PitchBook News - VC's clean energy charge

Why VC is going mining; Apollo.io hits $1.6B valuation; TechCrunch picks up StrictlyVC; sunnier skies ahead for agtech
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The Daily Pitch: VC
August 30, 2023
The Daily Pitch is powered by PitchBook’s industry-defining research and best-in-class data
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Today's Top Stories  
For clean energy founders, it feels like 2021 again
In their best quarter since 2021, VC-backed clean energy startups brought in $5.4 billion in Q2, indicating the vertical's resilience. Driving the industry's success is major investment into solar and hydrogen technologies, per our latest Emerging Tech Research, another impact of the US Inflation Reduction Act and the Department of Energy's Hydrogen Shot initiative.

For new opportunities in the buzzy vertical, investors should brush up on nuclear fusion and geothermal energy, where engineers are recording breakthroughs in technologies targeting our reliance on fossil fuels.
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Why VCs are suddenly flocking to mining deals
(MARTIN BERNETTI/Getty Images)
Mining is a quintessential legacy industry, controlled by a small cohort of entrenched companies like Rio Tinto and BHP. Fledgling companies have struggled to overcome the high costs required to disrupt traditional extractive technologies.

It's no wonder that venture investors have historically steered clear of the industry.

But enticed by new innovations, VCs recognize the need for critical minerals to power the energy transition and see a role for new technology in challenging the major players.
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A message from AIC  
Building competition
Private equity's buy-and-build model has become a popular tool over the past decade. Today, add-ons account for almost 80% of all buyouts in the US—a big increase in a short amount of time. But a closer look at the data shows that the majority of add-ons are happening in only a handful of fragmented, highly competitive industries, like insurance, outpatient clinics, and landscaping, among others.

In partnership with PitchBook, AIC has released Building Competition: How buy-and-build helps the American economy. The buy-and-build model helps those sectors become more competitive, provide better goods and services to their customers, and generate higher returns for long-term investors like public pension plans.

To download the report, click here
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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 recent 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.
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How generative AI could fit into enterprise fintech
Enterprise fintech has been hitting the brakes from its highs in 2021 and 2022. Even counting Stripe's mega-deal of $6.9 billion, total VC deal value for Q2 2023 decreased 11.9% year-over-year. Still, generative AI is on the rise, and our recent Emerging Tech Research covers opportunities for enterprise fintech investors, especially in applying generative AI technology to segments such as fraud and compliance, sales, and productivity.
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Recommended Reads
PE firms borrow billions to expand fiber-optic broadband internet. [The Wall Street Journal]

Google is employing generative AI as part of its push to solve problems in healthcare. [Forbes]

America is using up its groundwater like there's no tomorrow. [The New York Times]
 
Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:
22
VC valuations
2539
People
525
Companies
12
Funds
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The Daily Benchmark:
2011 Vintage North American Real Estate Funds
Median IRR
14.94%
Top Quartile IRR
19.63%
1.53x
Median DPI
Select top performers
C-III Recovery Fund I
Exeter Industrial Value Fund II
SH Group I
*IRR: net of fees
47 Funds in Benchmark »
Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks
 
VC Deals  
Apollo.io has raised a $100 million Series D led by Bain Capital Ventures, bringing its valuation to $1.6 billion. The company provides enterprise go-to-market services.

Marketing software startup Mediafly has secured $80 million led by BIP Ventures.

Rockset, which offers a search and analytics database, has received $44 million in a round led by Icon Ventures.

Intuition Robotics has raised $20 million in equity and $5 million in debt in a round led by Toyota's Woven Capital for its AI companion for older adults.

Novatron Fusion Group, a Stockholm-based startup focused on fusion energy production, has raised €5 million led by Climentum Capital.

Finnish AI-powered ecommerce specialist Starcart has closed a €3.5 million investment led by Inventure.

Finland-based Videobot has secured €2 million from investors including Superhero Capital and Expon Capital. The B2B startup creates personalized, interactive videos to increase customer engagement.

UK-based Jitty has raised $2 million led by Gradient Ventures for its property search engine.
 
PE Deals  
TechCrunch, owned by Apollo Global Management-backed Yahoo, has acquired media startup StrictlyVC from the journalist who founded it, Axios reported.

M2 Capital has made a £90 million bid for UK retail chain Wilko, according to reports. Wilko started insolvency proceedings earlier this month.

Nordic Capital-backed Trustly has acquired French recurring payments startup SlimPay. The deal was worth €70 million, according to a Bloomberg report.

Summit Partners has made a growth investment in Greenpeak Partners-backed testing, inspection and certification services provider Certania.

Shoreline Equity Partners has invested in American Landscaping Partners, which provides commercial and residential landscaping in Tennessee, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

SK Capital Partners has acquired fireproofing materials manufacturer and distributor Isolatek International.

Renovus Capital Partners-backed InflowCX has acquired Ontario-based software development firm NetFore.
 
Exit & IPOs  
Tiger Global has sold its remaining stake in Indian food delivery company Zomato in a deal worth 11.24 billion rupees (around $136 million), Reuters reported.

E.l.f. Beauty has agreed to acquire skin care brand Naturium for $355 million. Naturium received a minority investment from Prelude Growth Partners in 2021.
 
Fundraising  
Lighter Capital, a provider of revenue-based financing, has raised a $130 million credit facility to fund early-stage SaaS, technology services, subscription services, and digital media startups.
 
Chart of the Day  
"Average deal size has come down in 2023, which is to be expected given sponsors are more diligent and hesitant in their approach towards megadeals, focusing rather on deals in the range of €10 million to €25 million."

Source: PitchBook's Q2 2023 European Venture Report
 
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