$900M biotech fund shows VC's AI interest

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The Daily Pitch: VC

June 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:

Marc Lasry's Avenue Capital Group has secured at least $445 million for its sports fund

Foresite Capital's $900 million fund hinges on AI that can drive biotech forward

EnCap rode the energy M&A wave to collect $1.9 billion on an oil and gas asset

German private investment has stayed relatively stable, unlike many of its European peers

Why Europe's number of active VC investors is shrinking

Today's Top Stories

Foresite Capital's $900M VC fund bets on AI to aid biotech plays

(Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images)

Foresite Capital has locked down $900 million for its most recent vehicle, the latest example of sustained interest in VC biotech plays.

Emerging biotech AI applications, as well as broader venture healthcare bets, are poised to play a key role in Foresite's strategy, which includes early-stage and acceleration capital, two executives told PitchBook.

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Marc Lasry's sports fund secures nearly half a billion in funding

Marc Lasry (Noam Galai/Getty Images)

Marc Lasry's Avenue Capital Group has raised at least $445 million for its sports fund, according to regulatory filings.

The substantial fundraise signals sustained LP interest in exposure to sports teams and related businesses, particularly from fund managers with access to these deals.

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Germany's private markets show positive signs

Unlike many of its peers, German private investment has stayed relatively stable. The country's VC market had a slower start to 2024, but deal value still exceeded that of Q1 2023. And PE deal value ticked upward from the end of last year, according to PitchBook's Q1 2024 Germany Market Snapshot.

The economy kicked off 2024 on a positive note with gross domestic product growing 0.2% after shrinking in Q4. In the public markets, the DAX 40 has returned 10.4% so far this year, beating other major European indexes, including the FTSE 100.

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Number of active VCs in Europe falls more than 50%

(Runstudio/Getty Images)

The number of active VC investors based in Europe has been declining since the onset of the VC downturn.

Dealmaking and fundraising have both been more challenging for VC firms, contributing to the falling numbers.

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Ranking the most active lenders in PE

Nine lenders took part in at least 50 deals each for US PE-backed companies in the first quarter, with the most active three tallying at least 80 apiece.

Which firms made the leaderboard? See our Q1 2024 PE Lending League Tables, sponsored by TPG Twin Brook Capital Partners. The interactive tables can be sorted by geography, deal type, sector and more.

see the rankings

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EnCap collects $1.9B for oil and gas assets

(Cavan Images/Getty Images)

EnCap Investments partially exited one of its upstream portfolio companies, Ameredev II, through a $1.9 billion acquisition by Matador Resources. The transaction follows an active Q1 for the energy sector, where M&A deals gained significant valuation momentum.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

21

VC valuations

2378

People

844

Companies

34

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark: 2013 Vintage Global PE Funds between $250M-$500M

Median IRR

13.36%

Top Quartile IRR

25.34%

1.31x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Harren Investors III

Thoma Bravo Special Opportunities Fund I

DFJ Growth 2013

*IRR: net of fees

29 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Brian Ruder and Dipan Patel have been named new co-CEOs of London-based PE firm Permira. Ruder and Patel will also become co-managing partners.

VC Deals

Black Semiconductor, a German developer of graphene-based chips, has raised €254.4 million in public and private funding. The equity portion of €25.7 million was led by Porsche Ventures and Project A.

Flo, an EV charging solutions provider for the US and Canada, raised $136 million, largely from a Series E led by Export Development Canada.

Alzheon, which develops treatments for Alzheimer's disease, raised a $100 million Series E led by Alerce Medical Technology Partners.

Purplle, a Mumbai-based beauty retailer, has secured $100 million in a round led by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Apex, a satellite manufacturing company based in Southern California, raised $95 million led by XYZ Venture Capital and CRV.

Rebellions and Sapeon, two South Korean AI chip startups, have agreed to a merger. Rebellions was last valued at 880 billion won (around $640 million) and Sapeon at 500 billion won, Bloomberg reported.

Canary Technologies, a San Francisco-based hotel and hospitality management software company, raised a $50 million Series C led by Insight Partners.

Belgian Gorilla, which offers an energy data management platform, has closed a €23 million Series B led by Headline.

Light, a Copenhagen-based provider of general ledger software, has raised $13 million led by Atomico.

PE Deals

Edinburgh-based private-electric charge point operator FOR EV has raised £10 million from Scottish National Investment Bank.

KKR has agreed to buy a minority stake in Quick Quack Car Wash for $850 million, Reuters reported.

BlackRock has acquired a 50.1% stake in German data center company Mainova WebHouse.

Cincom, a Cincinnati-based developer of business management software, has been acquired by PE firm PartnerOne.

Provital, a German direct-to-consumer dog and cat food company, has received backing from Emeram Capital.

HarperDB, a Denver-based data management software specialist, has received a growth investment from PE firm Serent Capital.

EQT agreed to acquire a majority stake in CluePoints, a Belgium-based provider of clinical trial software, from existing shareholders Summit Partners and Clinimetrics.

Ardian is acquiring a stake in French wealth manager Groupe Orion. Siparex ETI is selling its entire stake.

Portfolio Companies

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the company's annualized revenue now sits at $3.4 billion, more than double what it was in late 2023, The Information reported.

Exits & IPOs

Cobee, a Spain-based developer of employee benefits software, will be acquired by Euronext Paris-listed Pluxee. Cobee was last valued at $85 million in late 2022.

Pro-ficiency, which provides training and solutions for clinical trials, has been sold to Nasdaq-listed Simulations Plus by QHP Capital.

Omsom, a New York-based Asian food brand, has been acquired by Hong Kong's DayDayCook.

Fundraising

NorthWall Capital, a credit investment firm, has closed its latest fund, which will target European private credit, on more than €640 million.

Friends & Family Capital, a Bay Area-based VC firm, raised $118 million for its third fund targeting B2B enterprise software startups, TechCrunch reported.

Equilibrium Ventures, a Finnish seed-stage crypto investor, has held a first close of its €30 million fund, Sifted reported.

Veteran Ventures Capital, a VC fund focused on veteran-led businesses, raised $25 million in the close of its latest fund.

Chart of the Day

"For private market investors, Australia & New Zealand offers a stable market that is young in its growth, but one that has not provided the returns sufficient to fully entertain an increase in exposure. The next few years will be pivotal for continued development in the region, with several outsized VC exits on the table."

Source: 2024 Australia & New Zealand Private Capital Breakdown

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$900M biotech fund shows VC's AI interest

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