PitchBook News - European VC valuations take flight

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The Daily Pitch: VC

May 17, 2022

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:

The PE exit landscape has turned barren after last year's deluge. We take a look at the trends in PE IPOs, mergers and buyouts.

European VC valuations continued their upward trajectory in Q1, but a dramatic drop in exit value and macroeconomic activity could affect valuations later this year.

Our roundup of Latin America's most active venture capital investors.

Today's Top Stories

VC valuations soar, but impact of macro disruptions remains to be seen

European VC pre-money valuations across all financing stages continued their upward trajectory in Q1, pacing above the highs of 2021. This was in sharp contrast to exit value, which dropped drastically during the quarter—a trend that could affect valuations later in the year. Meanwhile, macroeconomic trends such as rising interest rates, inflationary pressures and trade tensions have caused 2022 to be characterized by uncertainty.

Our Q1 2022 European VC Valuations Report breaks down the region's activity, providing an extensive look at valuations across stages, sectors, geographies and more. Highlights include:

Software companies disrupting verticals such as food delivery, ecommerce and financial services have seen great success over the past two years, as consumers pivot to online models. The median early-stage software pre-money valuation hit €12.2 million in Q1, up 50.8% from 2021's full-year figure.

Angel, seed and early-stage valuations in the UK and Ireland are sitting above 2021's records, but late-stage valuations are slightly down from last year. Strong deal value figures in the quarter indicate that the Bank of England's recent interest rate increases have not stopped capital flows into VC.

VC deals with nontraditional investor participation had a strong Q1 when it came to deal value and count, and median VC deal sizes across all financing stages are pacing above 2021's highs.

Q1 recorded 153 existing Europe-based unicorns, a 21.4% jump from 2021's cumulative figure, and 28 new unicorns were minted during the quarter.

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The 10 most active Latin American VCs

(Richard Drury/Getty Images)

VC investment in Latin America has boomed during recent years, driven by a pandemic-fueled digital transformation in the region.

While international investing giants like SoftBank and Tiger Global have taken interest in the area, local firms still tend to dominate early-stage rounds.

Check out our roundup of Latin America's most active VC investors to find out more.

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A message from Ansarada

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PE exits dwindle as public listings grind to a halt

(gremlin/Getty Images)

For private equity players, the exit landscape has turned barren after last year's deluge, with US PE exit value and count in Q1 both dropping over 50% from the previous quarter.

Sponsor-to-sponsor deals became the favored exit option during Q1 as several factors contributed to create an IPO slowdown.

Recommended Reads

Why business travel is proving to be big tech's next climate challenge. [Protocol]

Meet Kevin Zhou, the hedge fund manager who warned of the $60 billion collapse of Terra and its stablecoin. [Bloomberg]

A recent spate of layoffs is just one sign that bad times could be coming for startups. [Wired]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

11

VC valuations

492

People

170

Companies

12

Funds

See what our data software can do

Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2013 Vintage Global Debt Funds
	People
	Bain hires TuongVy Le as partner
	VC Deals
	Kriya Therapeutics brings in $270M
	Optibus nabs $100M Series D for public transit planning
	Zeev Ventures leads $50M round for Stoa
	Metatheory collects $24M Series A for Web3-based games
	Akuity raises $20M
	CoverGo scores $15M Series A
	Fresh Technology lands $7M Series A
	Fundraising
	Infinity Ventures collects $158M for debut fund

The Daily Benchmark

2013 Vintage Global Debt Funds

Median IRR

7.88%

Top Quartile IRR

9.54%

1.19x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

York Special Opportunities Fund II

Davidson Kempner Long-Term Distressed Opportunities Fund II

Oaktree Real Estate Debt Fund

*IRR: net of fees

51 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Bain hires TuongVy Le as partner

Bain Capital Ventures has hired TuongVy Le as partner and head of regulatory and policy for its crypto-focused fund. In March, the firm raised a $560 million vehicle focused on cryptocurrency-related investments.

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VC Deals

Kriya Therapeutics brings in $270M

Kriya Therapeutics has raised a $270 million Series C led by Patient Square Capital. The Bay Area-based company is a developer of gene therapies for a range of diseases.

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Optibus nabs $100M Series D for public transit planning

Optibus has raised a $100 million Series D at a $1.3 billion valuation from investors including Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Verizon Ventures. Based in Tel Aviv, the company offers a platform for public transportation planning and operations.

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Zeev Ventures leads $50M round for Stoa

Stoa, the creator of proptech platform FlipOS, has raised $50 million in a round led by Zeev Ventures. The Phoenix-based company enables real estate investors to purchase, renovate and sell single-family homes.

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Metatheory collects $24M Series A for Web3-based games

Metatheory has raised $24 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Founded by Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin last year, the interactive entertainment company is building Web3-based games and virtual worlds.

Akuity raises $20M

Akuity has raised a $20 million Series A led by Lead Edge Capital. Based in the Bay Area, the company offers a suite of open-source tools for deploying and running applications and workloads on Kubernetes.

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CoverGo scores $15M Series A

SemperVirens VC has led a $15 million Series A for CoverGo, the provider of a no-code SaaS insurance platform. Based in Singapore, CoverGo's tech is used by property, casualty, health and life insurance companies to launch products, develop omni-channel distribution, automate claims processes and more.

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Fresh Technology lands $7M Series A

Fresh Technology has raised a $7 million Series A led by Fintop Capital. Created in 2003, the Alabama-based SaaS startup offers kitchen management and ecommerce systems to over 7,000 restaurants.

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PitchBook Webinar: Private equity in the European insurance sector

Join PitchBook on May 24 at 7 a.m. PT/3 p.m. BST for a webinar discussing key drivers and risk factors in the European PE insurance sector. PitchBook analysts will examine the overflow of activity in the space driven by broker deals and emerging technology solutions poised to disrupt the business model.

Key takeaways include:

Key factors driving PE deal activity in the European insurance broker space.

Top PE sponsors in European-headquartered insurance brokers.

How technology will impact the European insurance broker business model going forward.

Register now to secure your spot

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Fundraising

Infinity Ventures collects $158M for debut fund

Infinity Ventures has raised $158 million for its first fund. Co-founded by former PayPal executives in 2021, the early-stage venture capital firm participates in pre-seed through Series A rounds for companies building fintech infrastructure and commerce enablement.

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View 5 investments »