Global M&A nears new milestones

Truepill takes in $142M; Nubank files for IPO; Skyryse lands $200M for flight automation; Tiger Global leads $35M round for QuickNode
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The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A
October 28, 2021
Like our newsletter? The data comes from the PitchBook Platform — our data software for VC, PE and M&A
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In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:
  • Our Q3 Global M&A Report, tracking the record-setting pace of M&A activity last quarter.

  • Online pharmacies and drug delivery companies like Truepill are capitalizing on a big market opportunity.
Today's Top Stories
Global M&A deals top $3.4T through Q3 en route to record year
The global economic recovery continued to fuel surging M&A activity in Q3, with over 27,000 deals and $3.4 trillion in combined deal value recorded in the first nine months of the year. Despite potential macroeconomic headwinds, global drivers of M&A remain intact, and both Europe and North America are on pace to easily break records in Q4.

Our Q3 Global M&A Report, sponsored by Liberty GTS and RBC Capital Markets, recaps a relentless quarter of dealmaking as the world works out the long-term effects of the pandemic. Among the highlights:
  • Dealmakers in North America remain undeterred by labor shortages and inflationary pressures, closing over 4,600 deals worth a combined $708 billion in Q3.

  • Europe's three largest-ever quarters for M&A deal volume were the first three quarters of 2021, with the total annual count already over 12,000.

  • High stock prices are driving a rise in transactions financed at least partially by stock. Such deals have accounted for nearly half of all M&A transactions, up from 40% in 2020.
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Truepill raises $142M for powering online pharmacies and diagnostics
(Yulia Reznikov/Getty Images)
Truepill has raised a $142 million Series D at a $1.6 billion valuation. Started as a prescription delivery service in 2016, the company has since added diagnostics and telehealth services to its offering.
  • The fragmented online pharmacy landscape includes legacy players such as Walgreens and CVS, as well as myriad VC-backed startups including SoftBank's Alto and Capsule, which last raised $300 million at a valuation of over a billion.

  • While the pharmacy industry seems increasingly crowded, it can likely absorb many providers. Consumers spend over $300 billion annually on prescription drugs, with still only a small percentage of orders filled online, according to PitchBook estimates.

  • TI Platform Management and Initialized Capital participated in the round for Truepill, which acts as a white-label pharmacist to direct-to-consumer providers like Hims, and is now expanding to work with larger players, including health plans and life science companies.
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Partner Perspectives
Denver's historic year of venture activity
Bridge Bank
Across 193 completed financings, a record sum of $2 billion has been invested within the Denver startup ecosystem already this year. Bridge Bank's latest venture ecosystem review summarizes key investment trends in the Denver metro area, with highlights and analysis including:
  • How the gradual evolution of the Denver ecosystem over the past three decades has culminated in record growth.
  • The growing role of outside investors.
  • A promising upswing of fundraising in the past few years.
Read the report
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European private equity's IPO exit boom cools off as deals are shelved
(Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
The wave of IPOs that has characterized much of this year's exit activity seems to be losing momentum, with PE-backed UK roofing company Marley and fitness chain Pure Gym recently shelving plans to go public.

Continental listings have also been put on ice. Dutch ecommerce company Cool Blue has postponed its IPO plans, just as Bain Capital-backed Parts Holding Europe did back in June.

Is this a sign that the tide is turning, or are investors just biding their time as the economy enters a new phase of pandemic recovery?  
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Recommended Reads
Investors like KKR and Blackstone are pouring money into music rights as the asset class booms in the streaming era. [Financial Times]

How India's political legacies could position the country to become a champion of climate change. [The New Yorker]

