PitchBook News - Lightspeed closes two new mega-funds

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The Daily Pitch: VC

April 15, 2020

Like our newsletter? The data comes from the PitchBook Platform — our data software for VC, PE and M&A

Today's Top Stories

Mega-funds thrive despite hard times for small and first-time VCs

(PM Images/Getty Images Plus)

Lightspeed has raised $4.2 billion across three funds, becoming the latest in a long line of VC heavy-hitters to announce a mega-fund in recent months.

The mountains of capital will help see America's largest VC firms through an unprecedented economic downturn as they support portfolio companies and seek out attractive deals.

But smaller VC firms and those without household names are already lagging behind the pace set in recent years, a trend that is only expected to accelerate:

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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VC valuations

1220

People

336

Companies

31

Funds

See what our data software can do

Today's Headlines


	The Daily Benchmark
	2016 Vintage Global PE Funds between $250M and $500M
	People
	David Thacker returns to Greylock as GP
	VC Deals
	Beyond Identity launches with $30M
	54gene bags $15M
	Crop Enhancement harvests $8M
	Fundraising
	Zetta Venture Partners closes AI-focused fund on $180M

The Daily Benchmark

2016 Vintage Global PE Funds between $250M and $500M

Median IRR

12.05%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

27.94%

1.22x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Gemspring Capital Fund I

Ufenau V German Asset Light

DW Healthcare Partners IV

*IRR: net of fees

26 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

David Thacker returns to Greylock as GP

Greylock Partners has brought on David Thacker as a general partner focused on technology investments. Thacker was most recently a vice president of product management and user experience at Google; before that he worked at LinkedIn. Thacker was part of Greylock's investment team from 2009 to 2011.

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VC Deals

Beyond Identity launches with $30M

Beyond Identity has raised $30 million in a Series A co-led by Koch Disruptive Technologies and NEA. The New York-based startup is the developer of a cloud-based identity management platform that operates without the use of passwords. Beyond Identity was co-founded by Silicon Valley stalwarts Jim Clark and Tom Jermoluk.

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54gene bags $15M

54gene has raised a $15 million Series A led by Adjuvant Capital. Launched in January 2019, the biotech company is helping to develop genetic treatments for a variety of diseases. It has offices in Washington, DC, and Lagos, Nigeria.

Select Investors:

Better Ventures, Fifty Years, Ingressive Capital, KdT Ventures, The Raba Partnership, V8 Capital Partners, Y Combinator

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Crop Enhancement harvests $8M

Crop Enhancement has raised $8 million in a round led by Spruce Capital Partners. The San Jose-based company produces eco-friendly farming products using agrochemicals. Other investors in the round included 1955 Capital, Phoenix Venture and Cavallo Ventures.

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View similar company »

Fundraising

Zetta Venture Partners closes AI-focused fund on $180M

San Francisco-based Zetta Venture Partners has closed its third flagship fund on $180 million, which it plans to invest in companies applying AI across a variety of sectors. The firm was founded in 2013 and closed its sophomore fund on $125 million in 2017. Its portfolio includes healthtech startup Myia and Tractable, which offers software to help assess damage from vehicle accidents and natural disasters.

View fund

View 34 investments »

Chart of the Day

"Late-stage valuations have continuously grown for the past decade, moving in lockstep with public markets. With the recent public market crash, many companies are left with public comparables that have much smaller market caps, which will likely translate into a softer valuation market if companies must raise capital in the near term. We expect down rounds to increase as a proportion of completed deals as a result."

Source: Q1 2020 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor