Exit Wound

Afghanistan Withdrawal Symptoms

Monday, August 16, 2021 - The Day's Most Fascinating News from Dave Pell

Subscribe Store Current Share Archives Monday, August 16, 2021 1 EXIT WOUND Let's stipulate that the U.S. hasn't had a clear objective in Afghanistan since Osama Bin Laden escaped from Tora Bora, and that the whole effort has been mismanaged from Bush's initial strategy to Trump and Pompeo's "deal" to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners. And let's confirm Fareed Zakaria's take that, "There is no elegant way to lose a war." And, for argument's sake, let's even cede Natl Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's point about Biden's thinking on ending U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. "Should U.S. men and women be put into the middle of another country's civil war when their own army won't fight to defend them? His answer to that question was no." But there's another question: Should the Afghan men and women who fought and worked alongside those American men and women have been abandoned? The answer to that question is also no. The US pullout from Afghanistan has been an intel and military disaster, adds another stain on America's world leadership status, and deals a blow to Joe Biden's empathic brand. How could we not know, after 20 years, that the Taliban would take control of the country in days? How was it not clear that the already weak Afghan military couldn't possibly defend cities from the Taliban without US airpower? How were we so unprepared to get Americans and our allies out of the country that we actually had to send troops back in after we had pulled them out? + George Packer in The Atlantic: "There's plenty of blame to go around for the 20-year debacle in Afghanistan—enough to fill a library of books. Perhaps the effort to rebuild the country was doomed from the start. But our abandonment of the Afghans who helped us, counted on us, staked their lives on us, is a final, gratuitous shame that we could have avoided. The Biden administration failed to heed the warnings on Afghanistan, failed to act with urgency—and its failure has left tens of thousands of Afghans to a terrible fate. This betrayal will live in infamy." (And let's be honest, this particular section of infamy is getting crowded.) + Steve Coll in conversation with Isaac Chotiner in The New Yorker: "The Afghans now have suffered generation after generation of not just continuous warfare but humanitarian crises, one after the other, and Americans have to remember that this wasn't a civil war that the Afghans started among themselves that the rest of the world got sucked into. This situation was triggered by an outside invasion, initially by the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, and since then the country has been a battleground for regional and global powers seeking their own security by trying to militarily intervene in Afghanistan, whether it be the United States after 2001, the C.I.A. in the nineteen-eighties, Pakistan through its support first for the mujahideen and later the Taliban, or Iran and its clients. To blame Afghans for not getting their act together in light of that history is just wrong." + Congressman and Marine Seth Mouton: "To our Afghanistan veterans and their families, I am too honest to stand here today and try to convince you that your sacrifice was worth it." + The indelible image: "In a distressing video, Afghans can be seen attempting to hold onto a U.S. military plane as it takes off from Kabul airport." And here are more photos from the scene. The Taliban in the presidential office might remind you of another insurrection. + The US is evacuating staff from Kabul—Russia and China are not. + The latest from BBC and CNN.     2 BIDEN SPEECH President Biden says he stands squarely behind his decision. "Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy ... [it was] preventing a terrorist attack on the American homeland." He also admits that "this did unfold more quickly than we anticipated." He made an eloquent and convincing speech about why we're leaving. He also took full responsibility for the decision and, refreshingly, was quite open about America's mistakes in Afghanistan. But I'm guessing that, behind the scenes, there is fury being directed at the advisors and leaders who screwed up the withdrawal. Here's the speech.     