Not yet bogged down by the bureaucracy of older industries, the cannabis market is attracting distributors quickly. [Forbes]
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Quick Takes
  A message from RBC Capital Markets  
  How are LBOs influencing the M&A market?  
  The Daily Benchmark  
  2012 Vintage North American Debt Funds  
  VC Deals  
  Footwear brand Rothy's in talks to raise funding at $1B+ value  
  Immunai brings in $215M to treat cancer  
  Flight automation startup nabs $200M  
  Legal tech startup rebrands, scores $200M  
  ShiftMed scoops up $45M for healthcare staffing tech  
  Gluware raises $43M  
  Tiger Global leads $35M round for QuickNode  
  Autofleet fills up with $20M Series B  
  Visa backs credit card startup Deserve  
  PE Deals  
  K1 invests $135M in Logicbroker  
  Cuadrilla acquires retail data platform  
  Periscope backs tech consultant Praecipio  
  Summit Partners stakes Hairstory  
  UpperStage.Capital lands Canada's Talius  
  Exits & IPOs  
  Informatica raises $841M, hits $8B valuation in IPO  
  Softline slips in London trading debut  
  Nubank files to go public  
 
 
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A message from RBC Capital Markets
How are LBOs influencing the M&A market?
Driven by an accommodating low-rate environment, economic recovery and financial sponsors putting significant private capital to work, M&A volume has reached record levels. In the first half of 2021, about one quarter of deals sized $1 billion or larger were private equity acquisitions, and the market saw almost half a trillion dollars of new LBOs. Moving into 2022, "We have strong tailwinds in the economy and a lot of uninvested private equity capital that wants to be deployed," according to RBC's John Cokinos.

Will private equity continue to drive M&A activity? Where are PE firms diversifying across sectors? How is leveraged finance making an impact on the market?

Learn why complex deals are the future for private equity from RBC Capital Markets' industry experts.
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The Daily Benchmark
2012 Vintage North American Debt Funds
Median IRR
8.21%
Top Quartile IRR 
10.72%
1.27x
Median TVPI
Select top performers
TPG Opportunities Partners II
Central Valley Fund II
Abry Senior Equity IV
*IRR: net of fees
40 Funds in Benchmark »
Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks
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VC Deals
Footwear brand Rothy's in talks to raise funding at $1B+ value
Rothy's, a washable footwear brand, is said to be in discussions to raise new funding that could value the San Francisco-based company at more than $1 billion, Bloomberg reported. Goldman Sachs Investment Partners led the company's last round of funding with a $35 million investment in late 2018.
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Immunai brings in $215M to treat cancer
Immunai has raised a $215 million Series B led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. The New York-based company is developing therapeutics that reprogram the immune system to treat cancer and other diseases. 8VC, Alexandria Venture Investments and Piedmont also participated in the funding, among others.
Additional Investors:
Talos VC, ICON
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Flight automation startup nabs $200M
Skyryse has raised $200 million in a Series B co-led by Fidelity Management & Research and Monashee Investment Management, with support from Republic Capital, Infinite Capital, Fortistar, SV Pacific Ventures, Fontinalis Partners and others. The Los Angeles-based company is a developer of flight hardware and software automation systems for the aviation industry.
Additional Investors:
ArrowMark Partners, Eclipse Ventures, Embedded Ventures, K3 Ventures, Raptor Group, Rosecliff Venture Partners, Venrock
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Legal tech startup rebrands, scores $200M
Ontra, formerly known as InCloudCounsel, has raised a $200 million Series B led by Blackstone. The San Francisco-based company is the creator of a contract automation and intelligence platform for the legal industry. Ontra, which operates across North America, Europe and Asia, raised a $40 million Series A in 2019.
Additional Investor:
Battery Ventures
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ShiftMed scoops up $45M for healthcare staffing tech
ShiftMed, the Virginia-based provider of a workforce management and on-demand staffing platform for the healthcare industry, has raised $45 million in financing led by Panoramic Ventures and Healthworx. Existing backers Blue Heron Capital, Motley Fool Ventures and 3TS Capital Partners also participated in the round. ShiftMed's tech is used by over 60,000 credentialed healthcare professionals.
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Gluware raises $43M
Gluware has raised $43 million in a round led by Bain Capital, with support from Acadia Woods Partners. The Sacramento-based company's network orchestration platform is intended to help enterprise customers manage and automate multi-vendor networks and reduce outages.
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Tiger Global leads $35M round for QuickNode
QuickNode has raised a $35 million Series A led by Tiger Global. The Miami-based company is the developer of a platform that's designed to help software developers access nodes and integrate with blockchain infrastructure. QuickNode raised a $5.3 million seed financing in March.
Additional Investors:
Seven Seven Six, Soma Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, Crossbeam Ventures Partners
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Autofleet fills up with $20M Series B
Tel Aviv-based Autofleet has collected $20 million in a round led by Keyframe Capital, with participation from Fujitsu Ventures, Goodyear and existing backers. The startup's tech helps vehicle fleet owners optimize operations and launch new business models to direct underused vehicles to on-demand mobility services like ridehailing. Autofleet operates in over 12 countries.
Additional Investors:
MizMaa Ventures, Maniv Mobility, NextGear Ventures
View round
 
