PitchBook News - Zero-carbon push lifts climate tech

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription.

Log in

The Daily Pitch: VC

May 3, 2024

Presented by Forge

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

Climate-tech deals grew nearly 38% in Q1, buoyed by US investment in decarbonization, our latest Emerging Tech Research shows

Fintech unicorn Altruist has grown into a valuation that few buyers can afford

AI companies are racking up billion-dollar valuations, our global unicorn tracker shows

PE buyers turn to secondary deals for quick, reliable exits

Today's Top Stories

Green steel dominates climate-tech deals in Q1

Even accounting for H2 Green Steel's mega-financing round of over $5 billion, climate-tech deals grew nearly 38% in Q1, buoyed by US federal investment in industrial decarbonization.

Infrastructure, industry and renewable battery deals are hot commodities and median pre-money valuations appear to be rising across the board, according to our latest Carbon & Emissions Tech Report. Climate-tech startups are rapidly developing more sophisticated approaches to permanent carbon-storage solutions, and investors are paying attention.

read the preview

Share:

Founder of fintech's newest unicorn says he'd 'never sell'

(Dowell/Getty Images)

Altruist, the developer of a fintech platform for financial advisers, just secured unicorn status—but M&A is off the table, according to founder Jason Wenk.

Altruist raised a $169 million Series E led by Iconiq Growth at a valuation of over $1.5 billion, a step-up of more than 1.5x from its previous round.

The startup is a rare example of a growth-stage fintech company that hasn't had to take a down or flat round during a fintech dealmaking freeze.

Share:

A better benchmark for buyout funds

It's time to boost your benchmarking tools. Our latest analyst note uses take-private data, quarterly financial statements and historical stock prices to capture the fundamental characteristics of buyout investing in a portfolio of public equities.

Analysts learned that PE funds are no magic bullet, performing mainly in line with public equities. LPs can use this analysis to better benchmark buyout fund performance and more clearly understand their risk-return profiles.

read it now

Share:

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

16

VC valuations

2207

People

891

Companies

31

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2013 Vintage Global Debt Funds

Median IRR

8.26%

Top Quartile IRR

11.15%

1.15x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Marathon European Credit Opportunity Fund

York Special Opportunities Fund II

Oaktree Real Estate Debt Fund

*IRR: net of fees

61 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

San Francisco-based digital health startup Transcarent raised a $126 million Series D led by General Catalyst and 7wireVentures.

Karius, a biotech startup focused on genomic diagnostics, raised a $100 million Series C co-led by Khosla Ventures, 5AM Ventures and Gilde Healthcare.

Cancer therapeutics company Delphia Therapeutics, which is based in Massachusetts, raised a $67 million Series A from GV, Nextech Invest, Polaris Innovation Fund and others.

Turkish video game studio Spyke Games secured a $50 million investment from Moon Active.

Stargate Hydrogen, an Estonian green hydrogen solutions provider, raised €42 million from investors including UG Investments.

Tel Aviv's LayerX closed a $26 million Series A led by Glilot Capital Partners for its user-first browser security platform.

Aikido raised a $17 million Series A from investors including Notion Capital and Connect Ventures. The Belgian company offers a software security platform.

PE Deals

Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management have made a $26 billion all-cash offer for entertainment giant Paramount Global, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Permira has acquired a majority position in digital fraud protection company BioCatch at a $1.3 billion valuation.

KKR is leading bidding against Nidec Corp to acquire the large motors business of Innomotics at a valuation of around €3 billion.

Advent International may provide up to $250 million in fresh equity to OQ Chemicals, which is currently owned by the Oman state energy company, Bloomberg reported.

Stagwell has acquired Montreal-based Luxine Relations Publiques, a marketing agency for influencers.

BVP Forge has made a funding injection into loan origination SaaS company Mortgage Automator.

Bridgepoint has agreed to invest in risk management solutions company Forward Global.

Cormica, a UK-based medical device and pharmaceutical testing group backed by Limerston Capital, has completed its acquisition of US contract testing company TPM Laboratories.

Exits & IPOs

TPG-backed cruise line Viking River Cruises has raised $1.5 billion in its IPO on the NYSE.

Sanctuary Wealth acquired Entwood Holdings-backed Tru Independence, an investment advisory service for registered investment advisers.

UK-based growth investor BGF exited engineering design and energy consultancy Hydrock to engineering consultancy Stantec.

IT infrastructure startup Device42 is being bought by SaaS company Freshworks for $230 million, according to an SEC filing.

Medical testing giant Quest Diagnostics is acquiring Path AI, a pathology analysis startup.

Fundraising

Alternative asset manager HighVista Strategies has closed its Private Equity X fund on $675 million.

Centana Growth Partners is targeting $475 million for its Fund III, according to a regulatory filing.

Healthcare-focused growth investor Latticework Capital Management closed its Fund II on $345 million.

Belgian VC firm Imec.xpand launched a €300 million fund targeting semiconductor and nanotechnology companies.

Netherlands-based Infinity Recycling, an impact investor focused on backing startups in the recycling space, closed its first fund on €175 million.

Austin-based Scout Ventures raised $94 million for its fourth flagship fund.

Chart of the Day

"What went up came back down, and unfortunately for LPs, distributions came down hard. The exit environment turned over quickly toward the end of 2021 and early 2022, but VCs were still putting significant capital to work. 69 cents per dollar of dry powder available at the start of Q2 2021 was called down over the subsequent four quarters, while only 13.3% of NAV was realized."

Source: Surfing Turbulent Cash Flow Waves

About PitchBook | Terms of use | Advertise with us | Contact

This email was sent to you via the PitchBook Platform.

Do you want to change your email address, get a different edition or unsubscribe? Manage your subscription here.

PitchBook Data Inc., 901 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1200, Seattle WA 98164, United States

PitchBook News - Zero-carbon push lifts climate tech

Older messages

LPs return to warming crypto market

The top 50 cities for startups

A case for emerging managers

Agtech's big valuation reset

Will CVC Capital's IPO inspire others?

You Might Also Like

The Daily Coach's Picks: 10 Recommended Books of 2024

Here's everything retail media network experts are asking for this holiday season

Hack offline word of mouth

🎯 Stop Planning Your Goals Like An Amateur

🌁#81: Key AI Concepts to Follow in 2025

The best countries to manufacture your product [Roundup]

This "Boring" Website Makes $35k/month + A Special Deal

How brands leverage commerce media for seasonal success in 2025

Holiday Special: Lifetime Access for Less Than $1/Day

Create a LinkedIn funnel from personal posts