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The Daily Pitch: VC

January 5, 2024

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

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

Orchestration startups will play a larger role as more companies put generative AI into action

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

An Irish government agency emerged as 2023's most active investor in European venture

Today's Top Stories

Why generative AI orchestration startups are poised for growth in 2024

(Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images)

Plenty of startups have tried to bring generative AI to other companies—and plenty have stumbled along the way.

Enter orchestration startups, which address some of the most pressing challenges in the space: choosing which large language model to use, integrating multiple models into a single service and deploying applications at low cost. These startups are poised to play a larger role as more companies look to put generative AI into action.

2024 PitchBook Media Kit released

Volatility is on the rise, everywhere. Dealmakers are looking for insights, services and tools to navigate challenging, complex market environments—and you can help them. By partnering with PitchBook Media, you can reach over two million industry professionals spanning the C-suite to flagship GP offices. Customize a unique array of options from the brand-new 2024 PitchBook Media Kit, including:

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Building awareness on objects in our orbit

Our recent Emerging Space Brief dives into the rapidly expanding industry of space situational awareness, which is the practice of monitoring, understanding and controlling objects in Earth's orbit. The industry landscape is shifting toward civilian control and, with it, new opportunities for commercialization. Some promising recent deals and a broader market outlook are profiled in our research.

read it now

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Enterprise Ireland topped list of Europe's most active VC investors

(Seng Kui Lim/Getty Images)

Enterprise Ireland participated in the most European venture rounds last year, even as the region's overall dealmaking has been relatively quiet.

Take a look at the rest of European VC's top 10 investors of 2023.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

11

VC valuations

1789

People

504

Companies

29

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2017 Vintage Global Funds-of-Funds

Median IRR

22.77%

Top Quartile IRR

25.72%

0.22x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Aberdeen US Private Equity VII

Ironsides Partnership Fund IV

TrueBridge Capital Partners Fund V

*IRR: net of fees

41 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

New York-based biotech startup OnCusp Therapeutics secured $100 million in a Series A led by Novo Holdings, F-Prime Capital and OrbiMed.

Generative AI startup Perplexity AI raised a $73.6 million Series B led by IVP.

California's Moonwalk Biosciences, a genomic medicine company, raised $57 million in seed and Series A funding from investors including GV, Khosla Ventures and Arch Venture Partners.

Bumper, a London-based provider of buy now, pay later payment options for car repairs, secured a $48 million Series B led by Autotech Ventures.

Construction-tech startup Agorus, which is based in San Diego, is raising a $20 million Series A led by Toyota Ventures, Axios reported.

Resalis Therapeutics, an Italian developer of treatments for metabolic diseases, raised a €10 million Series A led by Sunstone Life Science Ventures.

PE Deals

Hg-backed UK insurance broker Howden acquired its Norwegian peer Arctic Insurance.

Arlington Capital Partners formed a new aerospace-component manufacturing platform known as Kinetic Engine Systems. Arlington combined the engine assets of its existing portfolio company, Cadence Aerospace, with recently acquired businesses including Walbar Engine Components, Numet Machining Techniques and AeroCision.

Inspirit Capital acquired UK sleep and skincare brand This Works from Canopy Growth Corporation.

AUA Private Equity, which focuses on the lower middle market, acquired Indiana-based popcorn products manufacturer Weaver Holdings. Weaver had been family-owned.

Portfolio Companies

VC-backed Sinecure.ai, which offers an AI-powered talent discovery platform, acquired London-based executive search company Grace Blue Partnership.

Exits & IPOs

Bain Capital is contemplating a sale of Centrient Pharmaceuticals in a deal that could value the antibodies specialist at up to €1 billion, Bloomberg reported. Bain acquired Netherlands-based Centrient in 2018.

Fundraising

Palladium Equity Partners wrapped up a $450 million multi-asset continuation vehicle targeting three of its three portfolio companies—Sky Zone, Del Real Foods and Jordan's Skinny Mixes.

Exponent Founders Capital, a newly launched VC firm based in New York, has raised $75 million for its second fund to invest in early-stage fintech and AI startups and more.

EHE Capital is launching an AI-focused fund targeting early-stage companies in the UK.

Corporate M&A

SoftwareOne, a Swiss cloud computing technology company, acquired Spanish cloud services provider Novis Euforia.

Chart of the Day

Source: 2024 Enterprise Technology Outlook

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