3 THEY'RE BACK One of the world's most extreme, stomach-churning, violent, evil cults is back in control of a country. And it's going to be ugly. "Recently, the price of burkas has doubled, and in some cases increased by even more. Women are purchasing the best armor to protect themselves from the Taliban: the veil." A must-read from Lynsey Addario in The Atlantic: The Taliban's Return Is Catastrophic for Women. + "Already, in Taliban-controlled parts of Afghanistan ... Taliban have rulers 'have asked families to marry off one girl per family to their fighters; said women should not leave home without a male relative; and ordered men to pray in mosques and grow beards.'" Afghan government collapses, Taliban seize control: 5 essential reads. + The Taliban are megarich – here's where they get the money. (Mostly drugs.)     4 LET THEM EAT ... FOOD "The U.S. Department of Agriculture will increase benefits for about 42 million program participants by more than 25% after finishing a review that determined existing benefits are too low to pay for a healthy diet." Food stamp benefits to permanently expand by over 25% in October.     5 HAITI'S HARD TIMES Haiti is a country that knows what it feels like for things to go from bad to worse, and sadly, that trend is playing out again. First Covid, then the assassination of their leader, then another massive earthquake. And now a storm is coming. Haiti earthquake: Death toll climbs to 1,297 as storm nears.     6 FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK "Vaccines are going to be your ticket back to shows, and as of October 4th we will be following the model we developed for Lollapalooza and requiring this for artists, fans and employees." Live Nation will require vaccines or negative Covid tests from artists, customers. (That's what we're all hoping to remain: A live nation.) + "Texas high court blocks mask mandates in two of state's largest counties." (Outlawing caution is the hot, new thing...)     7 THE SOCIAL FABRIC "This ragged cliff, some 20 metres high, is formed not of earth or stone, but of landfill. Most of it — an estimated 60 per cent — is unwanted clothing ... It's the dirty secret behind the world's fashion addiction. Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill, creating an environmental catastrophe on the other side of the world." Dead white man's clothes.     8 LYME AID "In 1975, two mothers living near Lyme, Connecticut, reported an outbreak of juvenile arthritis among 39 children. Field interviews by rheumatologist Allen Steere, from the Yale School of Medicine, and David Snydman, from the state health department, revealed striking similarities between many of the patients. They all lived in wooded areas of town. Many said their symptoms occurred between June and September. Most notably, a quarter of them also reported a red skin lesion, shaped like a bull's-eye, that appeared about four weeks before their arthritis began." Since then, Lyme disease has gotten a lot more common. Do we finally have a shot to prevent Lyme Disease? (And if we find it, will people be willing to take it, or is the freedom to get Lyme Disease a value too sacred to relinquish?)     9 I DO OVER "State lawmakers are nearing passage of a bill that could dampen the state's appeal as the go-to place to bring child brides — but would still leave it short of a national push to increase the age to 18. The proposed legislation would raise the minimum marriage age from 14 to 16 and limit the age difference between a 16-year-old and their spouse to four years." North Carolina is close to passing a bill that will tighten up their child marriage laws a bit. "Known for its coastlines, mountains and the state that was "first in flight," North Carolina has also developed a more dubious reputation recently: as a regional destination for adults who want to marry children."     10 BOTTOM OF THE NEWS "People often don't even realize when there are sharks around them, drone footage shows, and much of the time the sharks don't seem to pay humans much attention either." I know this is supposed to make me feel better about taking an ocean dip, but I'm not sure it does. + Sharks like surfing with us too. + While we're on the topic. That time when a Captive Shark Vomited Up a Human Arm—and Sparked a Murder Investigation. + And something for those who are happy enough just having an ocean view: Murray Bartlett On Letting Loose As Armond in The White Lotus. + I wrote a book. Please buy it and share my landing page: Please Scream Inside Your Heart.     Thanks, Dave Pell Managing Editor, Internet Subscribe Store Current Share Archives NextDraft 600 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 You are receiving this because you signed up for Dave Pell's Next Draft newsletter. If you'd like to stop receiving these emails, simply unsubscribe. No hard feelings. If this email isn't looking quite right, you can view it in your browser. Did some awesome person forward this issue to you? Subscribe at NextDraft and get it in your own inbox.

