PitchBook News - Senate adds $320B to loan program

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PitchBook

The Daily Pitch: VC

April 22, 2020

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Today's Top Stories

Senate passes bill to replenish small-business loan program

Sen. Charles Schumer holds a protective mask and practices social distancing while talking to reporters in Washington, DC, on Tuesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News)

The Senate passed a bill Tuesday to add more than $320 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, the small-business rescue effort that ran out of its initial $350 billion funding last week. Around $60 billion has been earmarked for small and mid-sized banks, community-based lenders and credit unions.

A number of venture capital-backed startups are said to have taken advantage of the loan program, including electric vehicle startup Faraday Future, according to The Verge. Many private equity-backed companies may not qualify under the Small Business Administration's affiliation rules.

The bill also includes $25 billion for coronavirus testing, $75 billion for hospitals, and $60 billion for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, another small-business relief effort. The House is expected to vote on the bill later this week.

President Trump indicated in a Tweet yesterday that more fiscal relief would be coming after the current bill is signed into law.

More coronavirus news: Continuing coverage from PitchBook

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COVID-19 is set to turn European PE upside down

As the coronavirus outbreak went global during March, European nations such as Italy, France and Spain were initially among those hit hardest. As a result, several countries in the region have already entered sudden recessions. In the months to come, private equity firms may be among those feeling the economic pain.

Full of the usual numbers and analysis from the past three months, our Q1 2020 European PE Breakdown also anticipates what havoc the pandemic might wreak on the industry as a whole. Among the takeaways:

European PE fundraising fell substantially in Q1, and 2020 could be on track for historically poor fundraising totals
After back-to-back annual decreases, exit activity could plunge in 2020
Add-on, take-private and PIPE deals may all become more frequent

read it now

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A message from Betts Recruiting

How to sharpen remote management skills and stay productive during this pandemic

Carolyn Betts Fleming

This year, in Q1 alone, thousands of companies switched to fully remote workflows as the coronavirus chased us out of the office and into our homes. Now, many of those companies are finding that the processes they've long taken for granted don't work nearly as well when applied to remote-work scenarios. The result is reduced transparency in the interview process, slower onboarding, and lost productivity.

What can company leaders do to ensure a seamless end-to-end transition to remote processes, including sourcing, interviewing, onboarding, and managing new employees? Time is money, and a company's ability to keep producing revenue at the same rate during this time depends on how they answer that question. Hint: It starts with learning how to identify the kind of candidate that can truly thrive in a remote environment.

Learn how to do that, and a host of other best practices, here.

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Recommended Reads

For VC-backed companies, the question of whether to apply for government stimulus money is about more than economics. [The Wall Street Journal]

Running is the simplest of all sports. But for a magazine editor-in-chief to run the best marathon of his life at 44, it had to get a little complicated. [Wired]

Inigo Philbrick was a fast-rising star in the glamorous world of fine art. But eventually, the tangled web he was weaving began to unravel. [GQ]

It increasingly seems like no sector of the economy has been able to escape the ravages of the coronavirus. Not even illegal drug cartels. [AP]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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People

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Funds

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Today's Headlines


	The Daily Benchmark
	2014 Vintage Global Buyout Funds
	People
	Artis adds former Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler
	VC Deals
	Epic Games could raise another $1B
	Confluent nets $250M for real-time event streaming
	ForgeRock hammers out Series E
	France's Vestiaire Collective pockets $64M
	Adverity raises $30M for marketing analytics
	Ecommerce startup Profitero announces $20M, new leadership
	Mind Candy rounds up $12M
	Portfolio Companies
	Houzz lays off 155 employees
	Casper to exit Europe, cut 21% of staff
	Exits
	SoFi takeover aids launch in Hong Kong

The Daily Benchmark

2014 Vintage Global Buyout Funds

Median IRR

17.00%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

24.00%

1.45x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Nautic Partners VII

Consonance Private Equity

BVIP Fund VIII

*IRR: net of fees

78 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Artis adds former Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler

San Francisco-based Artis Ventures has appointed Jeff Kindler as an operating partner to lead its Healthcare Pioneers program, counsel portfolio companies and help vet investments. Kindler currently serves as CEO of Centrexion Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on non-opioid treatments for pain. Prior to that, he held the same position at biopharma giant Pfizer for four years. Kindler has also worked as a venture partner at Lux Capital.

