Private debt funds raise $82B in H1

Cathie Wood's Ark launches new VC fund; Energy Capital bags UK's Biffa; Goldman Sachs closes $9.7B PE fund; Avidbots grabs $70M for cleaning robots
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The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A
September 28, 2022
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In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:
 
Today's Top Stories  
How the macro environment is a double-edged sword for private debt
Private debt fundraising has slowed in 2022. While the year ended June 30 is still in line with 2021's record-setting activity, H1's total of $82 billion in commitments accounts for less than 40% of that trailing 12-month figure.

The current macro landscape is a double-edged sword for private debt funds, according to our H1 2022 Global Private Debt Report, as floating-rate loans become more lucrative and fixed-rate loans more attractive. Highlights from the report include:
  • Direct lending remains the standout strategy, garnering more than a third of the private debt capital allocated in H1.

  • The private equity market's growth is expected to spur private debt fundraising, as increasingly large PE deal sizes and purchase price multiples provide opportunities for direct lenders.

  • North America has accounted for more than 88% of the capital raised this year, reclaiming ground from Europe-headquartered funds, which held a 31% share in 2021.

  • The leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets have struggled in 2022, according to LCD, with direct lenders stepping up in both the US and Europe to provide liquidity.
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Cathie Wood's Ark courts retail investors with new VC fund
Cathie Wood (Marco Bello/Getty Images)
Cathie Wood is hoping to use her fame from hotshot tech-stock bets to help individuals invest in venture capital.

The star investor has launched Ark Venture Fund, which will invest in public tech stock, early- and late-stage startups and select venture funds.

Wood is the most high-profile investor to try to democratize venture capital, an asset class normally restricted to institutional investors and wealthy individuals. The minimum initial investment in the new fund is just $500.
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A message from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman  
How are climatetech VCs and startups faring in 2022?
Despite a variety of macroeconomic challenges, worldwide investment in climatetech continues to outpace the broader market. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman's Climatetech: Venture Dealmaking & Cross-Border Investment Trends examines this and other venture capital trends in the sector, including a closer look at cross-border activity. A Q&A with experts reviews other notable developments, including new legislation and emerging climatetech innovations.

Key findings include:
  • Deal value closed YTD reached $14.3 billion, lagging a blockbuster 2021 but nearly exceeding the 2020 full-year total already.
  • Pre-money valuations for climatetech companies have risen YTD despite widespread challenges and valuation cuts in other sectors.
  • While North America continues to drive the largest share of climatetech investment, Europe is poised to surpass Asia for the number two spot.
Read the report
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Energy Capital bags Biffa amid UK valuations decline
(Travers Lewis/Shutterstock)
Biffa, a UK-listed waste management company, has accepted a discounted buyout offer of £1.3 billion (about $1.4 billion) from US-based Energy Capital Partners. The deal comes as Britain endures a series of economic shocks, with the pound experiencing record lows against the dollar.

There have been 10 PE-backed take-private deals involving UK-listed companies so far this year, worth a total €14.59 billion. While this year's total may lag the €27.13 billion deployed across 14 deals in 2021, the pipeline for such transactions is expected to remain strong amid a renewed downgrading of public market valuations.
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Recommended Reads
Alex Mashinsky, CEO of crypto company Celsius Network, is resigning while the company still owes customers billions. [The New York Times]

Companies downplayed their earnings in H1—here's why. [Institutional Investor]

How companies are cutting back on customer feedback surveys. [The Wall Street Journal]
 
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Quick Takes  
  The Daily Benchmark  
  2010 Vintage Global Real Assets Funds  
  A message from CohnReznick  
  Embracing changes in consumer behavior  
  VC Deals  
  Bending Spoons locks down $340M  
  Wasabi bags $250M in equity and debt  
  Strike secures $80M  
  Avidbots nabs $70M for cleaning robots  
  Third Point leads $50M round for Unravel Data  
  Flatfile brings in $50M  
  Arthur raises $42M to fight AI bias  
  Tray.io extends Series C with $40M  
  De-extinction company Colossal launches Form Bio  
  GlossGenius scores $25M  
  Sinai Technologies picks up $22M  
  Microsoft's M12 backs Space and Time  
  PE Deals  
  Quantum Energy Partners invests $400M in Trace Midstream  
  Monolith Brands picks up $230M  
  Tech24 takes over Allied Service Group  
  Quad-C acquires Sverica's Synoptek  
  One Equity lands Prime Time Healthcare  
  PSG backs Searchspring  
  Berkshire Partners to acquire Ahead  
  Portfolio Companies  
  FTX US to take Voyager Digital private for $1.4B+  
  VC-backed Calendly acquires Prelude  
  Fundraising  
  Goldman Sachs wraps up $9.7B  
  GoldenTree brings in $3B for latest distressed debt vehicle  
  Theta Capital raises $500M to invest in crypto-native VC funds  
 
 
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The Daily Benchmark  
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A message from CohnReznick  
Embracing changes in consumer behavior
The consumer sector is facing an inflection point. The past two years ushered in new challenges to maintaining margins and customer loyalty, and consumer brands need to offer quality products and services to counteract inflationary pressures and consumer uncertainty. Private equity firms are paying close attention to the brands that can succeed in this market. Investors are focusing on detailed consumer data that sheds light on these shifting consumption patterns.

In conjunction with PitchBook, CohnReznick has released Consumer Sector Investment Report: Capital Flows to Those Who Expand Margins and Embrace Changes in Consumer Behavior.