Puppy boom fetches Silicon Valley deals

Fintech attracts top VCs; Carta valued at $7B+ in Silver Lake-led round; Lowercarbon Capital rakes in $800M; Divvy Homes hits $2B valuation

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription. PitchBook Log in The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A August 16, 2021 Like our newsletter? The data comes from the PitchBook Platform — our data software for VC, PE and M&A In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find: An analysis of where the top VCs focused their technology investments in the second quarter of 2021. Why pet-related startups are fetching a record amount of VC backing in Silicon Valley. How seed and anchor commitments can help accelerate fundraising for first-time managers. Today's Top Stories Fintech garners the most attention from top VCs in Q2 Our Emerging Tech Indicator report provides a quarterly overview of startups receiving seed and early-stage investments from a select group of top-performing VC firms, and is meant to offer perspective on the products and technologies driving growth opportunities. In the second quarter of 2021, our analysts tracked 211 such deals involving the top 15 VC firms. Key takeaways from the report include: The top five areas of technology investment in Q2 included fintech at $920 million, followed by enterprise SaaS, health and wellness tech, decentralized finance, and ecommerce. ETI deal activity reached $5 billion across the 211 deals, compared with the $6 billion raised across 197 deals in Q1. Our analysts recorded eight ETI deals of over $100 million in Q2, compared with 12 in the previous quarter. The largest deal in Q2 was a $185 million Series A for Forte, the developer of a blockchain-based economic platform. read the report   Share:            Pandemic puppy boom fetches deals in Silicon Valley (Julia Midkiff/PitchBook News) Pet startups have snatched up more than $1.1 billion of venture capital investment so far this year, easily surpassing a high-water mark set in 2019. The pandemic added to a banner year for new pets: About one in five US households took in a dog or cat between March 2020 and May 2021. Pet-crazy millennials are also driving a long-running trend of more—and more expensive—pet ownership. Pet insurance is a particularly hot category. London-based Bought By Many raised $350 million in the largest pet-related VC deal of 2021. Don't call it a blip: Investors believe that demographic forces and shifting consumer preferences spell robust growth for pet startups. read more   Share:            A message from Elements Global Services The past year has made the M&A space more exciting and dynamic than ever M&A is on the rise and providing a home for businesses amid the uncertainty, volatility and disruption surrounding global markets. Organizations are focusing on stability and growth when looking at their strategic goals. Many business processes can be outsourced, allowing the key players to focus on the core objective of a merger or acquisition. These include customer service, accounting, payroll, human resources management and compliance. Read Elements Global Services' new white paper, BPO in Mergers & Acquisitions, to gain a better understanding of these points: M&A in today's modern market The benefits of business process outsourcing for M&A BPO in global mobility and compliance This white paper offers insight into how to successfully maneuver M&A with BPO in over 135 countries. Download the white paper Share:            Seeding and anchoring: Options for accelerating the first-time fundraise (Matthias Kulka/Getty Images) Competition to raise a new PE fund has never been fiercer. Despite the quality of new managers seeking capital, first-time vehicles as a proportion of closed PE funds declined in 2020 and again in H1 2021. PitchBook's recent analyst note breaks down how seed and anchor commitments can help accelerate fundraising processes for new managers. A few key takeaways include: An anchor is a large LP commitment accompanied by fee-and-carry discounts. In a seed deal, in exchange for a substantial fund commitment and, in some cases, providing operating capital, the seeder receives an economic share in the GP, the management company or both. Most LPs that seed or anchor first-time funds fall into one of five categories: sponsors, large institutional LPs, funds-of-funds, family offices or endowments. The decision to take a seed or anchor is unique to each manager. First-time fund managers need to weigh the economics they'll be giving up against the potential benefits. Seeders must be highly selective in the managers they choose to back in order to avoid adverse selection effects. read it now   Share:            Recommended Reads Upwork CEO Hayden Brown shares her thoughts on how freelancing is changing the world of work. [The New York Times] How can we protect outdoor workers facing