PitchBook News - AI media captures VC's focus

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The Daily Pitch: VC

June 17, 2024

Presented by Lucas Institute for Venture Ethics

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

AI media generation startups captured nearly 90% more VC funding in Q1

Our analysts find generative AI is extending its push into mobility tech via voice controls in cars

PE middle-market players turn their success to take-privates with a Q1 bump

Italy's private markets lag its public market

Today's Top Stories

VC funding for AI media generation surges nearly 90%

(Qi Yang/Getty Images)

While tech giants like Apple and Alphabet are making content generation a cornerstone of their AI initiatives, startups are raising record sums to bring AI for image, video and media creation to enterprise clients.

In Q1, deal value for AI media generation startups increased nearly 90% from the previous quarter to hit a record $402.7 million. Software for sales, marketing and design teams has powered much of the recent momentum.

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Promising progress toward a cancer vaccine

Developing a cure for cancer is a holy grail of biopharmaceutical research—and some clinical trials have begun to show promising signs, according to our Q1 2024 Biopharma Report. Drug researchers are incorporating new technologies like mRNA into vaccine development.

As well as the major partnerships between pharma and biotech, like Moderna's collaboration with Merck, some venture-backed companies are quietly making notable strides: Corner Therapeutics and Infinitopes are two startups to watch.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

2

VC valuations

50

People

41

Companies

2

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2017 Vintage Global Funds-of-Funds

Median IRR

19.79%

Top Quartile IRR

0.22x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Top Tier Venture Velocity Fund 2

HighVista Private Equity VII

Top Tier Venture Capital VIII

*IRR: net of fees

43 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Highview Power, a London-based energy storage company, has raised £300 million in a round led by the UK Infrastructure Bank and Centrica.

Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based developer of large language models, is raising a $100 million round led by NEA, Lux Capital and Khosla Ventures. The round values Sakana at $1 billion, The Information reported.

Seattle-based InduPro, which produces treatments targeting cancer tissues, received an $85 million Series A led by The Column Group and Vida Ventures.

Enveda Biosciences, a Colorado-based company utilizing plants to treat disease, raised a $55 million Series B2 from investors including Microsoft, The Nature Conservancy and Premji Invest.

GPTZero, a company developing AI detection tools, raised a $10 million Series A led by Nikhil Basu Trivedi.

London-based Sidekick has secured £8.5 million in debt and equity for its wealth management platform. Pact and TheVentureCity led the seed round.

EnFi, a Boston-based credit risk analysis specialist, received a $7.5 million seed round led by Unusual Ventures.

PE Deals

Heathrow Airport Holdings is selling a combined 37.6% stake in a revised deal with Ardian and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund totaling £3.3 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The Carlyle Group is making a joint bid with German development bank KfW to buy a majority stake in Thyssenkrupp's submarine unit, Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, in a deal that could value the business at between €1.2 billion and €1.6 billion, Reuters reported.

Vantage Data Centers, a company designing energy-efficient global data centers, raised an additional $2.8 billion. The company has now raised a total of $9.2 billion.

Carey & Co., a New York-based company specializing in nonprofit leadership services, received an investment from Everlane Equity Partners.

Exits & IPOs

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is looking to sell struggling German insurance startup Wefox to UK insurance broker Ardonagh Group at a €550 million valuation, Bloomberg reported. However, the company's founders are said to oppose the deal.

HMH Holding is expected to seek a valuation upward of $1.5 billion in its upcoming US IPO, Bloomberg reported.

LBC Tank Terminals, a liquid chemical storage company, is seeking a sale valuing the firm at €1.5 billion, Bloomberg reported. LBC is currently owned by APG Asset Management, Ardian and PGGM.

Only What You Need, a company that makes clean nutrition beverages, has been sold to Nasdaq-listed Simply Good Foods for $280 million.

Fundraising

Index Ventures is raising a total of $2.3 billion across two new funds, The Wall Street Journal reported. The $1.5 billion and $800 million for the new funds are less than what Index raised previously.

Play Ventures launched its third flagship fund targeted at $119 million, which is less than its previous $135 million fund, according to SEC filings.

Two Small Fish Ventures, a Canadian VC firm, raised C$41 million (about $29.8 million) for its third fund.

The Canadian government, through its Strategic Innovation Fund, and Inovait are backing VC startups with their latest investment of $10.7 million for seven commercialization-focused R&D projects.

Chart of the Day

Source: Q1 2024 US Public PE and GP Deal Roundup

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PitchBook News - AI media captures VC's focus

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