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The Daily Pitch: VC

February 28, 2024

Presented by Morgan Stanley at Work

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

The top public PE firms turned to new capital sources as fundraising slowed

Our analysts examine the startups looking to challenge Big Tech in the AI data center space

Vertical farming startup Oishii defies the agtech winter with an $134 million up round

PE funds dedicated to specialist healthcare amassed a record capital total

EQT brings in more than $23 billion for Europe's third-largest buyout fund

Today's Top Stories

How VC powers AI data centers

AI and machine learning startups added over $22 billion across more than 1,600 deals in Q4, according to our latest Emerging Tech Research. Some of these companies support AI-specific data centers, whose specialized infrastructure and operations are designed to meet the rigors of AI workloads. A few upstarts are looking to challenge the likes of Microsoft and Google in the AI data center space.

read the preview

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Vertical farming startup cinches $134M for designer fruit

(Courtesy of Oishii)

Oishii, an indoor vertical grower of organic strawberries and tomatoes, has closed a $134 million led by Japanese telecom company NTT.

The Series B defies the pullback from vertical farming, writes VC reporter Rosie Bradbury.

Selling luxury produce could be a sweet spot for an industry struggling to compete with cheaper, conventional leafy greens growers. Since 2021, Oishii's revenue has grown 10x, according to founder and CEO Hiroki Koga.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

38

VC valuations

2094

People

637

Companies

25

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2013 Vintage North American Funds-of-Funds

Median IRR

16.82%

Top Quartile IRR

21.36%

1.10x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Glouston Ohio Midwest Fund II

Bay Hills Emerging Partners III

Ironsides Partnership Fund III

*IRR: net of fees

40 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Houston-based geothermal energy startup Fervo Energy is raising $221 million from undisclosed investors, TechCrunch reported.

Palo Alto's Glean, the developer of an AI work assistant, raised a $200 million Series D led by Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed, bringing its valuation to $2.2 billion.

Exodigo, an underground mapping startup, raised a $105 million Series A led by Greenfield Partners and Zeev Ventures.

Indian logistics startup Shadowfax raised a $100 million Series E led by TPG NewQuest, according to reports.

Unseenlabs raised €85 million from investors including Supernova Invest, ISALT and 360 Capital. The French company provides maritime surveillance technology.

Workplace safety startup Intenseye, which is based in New York, raised a $64 million Series B led by Lightspeed.

UK-based biotech startup Curve Therapeutics closed a £40.5 million Series A led by Pfizer Ventures.

Lapse raised $30 million from Greylock Partners and DST Global Partners, according to reports. The UK-based company offers a photo-sharing app.

Embat secured a €15 million Series A led by Creandum. The Madrid-based company offers a treasury management platform.

PitchBook Tech Talks webinar: Y Combinator's second time founders

This webinar brings together second time founders from Y Combinator's latest cohorts to discuss the advantages that their prior startup brings to their new companies. This conversation will dive deep into the impact of AI, hiring developers, go-to-market strategy, balancing product vs. sales and marketing, and more. Key topics include:

How building with AI is providing increased product functionality.

Learnings from previous entrepreneurial endeavors.

The founder experience today compared to years past.

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PE Deals

Luggage-maker Samsonite is reviewing its options following takeover interest from investors that include buyout firms, Bloomberg reported.

Global Infrastructure Partners, KKR and Macquarie Group are among investors eyeing a stake in the Polish operations of Cellnex Telecom, Bloomberg reported.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Nordic Capital have agreed to invest in UK-based pharmaceutical company Advanz Pharma.

Elaghmore bought a 42% stake in Trutex. As part of the deal, Elaghmore will invest £2.5 million in the UK-based school uniform brand.

Innova Capital-backed Bielenda has acquired Polish cosmetics company Kanani Europe.

The Very Group, a retail specialist backed by the Barclay family, has received £125 million from The Carlyle Group and IMI.

B&Capital has sold its majority stake in French electronics distributor Steliau to Astorg.

An investor group led by New Mountain Capital has proposed a take-private of Nasdaq-listed R1 RCM, a healthcare services provider.

Atena Equity Partners has acquired a majority stake in the Redshift Group, a cybersecurity and IT company.

Fundraising

California-based Ocean Avenue Capital Partners closed its Fund V on $600 million.

Renovus Capital Partners raised about $325 million for its first continuation fund, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Qatar Investment Authority is launching a fund-of-funds targeting international and regional VC vehicles. The sovereign wealth fund will invest more than $1 billion through the vehicle.

Zacua Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC firm focusing on early-stage investments in the construction industry, closed its inaugural fund with $56 million in commitments.

Dubai-based COTU Ventures raised $54 million for its debut fund. The firm will target pre-seed and seed-stage startups in the Middle East and North Africa.

Chart of the Day

Source: Q2 2023 Global Fund Performance Report (with preliminary Q3 2023 data)

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PitchBook News - How VC powers AI data centers

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