Top VCs are flocking to the seed market

US PE smashes records; VC funds extend standout performance; Vista eyes $24B fund; Build Capital launches VC arm
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The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A
October 25, 2021
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In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:
  • Traditional VC firms are flocking to the seed-stage market to get in on the ground floor of the most promising startups.

  • Venture capital funds worldwide recorded the best performance among all private capital strategies in early 2021 returns.

  • Our latest US PE Breakdown, packed with data and analysis about private equity's record year.
Today's Top Stories
Seed market braces for onslaught of top VC firms
(diane555/Getty Images)
The highly fragmented seed fund market is bulking up with investors better known for writing checks out of their mega-funds.
  • As Sequoia, Greylock Partners and Andreessen Horowitz get ready to plow over a billion dollars into the seed market, some traditional seed firms are skeptical that these multistage VCs will roll up their sleeves to help get startups off the ground.

  • Since brand-name firms have hundreds of portfolio companies, they may not have much reason to focus on their seed-stage startups, investors say.

  • Traditional seed VCs also view large firms' entrance into the seed market as a branding tactic for wooing more founders, earlier.
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US PE deals top $787B as industry shatters records across the board
The US private equity industry is storming through 2021, smashing records as investors take advantage of a bullish climate and remain undeterred by the possibility of inflation and interest rate hikes.

Our Q3 US PE Breakdown, sponsored by Liberty GTS, CohnReznick and Stout, tracks all the trends defining US private equity in what is shaping up to be a year to remember. Key takeaways include:
  • US PE dealmaking through Q3 has already broken 2019's annual record for deal value, at more than $787 billion.

  • Exits are on an astounding run; year-to-date value has topped $638 billion—over 50% above the previous high.

  • Fundraising is proceeding at a rapid clip, and Q4 is expected to close the year on a strong note.
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A message from RBC Capital Markets
What's influencing the balance of corporate and private equity activity?
M&A volume has reached record levels driven by an accommodating low-rate environment, faster-than-anticipated economic recovery and financial sponsors putting significant private capital to work.

According to RBC's Larry Graftstein, "Some of the biggest sponsors in the market are adopting a new kind of multistrategy investment approach with quite a different philosophy for segregating asset classes."

Will private equity continue to drive M&A activity? How are deal structures evolving in this environment? How is government intervention influencing private equity dealmaking?

Learn why complex deals are the future for private equity from RBC Capital Markets' industry experts.
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VC fund performance continues to stand out in early 2021 returns
Lucrative exits helped VC funds record a 19.8% IRR in Q1.
(bloodua/Getty Images)
Venture capital funds worldwide recorded the best performance among all private capital strategies in the first quarter of 2021, according to PitchBook's latest returns data.

Which strategies were next best? Which fared the worst? How about across different time horizons?

We gathered the answers from our latest PitchBook Benchmarks report.
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Recommended Reads
Signing bonuses have typically been reserved for corporations trying to woo a star executive or sports teams looking to bring on an All-Star. But as the holiday season looms, such enticements are also becoming the norm for attracting low-wage retail workers. [Fortune]

One writer's thoughts on how the ridesharing mythology is falling apart. [The New York Times]

As the number of young Facebook users in the US declines, the tech giant is being forced to confront its growth problems. [Financial Times]
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Quick Takes
  The Daily Benchmark  
  2015 Vintage Global PE Funds with less than $250M  
  Partner Perspectives  
  Record investment in Tough Tech set to eclipse $80B across 5,800 deals  
  VC Deals  
  Brex raising cash at a $12B+ valuation  
  VideoAmp picks up $275M  
  Rippling rakes in $250M Series C  
  Click Therapeutics lands $52M  
  Citcon banks $30M  
  Foodology brings in $15M  
  PE Deals  
  Altus to combine with Blackstone-backed BCP Raptor  
  Advent mulls $1.7B deal with French soccer league  
  Apollo to invest $824M in NextEra Energy deal  
  EyeCare Partners acquires CEI Vision in $600M add-on  
  Blue Wolf to buy CIVCO in $120M deal  
  Apollo, Brookfield eye Scientific Games' lottery unit  
  Providence Equity stakes Seesaw  
  Exits & IPOs  
  India's Nykaa targets $7B+ valuation in IPO  
  Fundraising  
  Vista ponders up to $24B for next vehicle  
  Creo Capital closes continuation fund  
  Investors  
  Build Capital launches VC arm  
 
