PitchBook News - VC's AI valuations cage match

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The Daily Pitch: VC

May 13, 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:

Our latest Emerging Tech Research covers how regulatory changes may affect the supply chain space

Some VC investors are sounding the alarm over the sustainability of AI's sky-high valuations

Cazoo is the latest British company to unravel after a 2021 SPAC merger

Our latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, now with league tables ranking the industry's most active players

Today's Top Stories

For valuations, it's AI versus the rest of VC

(Drew Sanders/PitchBook News)

Valuations for AI companies have far outpaced those in other verticals, according to PitchBook data. This is despite a VC downturn—but some investors are sounding the alarm over the sustainability of it all, with one likening the current environment to "high-stakes poker."

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Tracking public PE firms' performance

The largest publicly traded US PE firms mirrored the broader industry's struggle to exit investments in Q1. Despite the lack of liquidity, fundraising levels remain far above pre-pandemic times and assets under management continued their steady march upward.

In this dashboard, which is updated quarterly, we tracks trends in key performance metrics for public US PE firms—Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, KKR, The Carlyle Group, TPG and Blue Owl—based on company filings and PitchBook data.

explore the dashboard

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

40

People

8

Companies

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2017 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds

Median IRR

17.80%

Top Quartile IRR

21.60%

0.68x

Median DPI

Select top performers

RCP Secondary Opportunity Fund III

Timber Bay Fund I

Northleaf Secondary Partners II

*IRR: net of fees

17 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Bluejay Therapeutics, a Bay Area startup developing treatments for liver disease, raised $182 million in a Series C led by Frazier Life Sciences and an unnamed institutional investor.

California-based R3 Vascular raised an $87 million Series B led by Deerfield Management.

Aardvark Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biopharma startup, raised an $85 million Series C led by Decheng Capital.

Deepx, a South Korean AI semiconductor tech startup, raised an $80.5 million Series C led by SkyLake Equity Partners.

London's Fintech Farm, which provides software that helps traditional banks create and run digital banks, raised $32 million from investors including Nordstar, Sifted reported.

Australian tech consultancy V2 Digital raised A$30 million (about $20 million) from Columbia Capital.

Sift Healthcare, a Milwaukee-based payments software specialist, raised a $20 million Series B led by B Capital.

PE Deals

NYSE-listed gaming products supplier AGS has agreed to be acquired by Brightstar Capital Partners for $1.1 billion.

Professional services company Sikich has received a $250 million minority investment from Bain Capital.

Global wealth manager AlTi Global has agreed to acquire Minnesota-based multi-family office Envoi.

Eldridge Industries, the investment firm run by billionaire Todd Boehly, is in talks to buy European private credit firm Hayfin Capital Management.

Exits & IPOs

California-based Multiwoven, a database software startup, has been acquired by AI Squared.

AppDirect has acquired Builtfirst, a San Francisco-based B2B marketplace developer. Builtfirst previously raised $3.75 million in VC funding.

Hydraulic cylinders business Wipro Hydraulics agreed to acquire Novacap-backed Mailhot Industries, a Quebec-based manufacturer.

Fundraising

Avenue Capital Group closed its Europe Special Situations Fund V on over $1 billion.

London-based growth investor Ocean 14 Capital closed its debut fund on €201 million to back companies improving the ocean's health.

Teamworthy Ventures, a Connecticut-based firm, is targeting $100 million for its fourth flagship fund, according to SEC documents.

Starshot Capital, a Los Angeles-based VC firm, launched a $35 million fund aimed at companies working to lower carbon emissions.

Chart of the Day

Source: 2023 Annual Global Private Debt Report

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PitchBook News - VC's AI valuations cage match

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