PitchBook News - Supply chain tech's road to stability

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The Daily Pitch: VC

August 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:

Automation and AI lead the VC charge in supply chain tech

The SEC's new rules could give LPs more negotiating power

A growing economy and burgeoning middle class have helped India buck the global PE slump

Today's Top Stories

AI boom comes to drone delivery

The five largest supply chain tech deals of Q2 2023, including Getir's $475 million down round, brought in half of the $3 billion in VC deal value the sector accrued in that period across 190 deals. Still, our latest Emerging Tech Research points out signs that dealmaking in the logistics industry is stabilizing—notably an uptick in deal value from the previous quarter.

Warehouse automation and drone delivery are making remarkable headway, with companies such as Locus Robotics and Covariant, which utilizes AI learning, staying especially competitive.

read the preview

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New SEC rules could arm LPs with more negotiating power

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In a Wednesday open meeting, the SEC voted to approve a set of new rules and amendments to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The new rules will bring more transparency into private fund negotiations, giving investors a clearer sense of what other LPs have negotiated for in the past, said Joel Wattenbarger, partner at Ropes & Gray.

"It will absolutely change the balance of power around side letter negotiations," said Wattenbarger.

Recommended Reads

Private equity firms are handing over distressed companies to rivals. [Financial Times]

America's loneliest road is finally ready for electric vehicles. [Bloomberg]

The Chandrayaan-3 mission comes at a particularly important moment in India's diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise. [The New York Times]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

9

VC valuations

2736

People

591

Companies

8

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2016 Vintage Global Debt Funds

Median IRR

10.08%

Top Quartile IRR

12.03%

0.72x

Median DPI

Select top performers

PAG Enhanced Credit Fund

VSS Structured Capital III

Blue Ocean Fund

*IRR: net of fees

67 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Matt Eggers, former partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures and a long-time climate investor, has joined Prelude Ventures as managing partner.

VC Deals

Cellares, a cell therapy biotech company, has raised a $255 million Series C led by Koch Disruptive Technologies.

Generative AI startup Hugging Face is planning to raise an approximate $200 million round at an over $4 billion valuation led by Salesforce Ventures, The Information reported.

Cybersecurity company SpyCloud has raised a $110 million growth round led by Riverwood Capital.

Gympass, a corporate wellness company, has raised an $85 million Series F led by EQT at a $2.4 billion valuation.

FORE Biotherapeutics has raised a $75 million Series D led by SR One and Medicxi.

Dice, a London-based events discovery and ticketing platform, has raised $65 million in a round led by Music.

Anytype, a Berlin-based peer-to-peer open-source web builder, has secured $13.4 million in a round led by Balderton Capital.

Copenhagen-based digital weight management clinic Embla has closed a €10 million Series A from investors including Seed Capital and Inovo.

Accure Battery Intelligence, a German provider of battery analytics software, has raised €7.2 million in a round led by Blue Bear Capital and HSBC Asset Management.

Translucent, a London-based accounting and financial management platform, has completed a £5 million seed round led by Chalfen Ventures and LocalGlobe.

Don't miss our upcoming webinar

In 2022, more than $200 billion in ecommerce merchandise was returned, significantly straining merchant supply chain operations. In this discussion, PitchBook analyst Eric Bellomo hosts Kyle Bertin from VC-backed Two Boxes, developer of a returns processing platform. Key topics include:

An overview of the state of reverse logistics and the current state of operations.

Technical and strategic trends impacting reverse logistics in the near-term.

Opportunities and challenges to designing scalable and sustainable reverse logistics processes moving forward.

Register now to secure your spot.

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PE Deals

The Qatar Investment Authority has agreed to acquire a 1% stake in Reliance Retail Ventures, a division of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, for $1 billion.

Apollo Global Management has acquired Composite Advanced Technologies, a manufacturer of cylinders used for natural gas and hydrogen compression.

Auxo Investment Partners has acquired Cariboo Central Railroad Contracting, a Canadian railroad maintenance and construction service provider, for its platform Genesis Rail Services.

The PE arm of Jadwa Investment, a Saudi Arabian investment bank, has acquired a 35% stake in Kuwait-based Gissah Perfumes Company, according to reports.

Thoma Bravo has completed its roughly $2.3 billion acquisition of identity management company ForgeRock and will merge it with Ping Identity.

Andromeda Capital Partners has invested €2 million in Amsterdam-based Change Group, the provider of a crypto investment platform.

Exit & IPOs

EQT and CPP Investments-backed healthcare software vendor Waystar has been looking into an IPO late this year or in early 2024 that could value the company around $8 billion, including debt, Reuters reported. Bain Capital has a minority stake in Waystar.

Oakfield Capital is considering a sale of European cloud telecoms provider Firstcom, Unquote reported.

Yahoo has acquired Commonstock, which offers a community platform for retail investors, from Coatue, QED, Upside Ventures and others.

Chart of the Day

Source: PitchBook's Q2 2023 US VC Valuations Report

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PitchBook News - Supply chain tech's road to stability

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