 
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The Daily Benchmark
2015 Vintage Global PE Funds with less than $250M
Median IRR
12.51%
Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate
20.78%
1.22x
Median TVPI
Select top performers
Century Park Growth Fund & SPV Investments
Boathouse Capital II
Lineage Capital II
*IRR: net of fees
28 Funds in Benchmark »
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Partner Perspectives
Record investment in Tough Tech set to eclipse $80B across 5,800 deals
The Engine
The 2021 Tough Tech Landscape Report is now available, detailing how its three primary arenas of climate change, human health, and advanced systems and infrastructure are experiencing record surges in investment. Created by The Engine, the MIT spinout venture firm, the report draws on highly customized, curated PitchBook datasets to unpack key drivers of this investment surge, including breakthrough technical advances, expansion of business applications and more. Highlights include:
  • $300 billion-plus invested in Tough Tech from 2016 through summer 2021.
  • A new high for median late-stage pre-money valuation for Tough Tech companies at $80.7 million.
  • Important business and macro factors for the 15 Tough Tech segments examined, from nanotech to semiconductors to quantum computing.
Read the report
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VC Deals
Brex raising cash at a $12B+ valuation
Fintech specialist Brex is raising $300 million at a $12.3 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported. Greenoaks is leading the round, which comes six months after the company was valued at $7.4 billion. Known for its corporate credit cards aimed at startups, San Francisco-based Brex has expanded into a range of financial services as well as venture debt.
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VideoAmp picks up $275M
VideoAmp has raised a $275 million Series F led by Spruce House Investment Management. Founded in 2014 and based in Los Angeles, the company offers software to measure advertising performance across multiple platforms. The funding values VideoAmp at $1.4 billion.
Additional Investors:
Ankona Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Epiq Capital, Tiger Global
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View 73 competitors »
 
Rippling rakes in $250M Series C
Rippling has raised $250 million at a $6.5 billion valuation in a round led by Sequoia and Global Growth. Founded in 2016, the company is the developer of an employee management platform that helps businesses unify their HR and IT data.
Select Additional Investor:
Greenoaks Capital Partners
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View 31 competitors »
 
Click Therapeutics lands $52M
Click Therapeutics has raised a $52 million Series B co-led by Accelmed and HIG BioHealth Partners. The New York-based company develops digital prescription medical treatments for patients with chronic pain, autoimmune disorders and other health conditions.
Additional Investors:
Health Catalyst Capital, Hikma Ventures, K2 HealthVentures, Revelation Partners, Ridgetop Health, Sanofi Ventures
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View 23 competitors »
 
Citcon banks $30M
Fintech startup Citcon has raised a $30 million Series C co-led by Norwest Venture Partners and Cota Capital. The San Jose-based company is the developer of a mobile wallet payment platform that helps merchants including Tumi and Macy's process transactions.
Additional Investors:
Sierra Ventures, Sonae IM
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View 34 competitors »
 
Foodology brings in $15M
Foodology has raised a $15 million Series A co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Base Partners, TechCrunch reported. The Bogotá-based company creates and operates restaurant brands in virtual kitchens across Mexico and Colombia.
Select Additional Investors:
Jaguar Ventures, Kayyak Ventures
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PE Deals
Altus to combine with Blackstone-backed BCP Raptor
Texas pipeline operator Altus Midstream has agreed to a reverse merger with BCP Raptor that values the combined entity at $9 billion including debt. The deal will result in BCP becoming a public company that will be majority-owned by BCP backers Blackstone and I Squared Capital. Altus' stock fell around 20% Friday, giving the company a market capitalization of around $1.1 billion. Texas-based BCP was valued at $2 billion in a 2017 buyout.
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Advent mulls $1.7B deal with French soccer league
Advent International is considering acquiring a stake in a media rights company being set up by France's top soccer league, Bloomberg reported. The Ligue de Football Professionnel would seek a potential investment of €1.5 billion (about $1.7 billion), which would mark the latest private equity deal in a busy year for sports investments. The LFP began talks with its members this week; discussions will continue until mid-January.
View details
 