heat, smoke and humidity? Technology might have the answer. [BBC News] How following the venture capital dollars provides insight on the next big real estate booms. [Forbes] Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added: 9 Deals 128 People 35 Companies See what our data software can do   Quick Takes   The Daily Benchmark     2015 Vintage North American Real Estate Funds     Partner Perspectives     2021 sees record pace for digital health investment     People     Ara hires Robert Bond, Adam Hodgson     VC Deals     XtalPi grabs $400M     Argentina's Ualá hits $2.5B valuation     Divvy Homes valued at $2B with Series D     Lidar startup Innovusion picks up $66M     PE Deals     Carta valued at $7B+ in Silver Lake-led round     L Catterton backs Beauty Industry Group     Kainos Capital acquires pet food maker     EQT to exit cybersecurity company Utimaco     PE-backed Merge lands Blue Moon     Clearlake Capital invests in RSA Security     Exits & IPOs     Madero seeking $1.3B in IPO     Fundraising     Lowercarbon Capital rakes in $800M     Corporate M&A     Adidas to sell Reebok to Authentic Brands       The Daily Benchmark 2015 Vintage North American Real Estate Funds Median IRR 11.17% Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate 13.80% 1.31x Median TVPI Select top performers Oak Street Real Estate Capital Fund III Abacus Multi-Family Partners III Roxborough Fund I *IRR: net of fees 58 Funds in Benchmark » Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks Partner Perspectives 2021 sees record pace for digital health investment During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health tools became imperative to meet health care needs. In response, the digital health ecosystem grew significantly as virtual care proliferated and digitization proceeded rapidly across back ends. Explore how early- and growth-stage digital health companies can leverage current industry opportunities in a new report from Moss Adams created in partnership with PitchBook. The report details how key trends in venture financing are affecting prospects, with insights including: How digital health companies can help bridge the gap between advanced technology and inexperienced users Best practices for securing information and mitigating cyber-risk Strategies companies should prioritize given the robust venture financing environment Read the report Share:            People Ara hires Robert Bond, Adam Hodgson Houston-based Ara Partners has hired Robert Bond and Adam Hodgson as associates. Prior to Ara, Bond was an investment banking associate at Bank of America Securities in its global industrials group. Hodgson was an analyst at Piper Sandler in its investment banking division. Ara specializes in industrial decarbonization investments. VC Deals XtalPi grabs $400M Chinese drug discovery startup XtalPi has raised $400 million at a roughly $2 billion valuation, DealStreet Asia reported. OrbiMed and Hopu Investments co-led the Series D funding round. The startup partners with drugmakers including Pfizer and uses its AI platform to identify molecular candidates that may be used in drug development. It raised $319 million last year from investors including SoftBank. View round   View 19 competitors »   Argentina's Ualá hits $2.5B valuation Fintech startup Ualá has reportedly raised $350 million at a $2.45 billion valuation. Tencent and SoftBank led the Series D, with participation from George Soros, Goldman Sachs and others. Ualá is a leading provider of mobile and card-based payments in Argentina. Additional Investors: Ribbit Capital, Monashees, D1 Capital Partners, 166 2nd Financial Services, Jacqueline Reses View round   View similar company »   Divvy Homes valued at $2B with Series D Tiger Global and Caffeinated Capital have led a $200 million investment in Divvy Homes. The round values the real estate tech startup at about $2 billion, only six months after a Series C valuation of $490 million, according to PitchBook data. The San Francisco-based company buys properties on behalf of renters and sets up rent-to-own payment plans with the goal of broadening access to homeownership. View round   View 4 competitors »   Lidar startup Innovusion picks up $66M Innovusion has raised $66 million in Series B Plus financing led by Guotai Junan International, with participation from Shunwei Capital and existing investors including Temasek. Innovusion develops light detection and ranging technology for autonomous vehicles. It concluded its $64 million Series B in April. View round   View 16 competitors »   PitchBook Webinar: Security and sustainability through emerging tech So far, 2021 has been a breakout year for tech, with many sectors experiencing a convergence of increased VC activity, technical advances and new challenges. Join our panel of experts on Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET for an Emerging Technology