A16z reboots crypto accelerator

Is PE a Ponzi scheme?; AI specialist Jasper hits $1.5B valuation; HarbourView scores Incubus music rights; EngagedMD bags $11M
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The Daily Pitch: VC, PE and M&A
October 19, 2022
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In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:
  • Chris Dixon discusses a16z's priorities and the crypto community's needs at TechCrunch Disrupt.

  • Private equity has been likened to a pyramid scheme in recent months, but the comparison is flawed.
 
Today's Top Stories  
Chris Dixon of a16z shifts from crypto deals to accelerator reboot, regulations
Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, speaks Tuesday at TechCrunch Disrupt. (Courtesy of TechCrunch)
Andreessen Horowitz is rebooting a crypto accelerator program and driving efforts to pass blockchain regulation in Washington, DC. But despite raising a $4.5 billion fund in May, one thing it's not doing is scaling up crypto bets.

Speaking Tuesday at TechCrunch Disrupt, a16z general partner Chris Dixon emphasized the crypto community's need for founder development and regulatory clarity.
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The problem with PE's pyramid scheme comparisons
(Chloe Ladwig/PitchBook News)
For anyone working in finance, having your industry compared to a Ponzi scheme is less than ideal, to say the least. Unfortunately, for the private equity sector, this is what it has come to.

Over the past couple of months, two high-profile investors and a veritable horde of Twitter commentators have likened some parts of private equity to a Ponzi or pyramid scheme.

While investing in PE always carries the risk of losses, any comparison to the above is flawed.
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A message from CohnReznick  
PE value creation: Optimize sourcing & procurement for sustained savings
In the sprint to value creation, improving the efficiency of procurement practices can exponentially enhance EBITDA growth while solidifying supply chain operations. A dollar of procurement savings often represents as much as three to four times the financial impact of a dollar of incremental revenue. In times of heightened inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the uncertainty brought on by climate change, sourcing and procurement should be put at the very center of a value creation plan.

Careful analysis of operational spend data and key vendor agreements may reveal opportunities to implement value-creating changes with long-term impacts.

Read the full article about how to professionalize sourcing and procurement practices to optimize costs, decrease disruptions, support growth, and overall accelerate value creation across your portfolio.
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Next-generation AI gains steam as Jasper hits $1.5B valuation
(teh_z1b/Shutterstock)
Despite the market downturn, companies that use AI to generate text, images and videos have raised substantial rounds over the last few months.

Jasper, which has raised new capital at a $1.5 billion valuation, is the latest example of investor enthusiasm for so-called generative AI.
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Recommended Reads
Why US pensions shouldn't be too worried about the UK's bond crisis. [Institutional Investor]

The longstanding troubles of Credit Suisse recently grabbed the attention of amateur investors, whose social media posts sparked fears that the bank was running out of money. [The New York Times]

Forgoing a commute has put 60 million hours back onto the clocks of those working from home each day. [Fortune]
 
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Quick Takes  
  The Daily Benchmark  
  2011 Vintage Global Real Assets Funds  
  VC Deals  
  Enable brings home $94M  
  Full-body imaging specialist Prenuvo grabs $70M  
  Landis scores $40M for accessible homeownership  
  RisingWave collects $36M  
  EngagedMD raises $11M for fertility patient education  
  PE Deals  
  TD infrastructure fund invests in Dutch terminals operator  
  Columbia River Partners stakes TiniFiber  
  HarbourView acquires Incubus music rights  
  Kian-backed Purple Guys picks up Golden Tech  
  Exits & IPOs  
  Vista Equity cashes out on Thoma Bravo's latest take-private deal  
 
 
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The Daily Benchmark  
2011 Vintage Global Real Assets Funds
Median IRR
6.44%
Top Quartile IRR
11.72%
1.21x
Median TVPI
Select top performers
FIP Lantánidos
Grain Infrastructure Fund
KKR Global Infrastructure Investors
*IRR: net of fees
31 Funds in Benchmark »
Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks
 
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VC Deals  
Enable brings home $94M
Enable has raised a $94 million Series C led by Insight Partners, with participation from investors including Lightspeed, SE Ventures and HarbourVest Partners, according to reports. The startup's platform helps B2B companies manage rebate programs.
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Full-body imaging specialist Prenuvo grabs $70M
Prenuvo has raised a $70 million Series A. The equity and debt financing was led by Felicis, with the participation of individual investors including 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki and supermodel Cindy Crawford. The company's AI-enabled MRI technology can detect cancer and other chronic diseases in under an hour.
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View similar company »
 
Landis scores $40M for accessible homeownership
Landis, which helps people buy the homes they are renting, has raised a $40 million Series B led by GV, with participation from existing investors including Sequoia and Jay Z's Roc Nation.
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View 5 competitors »
 
RisingWave collects $36M
RisingWave Labs, the developer of a cloud-native SQL streaming database, has raised a $36 million Series A. Yunqi Partners was among the lead investors.
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View 2 competitors »
 
EngagedMD raises $11M for fertility patient education
MonCap has led an $11 million round for EngagedMD. Fertility patients can use the company's platform to access educational materials and sign consent forms.
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View similar company »
 
 
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PE Deals  
TD infrastructure fund invests in Dutch terminals operator
A TD Asset Management fund known as TD Greystone Infrastructure has acquired a minority stake in Verbrugge International, a Dutch company that operates three commodity import and export terminals in the Netherlands. Verbrugge remains majority family-owned after the investment.
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Columbia River Partners stakes TiniFiber
Columbia River Partners, a lower-middle-market PE firm, has invested in New York-based TiniFiber Holdings, which manufactures fiber-optic and custom cables.
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View similar company »
 
HarbourView acquires Incubus music rights
HarbourView Equity Partners, which makes long-term investments in entertainment and media, has acquired the rights to rock band Incubus' music publishing catalog, Billboard reported. Terms of the deal, which also included rights to some of band member Mike Einziger's individual music, were not disclosed.
View details
 
View 8 investments »
 
Kian-backed Purple Guys picks up Golden Tech
Kian Capital-backed The Purple Guys has acquired Indiana-based Golden Tech, which offers IT services to businesses in the US Midwest. The Purple Guys has now completed six add-on acquisitions since Kian acquired it in 2020.
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Exits & IPOs  
Vista Equity cashes out on Thoma Bravo's latest take-private deal
Vista Equity Partners has exited its six-year-long investment in Ping Identity now that the latter's acquisition by Thoma Bravo has closed. Thoma Bravo announced plans in August to take the NYSE-listed company private in a deal valued at $2.8 billion.
View details
 
View 84 competitors »
 
 
Chart of the Day  
"Across respondent types, lack of clarity around how to define and measure Impact outcomes, lack of robust data on ESG factors for PE companies, and difficulty benchmarking non-financial goals were frequently cited among the top three challenges of sustainable investing."

Source: PitchBook's 2022 Sustainable Investment Survey
 
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