View 925 investments »
 
Apollo to invest $824M in NextEra Energy deal
Apollo Global Management has agreed to invest $824 million in a financing agreement with NextEra Energy Partners to support the company's acquisition of a 50% stake in a renewable energy portfolio. NextEra has previously raised capital from investors including KKR and BlackRock.
View details
 
View 7 competitors »
 
EyeCare Partners acquires CEI Vision in $600M add-on
Optometry and ophthalmology services provider EyeCare Partners has acquired its peer CEI Vision Partners from Revelstoke in a roughly $600 million deal. Revelstoke and the Cincinnati Eye Institute launched the ophthalmology management services group in 2018. Partners Group has backed EyeCare Partners since 2019.
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Blue Wolf to buy CIVCO in $120M deal
Blue Wolf Capital Partners has agreed to acquire CIVCO Radiotherapy from Roper Technologies for $120 million in an all-cash transaction. CIVCO is a maker of radiotherapy equipment for patient positioning and immobilization.
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View similar company »
 
Apollo, Brookfield eye Scientific Games' lottery unit
Apollo Global Management and Brookfield Asset Management are among the firms considering a buyout of the global lotteries business of Scientific Games, Bloomberg reported. The Las Vegas-based maker of casino slot machines is also considering an IPO in Australia that could value the lottery unit at up to $7.5 billion in the listing, according to an earlier report.
View details
 
View 641 investments »
 
Providence Equity stakes Seesaw
Providence Equity Partners has made a strategic investment in Seesaw Learning, a SaaS-based classroom technology platform. Founded in 2015, Seesaw focuses on elementary education and has a presence in more than 130 countries.
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View 16 competitors »
 
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Exits & IPOs
India's Nykaa targets $7B+ valuation in IPO
Nykaa has set the price of its initial public offering at 1,085 rupees to 1,125 rupees (about $14.47 to $15) per share, giving the company a valuation of up to $7.1 billion, Reuters reported. The Mumbai-based company, backed by investors including TPG and Fidelity Investments, aims to raise nearly $500 million through a three-day IPO subscription beginning Oct. 28. The cosmetics retailer is run by FSN E-Commerce Ventures.
View details
 
View 12 competitors »
 
Fundraising
Vista ponders up to $24B for next vehicle
Vista Equity Partners has begun pitching its next flagship buyout fund and is considering a target range of $20 billion to $24 billion for the vehicle, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fund VIII would target 18 to 25 investments with an average check size of $750 million, according to the report.
View details
 
View 480 investments »
 
Creo Capital closes continuation fund
Creo Capital Partners has closed a continuation fund, advised by Sixpoint Partners. Colorado-based Creo will use the vehicle to extend its ownership of current portfolio company Flagship Food Group. Creo Capital Partners V had a target of $275 million, according to a regulatory filing.
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View 27 investments »
 
Investors
Build Capital launches VC arm
Build Capital has rebranded its mobility-focused division and launched Lane VC, an autonomously managed venture capital firm. Based in Salt Lake City, the new VC arm will focus on electric vehicles and ancillary technologies across the mobility sector.
View details
 
View 4 investments »
 
Chart of the Day
"Middle-market firms continue to execute on the tried-and-true roll-up across sectors, spurred by the current environment in which platform multiples are high and many small business owners are looking to sell. For instance, insurance brokerages, wealth management firms, and registered investment advisors (RIAs) all saw record M&A activity in the first half of 2021, largely driven by PE-backed platforms."

Source: PitchBook's Q2 2021 US PE Middle Market Report
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