. read it now   Share: 5 charts show how French private equity is thriving While the rest of the European PE market has experienced a slow start to 2023, France's deal flow and exit activity have demonstrated resilience. These five key charts based on PitchBook's 2023 France Private Capital Breakdown illustrate the country's outperformance. read more   Share: Recommended Reads How Lululemon's test-and-learn approach turned it into an $8 billion athleisure empire. [Fortune] The generative AI boom is putting pressure on companies to get their data in order. [The Wall Street Journal] Why the US is at least a decade behind China when it comes to manufacturing EV batteries. [Bloomberg]   Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: 445 Deals 2377 People 560 Companies 13 Funds See what our data software can do   The Daily Benchmark: 2015 Vintage Global Funds-of-Funds Median IRR 21.44% Top Quartile IRR 25.71% 0.62x Median DPI Select top performers TrueBridge Direct Fund TrueBridge-Kauffman Fellows Endowment Fund IV HarbourVest Partners X-Venture *IRR: net of fees 57 Funds in Benchmark » Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks   VC Deals   Upstream Bio has raised a $200 million Series B led by Enavate Sciences and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners to develop allergic and inflammatory disease treatments. Pigment, which offers a business planning platform, has raised an $88 million Series C led by Iconiq Growth. Gene therapy startup Kate Therapeutics has raised a $51 million Series A led by Westlake Village BioPartners and Versant Ventures. EvenUp, which offers an AI-driven support platform for personal injury lawyers, has secured a $50.5 million Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners and joined by Bain Capital Ventures, among others. Contextual AI has raised a $20 million seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures and joined by investors including Lightspeed and Greycroft. The startup is developing enterprise-focused language models. Healthcare software specialist Laudio has raised a $13 million Series B led by Define Ventures. HyperPlay, a Web3 game launcher, has raised a $12 million Series A co-led by Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitkraft Ventures. Amsterdam-based insurtech startup Insify has raised €10 million in a Series A extension led by Munich Re Ventures, bringing the round's total to €25 million. Germany's Delphai, which provides B2B company data, has raised €5 million in a Series A that included a €1 million grant from the German government.   PitchBook webinar: Emerging Tech Talks with Quantum Health Healthcare and benefits navigation plays an important role in a healthcare ecosystem with ever-increasing complexity. PitchBook analyst Aaron DeGagne will host Zane Burke of Quantum Health, a PE-backed healthcare navigation company. Key topics include: Data on current VC and PE funding in care navigation. An overview of the competitive landscape and what makes Quantum Health's approach different than peers. Opportunity and growth dividers in the care and health benefits navigation market. Register now to secure your spot. Share:   PE Deals   Bain Capital has acquired Indian specialty chemicals company Porus Labs. The deal valued Porus at roughly $291 million, The Economic Times reported. British PE firm Kingsway Capital is looking to sell its stake in Advanced Inhalation Rituals, a Dubai-based tobacco company, and has met with British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco, Reuters reported. MidOcean Partners has acquired QualiTech, which provides vitamins and micronutrients for animal feed and plant nutrition.   Fundraising   BlackRock is eyeing $7 billion for its fourth Global Renewable Power Fund, Reuters reported. TJC is anticipating a first close on its Resolute Fund VI. The middle-market buyout firm is targeting a total of $5.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. London-based Just Climate has closed its first fund on $1.5 billion, exceeding its $1 billion target as it seeks to invest in impact solutions to reduce carbon emissions. Nova Infrastructure, a middle-market PE firm that specializes in infrastructure, is targeting $1 billion for its second fund, a 77% increase from its debut fund, The Wall Street Journal reported. Manulife Investment Management has committed up to $500 million to CleanCapital, an early-stage solar and energy storage project developer. Capital Alignment Partners has closed its CAP Funds IV on $375 million. The fund will offer debt and equity deals to companies in the lower middle market.   Corporate M&A   Bunge, a NYSE-listed global grain handling business, is finalizing a $30 billion merger deal with Glencore-backed Canadian peer Viterra, Reuters reported.   Chart of the Day   Source: Q1 2023 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor   Who's in the newsletter today? Investors Bain Capital Bain Capital Ventures Bessemer Venture Partners Bitkraft Ventures BlackRock British American Tobacco Bunge Capital Alignment Partners Define Ventures Enavate Sciences Glencore Greycroft Griffin Gaming Partners Iconiq Growth Japan Tobacco Just Climate Lightspeed Manulife Investment Management MidOcean Partners Munich Re Ventures Nova Infrastructure TJC Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners Versant Ventures Westlake Village BioPartners Companies Advanced Inhalation Rituals CleanCapital Contextual AI Delphai EvenUp Insify Kate Therapeutics Laudio Pigment Porus Labs QualiTech Upstream Bio Viterra     About PitchBook | Terms of use | Advertise with us | Contact Follow us: This email was sent to edwardlorilla1986.paxforex@blogger.com via the PitchBook Platform. Do you want to change your email address, get a different edition or unsubscribe? Manage your subscription here. © 2023 PitchBook. Win what's next. All rights reserved.