To download the report and learn more, click here.
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VC Deals  
Bending Spoons locks down $340M
Bending Spoons has raised $340 million from investors including Maximum Effort and Creator Partners. The Italian company develops mobile apps for content creators.
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Wasabi bags $250M in equity and debt
Wasabi Technologies has raised $250 million, comprising a $125 million Series D led by L2 Point Management and $125 million in debt from MGG Investment Group. The cloud storage company is now valued at more than $1.1 billion.
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View 33 competitors »
 
Strike secures $80M
Digital payments provider Strike has raised $80 million in a round led by Ten31. Investors including Washington University in St. Louis and University of Wyoming also participated.
View details
 
View 16 investments »
 
Avidbots nabs $70M for cleaning robots
Avidbots has raised a $70 million Series C led by Jeneration Capital. The Canadian company is the developer of Neo, an autonomous floor-scrubbing robot for commercial spaces.
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View 1 competitors »
 
Third Point leads $50M round for Unravel Data
Third Point Ventures has led a $50 million Series D for Unravel Data, the Palo Alto-based provider of a data operations observability platform.
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View 82 competitors »
 
Flatfile brings in $50M
Tiger Global has led a $50 million Series B for Flatfile. The Denver-based company's platform enables data exchange between companies.
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View 53 competitors »
 
Arthur raises $42M to fight AI bias
Acrew Capital and Greycroft Ventures have co-led a $42 million Series B for Arthur, which helps companies monitor and optimize their AI systems.
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View 49 competitors »
 
Tray.io extends Series C with $40M
SaaS startup Tray.io has raised a $40 million Series C extension from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and existing investors, bringing the round's total to $90 million.
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View 79 competitors »
 
De-extinction company Colossal launches Form Bio
Form Bio has raised a $30 million Series A led by JAZZ Venture Partners. The new company was spun out of Colossal Biosciences, a genetics company working to restore extinct species such as the woolly mammoth. Form Bio offers a research and discovery platform for the life sciences sector.
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GlossGenius scores $25M
GlossGenius has raised a $25 million round led by Imaginary Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, TechCrunch reported. GlossGenius' platform helps beauty and wellness professionals manage all aspects of their businesses, including booking, payments processing and inventory management. The funding is said to have tripled the startup's valuation.
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View 2 competitors »
 
Sinai Technologies picks up $22M
Sinai Technologies has raised $22 million in a Series A led by Energize Ventures for its decarbonization intelligence platform.
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View 2 competitors »
 
Microsoft's M12 backs Space and Time
Decentralized data analytics company Space and Time has raised $20 million in a round led by Microsoft's VC fund M12, TechCrunch reported.
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PE Deals  
Quantum Energy Partners invests $400M in Trace Midstream
Quantum Energy Partners has invested $400 million in Trace Midstream to form Trace Midstream Partners II. Based in Texas, the new entity will develop carbon capture and sequestration assets and support midstream infrastructure across North America.
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Monolith Brands picks up $230M
Hayfin Capital Management and Ares Management have led a $230 million round for Monolith Brands, a consumer products company and owner of a portfolio of omnichannel brands. The Series A round comprises $50 million in equity and $180 million in debt.
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Tech24 takes over Allied Service Group
Tech24, a portfolio company of HCI Equity Partners, has acquired Allied Service Group. Allied provides installation, maintenance and repair services for HVAC and food service equipment.
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Quad-C acquires Sverica's Synoptek
Quad-C Management has recapitalized Synoptek and taken a controlling stake in the digital transformation consulting company. Sverica Capital Management, which has backed Synoptek since 2015, will remain a minority investor.
View deal
 
View 14 competitors »
 
One Equity lands Prime Time Healthcare
One Equity Partners has acquired healthcare staffing company Prime Time Healthcare, which provides placement services for travel nurses and other practitioners in around 8,500 healthcare facilities across the US.
View deal
 
View similar company »
 
PSG backs Searchspring
PSG has invested in Searchspring, a provider of search, merchandising and personalization software for the ecommerce industry.
View deal
 
View 39 competitors »
 
Berkshire Partners to acquire Ahead
Berkshire Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in enterprise cloud services provider Ahead from Centerbridge Partners.
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View 81 competitors »
 
 
Portfolio Companies  
FTX US to take Voyager Digital private for $1.4B+
Crypto exchange operator FTX US has agreed to take peer Voyager Digital private for more than $1.4 billion. FTX US is backed by investors including Lightspeed, SoftBank and Sequoia.
View details
 
View 40 competitors »
 
VC-backed Calendly acquires Prelude
Cloud-based meeting scheduler Calendly has acquired Prelude, which offers a platform for scheduling panel interviews as part of the employee recruitment process. Calendly is backed by Accel and Iconiq Capital.
View details
 
View 9 competitors »
 
 
Fundraising  
Goldman Sachs wraps up $9.7B
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has closed its West Street Capital Partners VIII vehicle on $9.7 billion, marking the investor's largest buyout fund since 2007, Reuters reported. The fund will focus on controlling stakes in companies with an enterprise value of up to $2 billion.
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View 1,372 investments »
 
GoldenTree brings in $3B for latest distressed debt vehicle
GoldenTree Asset Management has closed its Distressed Fund IV on a hard cap of $3 billion. The vehicle targets stressed, distressed and special situations assets.
View fund
 
View 56 investments »
 
Theta Capital raises $500M to invest in crypto-native VC funds
Amsterdam-based Theta Capital has raised $500 million to invest in crypto-native venture capital funds. The investment is structured as a fund-of-funds and will seek exposure to the Web3 projects around the world.
View fund
 
View 3 investments »
 
 
Chart of the Day  
Source: PitchBook's 2022 UK & Ireland Private Capital Breakdown
 
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