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VC Deals

Epic Games could raise another $1B

Epic Games has discussed raising between $500 million and $1 billion in funding that could value the company "significantly" above the estimated $15 billion valuation it reached in 2018, according to Bloomberg. Epic Games owns the video game "Fortnite" and Houseparty, a group video-chat app that has seen demand skyrocket amid lockdown measures. Epic reportedly took in $1.25 billion two years ago from investors including KKR, Kleiner Perkins and Vulcan Capital.

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Confluent nets $250M for real-time event streaming

Confluent has nearly doubled its valuation to $4.5 billion after raising a $250 million Series E led by Coatue Management. The Bay Area-based startup, which operates a live event streaming platform, announced that annual recurring revenue has doubled year over year as demand for remote work tools soars. Confluent will release new products and capabilities starting next month.

Additional Investors:

Sequoia, Index Ventures, Altimeter Capital Management, Franklin Templeton Investments

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ForgeRock hammers out Series E

ForgeRock has raised $93.5 million in a Series E led by Riverwood Capital, giving the digital identity specialist more than $230 million in overall growth funding. In addition to the round, the San Francisco-based startup announced it has surpassed $100 million in annual revenue. ForgeRock raised $88 million in 2017 at a $646.5 million valuation, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Accel, Foundation Capital, KKR Growth, Meritech Capital

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France's Vestiaire Collective pockets $64M

Vestiaire Collective, the provider of a luxury resale marketplace that operates in 90 countries, has raised $64 million from Korelya Capital, Vaultier7, Fidelity International and others. Founded in 2009, the French company sells clothes, shoes, handbags and other apparel. It was valued at $236 million with a $40 million round last June, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Cuir Invest, Eurazeo, Bpifrance, Vitruvian Partners, Condé Nast, Luxury Tech Fund

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Adverity raises $30M for marketing analytics

Sapphire Ventures has led a $30 million Series C for Adverity, a Vienna-based startup that offers marketing data analytics and automation. Founded in 2015, the startup works with customers including Unilever and Ikea.

Additional Investors:

Felix Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners, SAP.iO Foundry, Aws Gründerfonds

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Ecommerce startup Profitero announces $20M, new leadership

Boston-based ecommerce company Profitero has raised $20 million in a round led by Scaleworks, with participation from Conviction Capital. The startup operates a SaaS analytics platform that helps brands sell products across the web. Profitero also named former Comscore chief Bryan Wiener as CEO, former head of 360i Sarah Hofstetter as president, and former LogMeIn technology lead Sandor Palfy as CTO.

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Mind Candy rounds up $12M

Mind Candy, a children's entertainment company best known as the creator of the Moshi Monsters brand, has raised a $12 million round led by Accel as part of a shift toward a relaxation and bedtime story app for kids, according to Bloomberg. The UK-based company will also reportedly pursue a sale of its Petlandia business, which allows users to create custom books featuring their pets.

Additional Investors:

Triplepoint Capital, Latitude Ventures

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Portfolio Companies

Houzz lays off 155 employees

Home renovation startup Houzz has cut about 10% of its staff, or 155 employees, and reduced executive pay, according to TechCrunch. Demand for the company's professional subscriptions has reportedly declined during the coronavirus outbreak. Last valued at $4 billion in 2017, Houzz has raised about $600 million to date from investors including Iconiq Capital and Sequoia.

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Casper to exit Europe, cut 21% of staff

Ahead of its first earnings report as a public company, Casper has announced it will shutter its European operations by the end of the year and shed 21% of its global workforce, or 78 employees. CFO and COO Greg Macfarlane will also leave the company next month. The direct-to-consumer mattress startup received venture backing from Target, IVP and Norwest Venture Partners; it has seen its stock fall by around 50% since going public in February.

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Exits

SoFi takeover aids launch in Hong Kong

Personal finance specialist SoFi has agreed to acquire the parent company of 8 Securities, a Hong Kong-based online brokerage. SoFi plans to use the 8 Securities platform as the basis for its newly announced expansion into Hong Kong, the San Francisco-based company's first international market. 8 Securities has raised prior VC from Route 66 Ventures, Velocity Capital and other investors.

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Chart of the Day

"While demand for delivery could recede after the recession, we expect the market will expand permanently as more consumers become accustomed to food delivery. This could increase venture interest across the food delivery ecosystem for technologies that improve the speed, capabilities and efficiency of delivery, such as ghost kitchens, delivery robots and kitchentech."

Source: PitchBook analyst note about the ripple effects of COVID-19 on emerging tech