View 9 competitors »
 
Visa backs credit card startup Deserve
Deserve, the developer of a credit card application platform that allows consumers to activate and provision their cards in digital wallets, has received a strategic investment from Visa. The Bay Area-based company works with financial institutions, fintech startups, consumer brands, universities and others.
Select Existing Investors:
MasterCard, Ally Ventures, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Mission Holdings, Sallie Mae
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PE Deals
K1 invests $135M in Logicbroker
K1 Investment Management has invested $135 million in Logicbroker, a provider of a cloud-based ecommerce fulfillment platform. More than 4,000 companies use Logicbroker's services, handling more than $5 billion in gross merchandise value annually.
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Cuadrilla acquires retail data platform
Cuadrilla Capital has acquired Agilence, a provider of a retail data management and analytics platform. The New Jersey-based company's software aggregates and analyzes data across brick-and-mortar and ecommerce channels, serving over 200 grocery, pharmacy, restaurant and retail enterprises.
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Periscope backs tech consultant Praecipio
Periscope Equity has backed Praecipio Consulting, an Austin-based IT services and business process management consulting firm. Praecipio aims to help organizations meet their digital transformation goals with process frameworks, assessments and more.
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Summit Partners stakes Hairstory
Summit Partners has agreed to buy a minority stake in hair care specialist Hairstory. Founded in 2015, the company offers a subscription platform for its products.
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UpperStage.Capital lands Canada's Talius
UpperStage.Capital has acquired Talius, a British Columbia-headquartered cleantech building materials company. Founded in 1980, Talius specializes in the manufacturing of shade, security, and storm protection products designed to withstand forced entry and harsh climate conditions.
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Exits & IPOs
Informatica raises $841M, hits $8B valuation in IPO
Informatica has raised $841 million in its IPO on the NYSE by selling 29 million shares for $29 apiece, valuing the cloud data management specialist at almost $8 billion. Informatica was previously a publicly traded company before being taken private by Permira, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Microsoft and Salesforce Ventures in 2015.
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Softline slips in London trading debut
Softline closed its first day of trading on the London Stock Exchange at 733 pence (about $10.05) per share, below the IPO share price of 750 pence. The company priced its offering at the bottom of its range, raising $400 million and giving the Russian IT services and cybersecurity specialist a valuation of about $1.5 billion, Bloomberg reported. Softline has been backed by investors including Da Vinci Capital Management and Zubr Capital.
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Nubank files to go public
Nubank, a Sao Paulo-based digital banking specialist, has confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC and Brazil's Comissão de Valores Mobiliários. The company raised $750 million in a round led by Berkshire Hathaway this past June.
View details
 
View 15 competitors »
 
Chart of the Day
"While buyouts dominated the fundraising landscape, capital raised for growth equity vehicles accelerated materially. In H1, €2.3 billion was raised across growth funds, already surpassing 2020's full-year total. The uptick was mainly driven by the closing of the €1.1 billion T2 Energy Transition Fund."

Source: PitchBook's 2021 France & Benelux Private Capital Breakdown
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