Mid-Year Update, where they will detail key insights from the first half of the year and dive into the information security, mobility tech and foodtech sectors. Register here to secure your spot. Share:            PE Deals Carta valued at $7B+ in Silver Lake-led round Silver Lake has led a $500 million Series G for Carta, valuing the San Francisco-based fintech specialist at $7.4 billion, according to Axios. Carta provides software to investors and companies; it was valued at $3.1 billion last year, according to PitchBook data. View deal   View 12 competitors »   L Catterton backs Beauty Industry Group L Catterton has purchased a majority stake in Beauty Industry Group, a Salt Lake City-based provider of professionally-installed and DIY hair extension products. Founded in 2004, Beauty Industry Group currently serves more than 100,000 hair salons and stylists as well as millions of consumers across 165 countries. View deal   View similar company »   Kainos Capital acquires pet food maker Kainos Capital has acquired Muenster Milling, a Muenster, Texas-based pet food and ingredient manufacturer. Established in 1932, Muenster Milling specializes in making freeze-dried and extruded dog food, cat food and horse feed. View deal   View similar company »   EQT to exit cybersecurity company Utimaco EQT has agreed to sell Utimaco, a provider of cybersecurity and data intelligence services for the regulated critical infrastructure sector, to SGT Capital. EQT originally backed the German company in 2017 via its €1.6 billion (about $1.9 billion) European mid-market fund. Since the initial investment, Utimaco has nearly tripled its revenue and is expected to generate over €100 million for the 2022 fiscal year. View deal   View 10 competitors »   PE-backed Merge lands Blue Moon Keystone Capital-backed marketing and advertising agency Merge has acquired Blue Moon Digital, a Denver-based, data science-driven digital marketing consultancy. Blue Moon Digital serves retailers and direct-to-consumer online brands, and manages more than $1 billion in annual ecommerce revenue. View deal   View 2 competitors »   Clearlake Capital invests in RSA Security Clearlake Capital has completed an investment in RSA Security, a Bedford, Mass.-based provider of mission critical cybersecurity, governance risk and compliance management software solutions. Through the investment, Clearlake will become an equal partner with STG Partners, which initially acquired RSA in 2020 alongside the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. View deal   View 1 competitors »   Exits & IPOs Madero seeking $1.3B in IPO The Carlyle Group-backed Brazilian restaurant chain Madero is eyeing a $1.3 billion valuation in its upcoming IPO, Bloomberg reported. Madero filed to be listed on Brazil's stock exchange earlier this month. View details   View 37 competitors »   Fundraising Lowercarbon Capital rakes in $800M Lowercarbon Capital has raised $800 million to invest in climate tech companies. The VC firm was started by Chris Sacca and Crystal Sacca, who also co-founded Lowercase Capital. Lowercarbon's portfolio includes cultivated meat maker Mosa Meat and direct-air carbon capture company Carbon Engineering. View details   View 39 investments »   Corporate M&A Adidas to sell Reebok to Authentic Brands German sportswear group Adidas has agreed to sell Reebok to BlackRock-backed Authentic Brands for up to €2.1 billion (about $2.5 billion). Adidas bought the shoe brand in 2006 for $3.8 billion, but has faced pressure from shareholders to divest the label due to performance. View details   View 28 competitors »   Chart of the Day Source: PitchBook's H1 2021 Global Private Debt Report   Who's in the newsletter today? People Adam Hodgson Chris Sacca Crystal Sacca Robert Bond Investors 166 2nd Financial Services Adidas Ara Partners Authentic Brands Bank of America Securities BlackRock Caffeinated Capital Clearlake Capital D1 Capital Partners EQT George Soros Goldman Sachs Guotai Junan International Hopu Investments Jacqueline Reses Kainos Capital Keystone Capital L Catterton Lowercarbon Capital Lowercase Capital Merge Monashees Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board OrbiMed Piper Sandler Ribbit Capital SGT Capital STG Partners Shunwei Capital Silver Lake SoftBank Temasek Tencent The Carlyle Group Tiger Global Companies Beauty Industry Group Blue Moon Digital Carbon Engineering Carta Divvy Homes Innovusion Madero Mosa Meat Muenster Milling Pfizer RSA Security Reebok Ualá Utimaco XtalPi     About PitchBook | Terms of use | Advertise with us | Contact Follow us:       This email was sent to pitchbook@quicklydone.com via the PitchBook Platform. Do you want to change your email address, get a different edition or unsubscribe? Manage your subscription here. © 2021 PitchBook Data. All rights reserved. Venture capital, private equity and M&A financial information technology provider.