PitchBook News - Airbnb slashes jobs amid travel drought

| Don't want to receive these emails?

PitchBook

The Daily Pitch: VC

May 6, 2020

Like our newsletter? The data comes from the PitchBook Platform — our data software for VC, PE and M&A

Today's Top Stories

Airbnb lays off 25% of staff, narrows vision to focus on core business

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky speaks at the New York Times DealBook Conference on Nov. 6
(Mike Cohen/Getty Images Entertainment)

Airbnb announced Tuesday that it has decided to slash its headcount as the coronavirus continues to decimate the travel industry.

The vacation rental company laid off 1,900 employees, about 25% of the company, with CEO Brian Chesky describing the pandemic as "the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime":

Recommended Reads

The coronavirus means the workplace may never be the same. Some think it's best to bury the modern office, not praise it. [1843]

An ongoing wave of layoffs among startups has caused a serious shift in supply-and-demand dynamics for tech workers. [The Wall Street Journal]

For some, 3D printing was a potential-filled technology still searching for a use case. Then, a pandemic arrived. [Protocol]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

13

VC valuations

1129

People

353

Companies

21

Funds

See what our data software can do

Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2002 Vintage Global PE Funds
	VC Deals
	N26 extends Series D to $570M
	Ninja Van picks up $279M
	Paris-based Back Market lands $120M
	Cockroach Labs pulls in $86.6M Series D
	Edtech startup secures $71M+
	OMERS backs virtual office software provider
	Portfolio Companies
	WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann sues SoftBank

The Daily Benchmark

2002 Vintage Global PE Funds

Median IRR

17.01%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

26.78%

1.80x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Lime Rock Partners II

OCM Opportunities Fund IVb

Harvest Partners IV

*IRR: net of fees

35 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

N26 extends Series D to $570M

German fintech startup N26 has secured more than $100 million in additional funding for its Series D from existing investors, bringing the round total to $570 million. N26 has more than 5 million customers and is valued at $3.5 billion. It is backed by investors including Allianz X, Insight Partners and Tencent.

View round

View 45 competitors »

Ninja Van picks up $279M

Ninja Van has raised $279 million from investors including GeoPost and Grab Holdings, according to Bloomberg. Founded in 2014 and based in Singapore, the company offers logistics services across six countries in Southeast Asia.

Select Additional Investors:

B Capital Group, Monk's Hill Ventures

View round

View 37 competitors »

Paris-based Back Market lands $120M

Back Market, the provider of a refurbished electronics marketplace with more than 1,000 sellers, has raised $120 million from Goldman Sachs, Aglaé Ventures and Eurazeo Growth. Founded in 2014, the company operates in eight countries. It was valued at €217 million (around $235 million at today's conversion rate) in 2018, according to PitchBook data.

View round

View similar company »

Cockroach Labs pulls in $86.6M Series D

Cockroach Labs, a developer of open-source software designed to help organizations manage transactional data in the cloud, has raised $86.6 million in a round co-led by Altimeter Capital and Bond Capital. Benchmark, GV, Index Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia and Tiger Global also participated in the funding. The New York-based company raised $55 million in August at a $550 million valuation, according to PitchBook data.

View round

View 32 competitors »

Edtech startup secures $71M+

ApplyBoard has raised C$100 million (around $71 million) in a Series C led by Drive Capital, with participation from Anthos Capital, Candou Ventures, Garage Capital and others. Based in Ontario, Canada, ApplyBoard is the developer of an edtech platform designed to help international students manage study-abroad applications for schools across North America and the UK.

Additional Investors:

Artiman Ventures, Business Development Bank of Canada, Fidelity Investments Canada, Plug and Play Tech Center

View round

View 3 competitors »

OMERS backs virtual office software provider

Canadian startup Tehama has raised $10 million in a Series A led by OMERS Ventures, the VC arm of one of Canada's largest pension plans. Tehama develops software that helps companies operate a remote workforce. BDC Capital also participated in the round.

View round

View similar company »

Portfolio Companies

WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann sues SoftBank

SoftBank's decision to walk away from a $3 billion tender offer for WeWork shares has drawn another lawsuit, this time from former CEO Adam Neumann. SoftBank gained control of the co-working company as part of an agreement last year that included an offer to buy stock from other shareholders, but the Japanese conglomerate later ended the offer, saying WeWork failed to satisfy certain conditions of the agreement. Last month, a special committee of WeWork's board sued SoftBank over that decision; both suits claim SoftBank breached the contract and its fiduciary duty to other stockholders.

View details

View 18 competitors »

Chart of the Day

"Valuation step-ups climbed for the third-consecutive year, reaching decade highs of 1.5x and 1.9x for the median and average, respectively. The perseverance of this trend in the face of some more muted changes in deal sizes and valuations communicates how strong company-level growth is at this stage. However, if a true inflection point in deal sizes and valuations materializes over the next year, late-stage step-ups will also see more pressure."

Source: PitchBook's 2019 Annual US VC Valuations Report