Gen AI services startups find a niche

December's equity, debt and commodities trends; ranking European VC's top investors; OnCusp Therapeutics rakes in $100M

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription. Log in The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A January 5, 2024 The Daily Pitch is powered by PitchBook's industry-defining research and best-in-class data In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find: Orchestration startups will play a larger role as more companies put generative AI into action Our latest Global Markets Snapshot breaks down one month of trends in the equity, debt and commodities markets An Irish government agency emerged as 2023's most active investor in European venture   Today's Top Stories   Why generative AI orchestration startups are poised for growth in 2024 (Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images) Plenty of startups have tried to bring generative AI to other companies—and plenty have stumbled along the way. Enter orchestration startups, which address some of the most pressing challenges in the space: choosing which large language model to use, integrating multiple models into a single service and deploying applications at low cost. These startups are poised to play a larger role as more companies look to put generative AI into action. read more   Share: December wrap-up: One month in global markets After strong returns across global markets, 2023 ended on a high note. Our latest Global Markets Snapshot breaks down a month of trends in the equity, debt and commodities markets, tracking returns across a range of indexes and sectors. It also features private market activity, including major deals, fundraising, IPO performance, lending volume and unicorn creation. In this monthly digest, we provide the datasets that the PitchBook Institutional Research Group is keeping an eye on as we start off the new year. read it now   Share:   A message from PitchBook   2024 PitchBook Media Kit released Volatility is on the rise, everywhere. Dealmakers are looking for insights, services and tools to navigate challenging, complex market environments—and you can help them. By partnering with PitchBook Media, you can reach over two million industry professionals spanning the C-suite to flagship GP offices. Customize a unique array of options from the brand-new 2024 PitchBook Media Kit, including: Sponsorship of market-leading reports such as the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor Placement in the most widely read industry newsletters such as the Weekend or Credit Pitch Sponsored columns to share your specific message or thought leadership Bespoke research options for unique, in-depth analysis Talk to us Share:   Building awareness on objects in our orbit Our recent Emerging Space Brief dives into the rapidly expanding industry of space situational awareness, which is the practice of monitoring, understanding and controlling objects in Earth's orbit. The industry landscape is shifting toward civilian control and, with it, new opportunities for commercialization. Some promising recent deals and a broader market outlook are profiled in our research. read it now   Share: Enterprise Ireland topped list of Europe's most active VC investors (Seng Kui Lim/Getty Images) Enterprise Ireland participated in the most European venture rounds last year, even as the region's overall dealmaking has been relatively quiet. Take a look at the rest of European VC's top 10 investors of 2023. read more   Share:   Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: 509 Deals 1789 People 504 Companies 29 Funds See what our data software can do   The Daily Benchmark: 2017 Vintage Global Funds-of-Funds Median IRR 22.77% Top Quartile IRR 25.72% 0.22x Median DPI Select top performers Aberdeen US Private Equity VII Ironsides Partnership Fund IV TrueBridge Capital Partners Fund V *IRR: net of fees 41 Funds in Benchmark » Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks   VC Deals   New York-based biotech startup OnCusp Therapeutics secured $100 million in a Series A led by Novo Holdings, F-Prime Capital and OrbiMed. Generative AI startup Perplexity AI raised a $73.6 million Series B led by IVP. California's Moonwalk Biosciences, a genomic medicine company, raised $57 million in seed and Series A funding from investors including GV, Khosla Ventures and Arch Venture Partners. Bumper, a London-based provider of buy now, pay later payment options for car repairs, secured a $48 million Series B led by Autotech Ventures. Construction-tech startup Agorus, which is based in San Diego, is raising a $20 million Series A led by Toyota Ventures, Axios reported. Resalis Therapeutics, an Italian developer of treatments for metabolic diseases, raised a €10 million Series A led by Sunstone Life Science Ventures.   PE Deals   Hg-backed UK insurance broker Howden acquired its Norwegian peer Arctic Insurance. Arlington Capital Partners formed a new aerospace-component manufacturing platform known as Kinetic Engine Systems. Arlington combined the engine assets of its existing portfolio company, Cadence Aerospace, with recently acquired businesses including Walbar Engine Components, Numet Machining Techniques and AeroCision. Inspirit Capital acquired UK sleep and skincare brand This Works from Canopy Growth Corporation. AUA Private Equity, which focuses on the lower middle market, acquired Indiana-based popcorn products manufacturer Weaver Holdings. Weaver had been family-owned.   Portfolio Companies   VC-backed Sinecure.ai, which offers an AI-powered talent discovery platform, acquired London-based executive search company Grace Blue Partnership.   Exits & IPOs   Bain Capital is contemplating a sale of Centrient Pharmaceuticals in a deal that could value the antibodies specialist at up to €1 billion, Bloomberg reported. Bain acquired Netherlands-based Centrient in 2018.   Fundraising   Palladium Equity Partners wrapped up a $450 million multi-asset continuation vehicle targeting three of its three portfolio companies—Sky Zone, Del Real Foods and Jordan's Skinny Mixes. Exponent Founders Capital, a newly launched VC firm based in New York, has raised $75 million for its second fund to invest in early-stage fintech and AI startups and more. EHE Capital is launching an AI-focused fund targeting early-stage companies in the UK.   Corporate M&A   SoftwareOne, a Swiss cloud computing technology company, acquired Spanish cloud services provider Novis Euforia.   Chart of the Day   Source: 2024 Enterprise Technology Outlook   Who's in the newsletter today? Investors AUA Private Equity Arch Venture Partners Arlington Capital Partners Autotech Ventures Bain Capital Canopy Growth Corporation EHE Capital Exponent Founders Capital F-Prime Capital GV Hg IVP Inspirit Capital Khosla Ventures Novo Holdings OrbiMed Palladium Equity Partners Sinecure.ai SoftwareOne Sunstone Life Science Ventures Toyota Ventures Companies AeroCision Agorus Arctic Insurance Bumper Cadence Aerospace Centrient Pharmaceuticals Del Real Foods Grace Blue Partnership Jordan's Skinny Mixes Moonwalk Biosciences Novis Euforia Numet Machining Techniques OnCusp Therapeutics Perplexity AI Resalis Therapeutics Sky Zone This Works Walbar Engine Components Weaver Holdings     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. 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