PitchBook News - Agtech weathers the storm

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The Daily Pitch: VC

August 16, 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:

Our analysts forecast sunnier skies for parts of agtech

VC's seed stage is losing its valuation hot streak

MetLife signals confidence in the shaky rental market with a $390 million fund close

Europe's VC valuation downshift in five charts

Today's Top Stories

The storm has passed for many agtech startups

Aquaculture and farm management software companies rebounded in Q2, both scoring their second-strongest quarters in VC deal value on record. It's sunnier skies ahead for parts of agtech, as our latest Emerging Tech Research on the space forecasts a positive dealmaking outlook through the rest of the year.

Keep an eye out for sustainable fisheries, biofertilizer startups and retrofitting of farm machinery—all rapidly evolving segments.

read the preview

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Series A price correction halts seed-valuation ascent

(Jenna O'Malley/PitchBook News)

When valuations of VC-backed US companies began to reset downward in 2022, one stage bucked the trend: seed. But after climbing for nearly every quarter since Q2 2020, the median pre-money valuation of seed-stage deals dropped 17% in Q2 2023.

The pullback in seed-stage pricing comes as startups struggle to raise Series A rounds at meaningful markups, investors say.

Recommended Reads

The White House plans to revive the US chips industry by building what team members call a startup within the government. [The Wall Street Journal]

Private equity is betting on UK healthcare as NHS waiting lists grow. [Financial Times]

Why people won't stop moving to the US Sun Belt. [The Atlantic]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

5

VC valuations

744

People

248

Companies

15

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2018 Vintage North American VC Funds

Median IRR

24.16%

Top Quartile IRR

39.11%

0.04x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Boulder Ventures VII

Inter-Atlantic Ivy

Communitas Capital Partners Fund I

*IRR: net of fees

54 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Klar, a Mexico-based fintech startup, has secured a $100 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital.

ClassWallet has raised $95 million in growth capital led by Guidepost Growth Equity. ClassWallet offers a digital purchasing platform for public funds.

Cybersecurity startup Field Effect has secured a $30 million debt facility from Scotiabank's Technology Innovation and Banking Group.

Voiceflow has raised $15 million from OpenView at a $105 million valuation. The company's platform helps AI teams build chat and voice assistants.

Dutch medtech company Xeltis has raised €12.5 million from the European Innovation Council Fund.

Fertilizer technology specialist Phospholutions has raised $10.15 million led by Advantage Capital.

Demex, a reinsurance startup aimed at climate change-related risk, has raised $5 million led by Blue Bear Capital.

Berlin-based commercial insurance startup SureIn has secured a €4 million seed investment led by Pact VC.

Coachbetter, the developer of a soccer coaching app, has secured $2.9 million in a round led by Brighteye Ventures and Zen11 Holding.

PitchBook webinar: Why allocators should rethink manager benchmarking

Allocators employing traditional, quartile-based benchmarking methodologies to screen private fund managers face challenges in capturing historical performance. These techniques not only fail to capture the range of performance within each quartile, but also fail to offer a simple way to aggregate performance across multiple funds within the same strategy and compare that performance against similar strategies.

In this webinar, analysts from our Quantitative Research team will discuss a new framework for analyzing manager performance and unpack its implications for the due diligence process.

Register now to secure your spot.

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PE Deals

TPG has approached Big Four accounting firm EY about buying a stake in its consulting arm, the Financial Times reported.

Exor, the investment arm of the Agnelli family, has bought a 15% stake in healthcare tech group Philips for €2.6 billion.

Apax Partners is buying Bazooka Candy Brands for around $700 million, including debt, from former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Broadband provider Tillman FiberCo has received a $200 million strategic investment from Northleaf, with the potential of investment up to $500 million total.

Rhone Capital-backed Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian restaurant brand, is being acquired by Bain Capital.

Exit & IPOs

Soho Square has sold its stake in UK facilities management company Churchill Group to an employee ownership trust.

Fundraising

Growtheum Capital Partners, a Singapore-based PE firm launched by two former GIC investors, has raised $567 million, Bloomberg reported. The firm plans to source deals across Southeast Asia and India.

Angeles Equity Partners has closed its second namesake fund on more than $540 million.

Investors

CVC Capital Partners is revisiting its plans for a European IPO, the Financial Times reported. The firm postponed previous plans to go public in May 2022.

Chart of the Day

Source: PitchBook's H1 2023 Healthcare Funds Report

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PitchBook News - Agtech weathers the storm

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