The price of being a serial entrepreneur

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription.

Log in

The Daily Pitch: VC

September 2, 2022

The Daily Pitch is powered by PitchBook’s industry-defining research and best-in-class data

In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:

Our latest Global Markets Snapshot breaks down a month of trends in the equity, debt and commodities markets.

How serial founders pay a price for their smoother path to capital.

Only 14 new unicorns were created in August—a small increase over the number minted in July, but still down significantly from the heyday.

Today's Top Stories

The price of being a serial entrepreneur

Besieged with pitch decks and fundraising requests, VCs seek to mitigate risk as much and as quickly as possible. Particularly in a challenging market, they have long favored experienced founders when choosing which investments to make.

Serial entrepreneurs outpace their unproven counterparts in nearly all aspects of startup funding. They raise more money with less time between rounds, receive higher valuations and command larger valuation step-ups, and these gaps don't close later in the venture lifecycle—they widen.

But serial founders also pay a price for their smoother path to capital, according to our latest analyst note, as they often give away more equity than novice entrepreneurs.

read it now

Share:

Market jitters return with growing energy crisis fears

With the return of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, central bankers reiterated their resolve to fight the inflation that is hamstringing most economies. Comments of further tightening in the US and Europe, and more warnings about pain ahead for consumers and businesses, sent equity and debt markets lower in August.

Corporate credit spreads and benchmark rates continue to balloon, leading new issue yields for US middle-market transactions to reach a peak of 8.4%, according to LCD data.

Our latest Global Markets Snapshot breaks down a month of trends in the equity, debt and commodities markets, tracking returns across a range of indexes and sectors. It also includes private markets activity, including major deals, fundraising, IPO performance, lending volumes, and unicorn creation. In this monthly digest, we provide the datasets that PitchBook's Institutional Research team is keeping an eye on as markets remain volatile.

read it now

Share:

A message from BMO

Latest Transaction Trends issue gives insider look into BMO Sponsor Finance's portfolio

In the current issue of Transaction Trends, BMO Sponsor Finance provides insight into its portfolio with a review of Industrial purchase multiples across sub-sectors, recent trends in EBITDA adjustments at close, and a deep dive into the active car wash sector.

To learn more, read the full issue of Transaction Trends

You can also contact Stephen R. Isaacs, Managing Director and Head of BMO Sponsor Finance, at stephen.isaacs@bmo.com.

Share:

Unicorn formation continues recent slump

(Drew Sanders/PitchBook News)

The PitchBook Unicorn Tracker shows that billion-dollar VC-backed company formation remains depressed but is showing signs of stabilizing.

Only 14 new unicorns were created last month, which is a small increase over the number minted in July but still down significantly from the heyday of 2021 and early 2022.

This decline in unicorn creation is also reflected in valuation, with the combined valuation for new unicorns totaling $20.7 billion in August. This is a far cry from the combined monthly valuations posted in the last four years and more in line with what was seen in 2017.

Notable rounds in August included ticket platform SeatGeek's $238 million Series E at a $2 billion valuation, which followed the termination of a SPAC deal. HR tech company Incredible Health raised $80 million at a $1.65 billion valuation, and Adam Neumann's real estate startup Flow reportedly raised $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz to become a unicorn.

explore the tracker

Share:

Recommended Reads

Environmentalists are worried that England's tree-planting initiatives are just creating tree cemeteries. [Vice]

For tech companies, going private can come with benefits, like focusing on long-term growth rather than quarterly numbers. [The Wall Street Journal]

New research indicates that women managers make fairer pay decisions than their male counterparts. [Bloomberg]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

5

VC valuations

1519

People

414

Companies

15

Funds

See what our data software can do

Quick Takes

	The Daily Benchmark
	2016 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds
	A message from PitchBook Media
	PitchBook's 2023 Media Kit released
	VC Deals
	Alloy banks $52M
	OneSignal raises $50M
	Fairmarkit picks up $35.6M Series C
	Falkon brings in $16M
	Exits & IPOs
	Carta acquires VC-backed Capdesk

The Daily Benchmark

2016 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds

Median IRR

21.27%

Top Quartile IRR

32.44%

1.74x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Industry Ventures Special Opportunities Fund III

Timber Bay Fund I

Industry Ventures Secondary VIII

*IRR: net of fees

28 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

A message from PitchBook Media

PitchBook's 2023 Media Kit released

Year to date, PitchBook's newsletters have over 115 million impressions and over 540 million report downloads. Partnering with PitchBook Media is a way to feature your firm's insights in one of the most popular venues for timely and relevant PE and VC articles, news, asset class reports and custom white label reports.

The brand-new 2023 Media Kit contains all the details to help your firm position itself in front of a VC or PE audience.

Click here to download it today or to speak to someone on the media team.

Share:

VC Deals

Alloy banks $52M

Alloy has raised $52 million at a $1.55 million valuation in a round co-led by Avenir Growth Capital and Lightspeed. Based in New York, the company helps banks and financial institutions automate identity decisions, manage regulatory processes and reduce fraud risk.

View round

View 34 competitors »

OneSignal raises $50M

OneSignal has raised $50 million in a round led by Balyasny Asset Management. The company is the developer of a customer engagement platform intended to help businesses offer personalization at scale.

View round

View 87 competitors »

Fairmarkit picks up $35.6M Series C

Fairmarkit has raised $35.6 million in a round led by OMERS Growth Equity. Based in Boston, the company is the developer of an automated sourcing platform intended to accelerate the bid-to-buy process of goods and services for enterprises.

View round

View 23 competitors »

Falkon brings in $16M

Falkon has raised $16 million in a round led by OMERS Ventures, TechCrunch reported. Based in Seattle, the company is the developer of a sales analytics platform.

View round

View similar company »

Exits & IPOs

Carta acquires VC-backed Capdesk

Carta, a developer of a valuation and capitalization table management software, has acquired Capdesk, a VC-backed developer of an equity management platform. Capdesk was previously backed by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, MiddleGame Ventures and others.

View details

View 10 competitors »

Chart of the Day

Source: PitchBook's Q2 2022 US PE Breakdown

About PitchBook | Terms of use | Advertise with us | Contact

This email was sent to you via the PitchBook Platform.

Do you want to change your email address, get a different edition or unsubscribe? Manage your subscription here.

The price of being a serial entrepreneur

Older messages

VCs put the brakes on insurtech

Real estate's complex reality

Breaking down the metaverse

VC looks ahead to brighter days

Re: Your Request for Data - PitchBook

You Might Also Like

It's time for the final training, are you in there?

Jons Growth Journal #4 - How To Gain Discipline

There's just a few hours left for this training...

Marketing Weekly #177

12 Things You’ll Look Back On in SaaS And Regret

🤖 Weekend Update: Defining AI ROI

Will CVC Capital's IPO inspire others?

The Profile: Taylor Swift’s genius publicist & the man who exposed a nation’s therapy secrets

Sunday Thinking

The Profile: Taylor Swift’s genius publicist & the man who exposed a nation’s therapy secrets