Veridical Ventures launches, eyes $30M seed fund

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The Daily Pitch: VC

June 11, 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:

Veridical Ventures launches with eyes on $30 million seed fund for B2B software

Our analysts find most European startups don't extend into Series G and beyond, despite some high-profile exceptions

The big publicly traded US fund managers are still struggling to return capital to investors

Today's Top Stories

Exclusive: Ex-Struck Capital investing chief pursues $30M seed fund

Greg Stofman, Veridical Ventures founder
(Courtesy of Greg Stofman)

A former principal and head of the investing team at B2B and crypto VC Struck Capital, Greg Stofman, has left the Los Angeles-based firm to raise his own fund as a solo GP.

The new firm, Veridical Ventures, will invest across industries with a preference for B2B software. Stofman is targeting $30 million to invest in pre-seed and seed startups, according to a person with knowledge of the fundraise.

Stofman is launching his solo fund at a challenging time. As LPs have pulled back from venture investing, new fund managers without existing LP relationships have been some of the worst affected.

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People

OpenAI has hired its first CFO, Sarah Friar, who previously worked as the CEO of Nextdoor and CFO at Square. In addition, OpenAI has named Kevin Weil, a former product development employee at Meta and Twitter, as the company's chief product officer.

VC Deals

French Mistral, a startup developing LLMs, raised €468 million in equity and €132 million in debt in its most recent round, which valued the company at €5.8 billion, Sifted reported.

Amber Therapeutics, a London-based developer of therapies to treat incontinence, has raised a $100 million Series A led by NEA.

North Carolina-based Relay, a startup developing smart walkie-talkies for frontline workers, raised a $35 million Series B led by G2 Venture Partners.

Zero-knowledge cryptography specialist Nexus raised a $25 million Series A led by Lightspeed and Pantera Capital.

Anterior, a New York-based company using AI to automate administrative health insurance procedures, raised a $20 million Series A led by NEA at a $95 million valuation.

Stake, a Dubai-based real estate investment SaaS specialist, has received a $14 million Series A led by Middle East Venture Partners.

Indian ice cream brand Hocco has raised $12 million from investors including Sauce VC.

ARX Robotics, a Munich-based developer of autonomous unmanned systems and sensors for the defense sector, has received a €9 million seed round led by NATO Innovation Fund.

Visibly, a London-based company offering a training platform for the infrastructure sector, has secured $7.5 million in a round led by Creandum.

PE Deals

Blackstone has agreed to buy Seves Group, the parent company of electrical insulation specialist Sediver Group, from Triton Partners.

California-based talent management company United Talent Agency, backed by EQT, has acquired Roof, a European agency representing soccer players, from PE firm Invision.

Ardian has picked up a stake in French renewable energy producer UNITe. The investment, which comes via the Ardian Clean Energy Evergreen Fund, will create an exit for Omnes, Bpifrance and Société Générale Capital Partenaires.

Five Elms Capital has invested in Scilife, a Belgium-based developer of quality management software for life sciences.

FFL Partners has completed its investment in Apex Infusion, a California-based provider of ambulatory infusion therapy services.

Connable Office, a Michigan-based family office, has been acquired by Cresset Asset Management.

Zips Car Wash, a car wash company operating in over 20 US states, received $70 million from Atlantic Street Capital.

Portfolio Companies

Used car platform Motors.co.uk is the frontrunner to buy the brand and marketplace business of struggling online car retailer Cazoo, Sky News reported. Cazoo started bankruptcy proceedings in May after a debt restructuring failed to stabilize the business.

Exits & IPOs

AE Industrial Partners-backed Belcan has been acquired by Nasdaq-listed Cognizant for about $1.3 billion Belcan provides engineering project management services.

Bay Area-based biotech and drug discovery startup Alumis has filed for an IPO, according to SEC filings. The company last raised a Series C at a $741 million valuation in March.

TrailStone, a company offering logistical services to renewable energy providers, has been acquired by Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners from Riverstone.

Pliops, an Israeli company developing data storage technology, will merge with London Stock Exchange-listed Kalray, a French data processing company.

Fundraising

Foresight Group has raised €300 million at the first close of their second fund targeted at companies working on energy infrastructure, renewable energy generation, and energy storage.

Milan-based Italian Founders Fund has launched its debut €50 million fund targeting pre-seed and seed investments.

Montreal-based firm Inovia Capital has raised $300 million for its third growth fund focused on startups in the Canadian tech ecosystem. The fund's targeted amount is $450 million.

Investors

Hedge fund Elliott Investment Management now owns a $1.9 billion stake in Southwest Airlines, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Chart of the Day

Source: Q1 2024 Global Private Market Fundraising Report

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