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The Daily Pitch: VC

March 24, 2023

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

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

VC investment in ecommerce has fallen from its pandemic-driven highs—but the story isn't all lows, either.

In the midst of a banking crisis, investors pulled off a string of high-profile deals to take publicly traded software names private.

Toshiba has accepted a $15.3 billion offer in what would be Japan's largest-ever PE-backed take-private.

Today's Top Stories

Checking out the highs and lows of ecommerce

Consumer spending through ecommerce has made explosive growth over the years, fueled by pandemic lockdowns and emerging platforms. Ecommerce is taking a bigger bite of the retail-transaction pie, but headwinds have put a pause on ecommerce's VC growth the past few quarters.

Our Q4 2022 E-Commerce Report shows how this downward trend continued—with some upsides. Key takeaways include:

Ecommerce ended 2022 with 77 deals in Q4 totaling $1 billion in funding. While deal value fell 42.1% from the previous quarter, deal count increased by more than 50%.

Exits were also down, with only five deals, versus seven in Q3.

Investors have several opportunities in the ecommerce vertical, including B2B buy now, pay later services and a growing number of reselling platforms.

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Meet the 10 most active VC cybersecurity investors

(13_Phunkod/Shutterstock)

A steady stream of high-profile data breaches in recent years has reinforced the importance of cybersecurity defenses. It's a segment VCs are pouring a lot of capital into—over $18 billion globally in 2022—as investors look to fund the next big winner in securing digital assets, sensitive information and financial data.

Here's a list of the most active investors in the vertical to help you see who's betting on the future of data security.

Recommended Reads

A private company with 3D-printed engines and liquid methane fuel is the latest spaceflight startup setting its sights on interplanetary travel. [The New York Times]

Is ChatGPT stealing Alexa's thunder? [The Information]

The EU wants to ramp up solar power, but more than three-quarters of its solar panel imports in 2021 came from one country that officials are hesitant to rely on: China. [Financial Times]

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VC Deals

Singapore's Kredivo Holdings, a fintech company that caters to underbanked customers in Indonesia and Vietnam, has raised a $270 million Series D led by Mizuho Bank.

South Korean fashion resale marketplace Kream has raised a $168 million Series C led by Altos Ventures, TechCrunch reported.

Generative AI chatbot Character.ai has closed a $150 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz at a $1 billion valuation.

Hex, which offers a platform for data science and analytics, has raised $28 million in a round led by Sequoia.

Vital, a software startup for hospitals and health systems, has raised a $24.7 million Series B led by Transformation Capital.

Cloud security specialist Britive has raised a $20.5 million Series B led by Pelion Venture Partners.

Mbiomics, a developer of microbiome-based therapeutics, has raised a €13 million Series A led by MIG Capital.

MVision AI, a Finnish provider of cloud-based software for radiotherapy treatment planning, has secured €5.4 million in a round led by J12 Ventures and Voima Ventures.

PE Deals

Ardian is exploring a possible bid to take INWIT, an Italian telecoms tower operator, private at a valuation of around €11 billion, Reuters reported.

SpaceX has been working on a multibillion-dollar fundraising round and at least two sovereign wealth funds are planning to invest: United Arab Emirates-based Alpha Dhabi and a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the Information reported.

EQT Growth has invested €100 million in IntegrityNext. The company's platform helps businesses manage ESG requirements and risks as well as improve supply chain sustainability.

BlackRock and KKR, which own a 40% stake in the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.'s pipeline company, are considering bringing new LPs into the investment by turning it into a fund, Bloomberg reported.

PSG has made a $65 million growth equity investment in B2B data integration company Adeptia, which has also appointed a PSG senior advisor as its CEO.

Exit & IPOs

NorthEdge Capital has exited Future Industrial Services, a UK environmental and industrial services provider, to Augean. NorthEdge originally invested in FIS in 2017.

Fundraising

STG, also referred to as Symphony Technology Group, has closed STG VII on $4.2 billion. The firm targets buyout and growth investments in software and software-enabled tech companies.

Portfolio Advisors has closed its latest fund, Portfolio Advisors Private Equity Fund XI, on more than $1 billion.

Chilean VC firm 30N Ventures has raised a $50 million debut fund focused on early-stage startups in emerging markets, according to reports.

Chart of the Day

"Following the concentration trend of the past handful of years, the majority of capital was allocated toward experienced managers, who raised $101.9 billion, or 79.2%, of 2022 capital overall across 157 vehicles. In comparison, emerging managers raised just $26.7 billion across 110 vehicles, representing 20.8% of the overall figure.

Source: PitchBook's H2 2022 Global Real Estate Report

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