PitchBook News - Waymo extends funding round to $3B

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PitchBook

The Daily Pitch: VC

May 13, 2020

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

Today's Top Stories

Uber's pursuit of Grubhub could be a sign of consolidation to come

Grubhub and other food delivery companies have seen interest soar during the pandemic. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

The pandemic has helped create a surge in demand for food delivery services among consumers. It might be causing a similar increase in appetite among investors.

Uber has reportedly offered to acquire Grubhub, a move that could presage future consolidation in an industry already dominated by a few major names:

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Alphabet's Waymo extends round to $3B

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Waymo has extended its first outside funding round by $750 million, bringing the total haul to $3 billion. Investors in the extension included T. Rowe Price, Perry Creek Capital and Fidelity Management & Research.

The cash will be used to invest in the autonomous driving company's core technology, as well as its self-driving truck and corporate ridesharing efforts. Waymo was previously funded by parent company Alphabet as part of its "other bets" division.

The outside round valued Waymo at $30 billion, the Financial Times reported in March when the funding was announced. The substantial valuation comes amid a broad realization that self-driving tech faces major hurdles on the road to mass adoption. In the past year, layoffs have reportedly hit autonomous taxi startup Zoox and the self-driving units of Uber and Apple.

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A message from Certent

How to manage capital and compensation during COVID-19

The pandemic is dramatically changing the status quo for businesses everywhere. Private companies in particular are affected as changes in valuations, capital raises and compensation give rise to concerns across the board.

Certent has produced a market brief exploring how private market players are navigating this complex environment, drawing on PitchBook datasets on valuations, debt/equity proportions and more. Highlights from the market brief will be discussed along with broader insights into the tactics companies can employ during this time in a live webinar with Certent experts, to be held on May 19. Topics will include options repricing, private liquidity accessibility and more.

Read the report and register for the webinar

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Intel Capital invests $132M in 11 technology startups

Intel Capital has committed $132 million to 11 technology startups, a sign that the company's venture capital arm is poised to identify new opportunities in sectors including artificial intelligence, autonomous computing and chip design.

The new group of portfolio companies includes machine learning startup Anodot, language translation platform Lilt and Hypersonix, the developer of an autonomous analytics platform.

Intel said it's on track to invest between $300 million and $500 million in 2020. Last year, the company doled out $466 million.

Corporate investment activity has taken a backseat in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Global corporate venture capital investment dropped more than 40% between March and April, according to PitchBook data.

Since its founding in 1991, Intel has invested $12.9 billion in more than 1,582 companies globally.

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Recommended Reads

Victor Vescovo made his fortune in private equity. Then, he enlisted a motley crew of brilliant misfits to conquer the deepest, darkest points on earth. [The New Yorker]

Examining six different theories of why explosive startup growth curves have grown less common in recent decades. [The Wall Street Journal]

Other streaming services are thriving, but Jeffrey Katzenberg is blaming the coronavirus for Quibi's early problems. [The New York Times]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2002 Vintage Global PE Funds
	VC Deals
	Dingdong Maicai secures $300M
	UpKeep pulls in $36M
	Morning Consult rounds up $31M
	SiMa picks up $30M Series A
	Fantasy sports startup Sleeper closes $20M round led by a16z
	Sequoia leads $14.5M round for Vise
	Portfolio Companies
	Zeus Living lays off nearly half of its staff after down round

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

Dingdong Maicai secures $300M

Shanghai-based Dingdong Maicai has raised $300 million at a $2 billion valuation in a round led by General Atlantic, according to Reuters. The company operates a grocery delivery platform; it has received prior funding from investors including Tiger Global and Sequoia.

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UpKeep pulls in $36M

UpKeep has raised a $36 million Series B led by Insight Partners, with participation from investors including Emergence Capital, Battery Ventures and Y Combinator. The Los Angeles-based company is a developer of maintenance and facilities management software designed for users in education, transportation, manufacturing and other sectors. UpKeep was valued at $40 million in 2018, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

FundersClub, Mucker Capital

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Morning Consult rounds up $31M

Morning Consult, a data intelligence and market research startup based in Washington, DC, has collected $31 million in a Series A. The funding, which values the company at $306 million, was led by Advance Venture Partners and Lupa Systems, the firm founded by former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch. Morning Consult is used by more than half of Fortune 500 companies.

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SiMa picks up $30M Series A

SiMa has raised $30 million in a round led by Dell Technologies Capital, with participation from Amplify Partners, Wing Venture Capital and ND Capital. The San Jose-based company uses machine learning to reduce power usage for computer vision applications. Dell Technologies managing director Daniel Docter has joined the company's board of directors.

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Fantasy sports startup Sleeper closes $20M round led by a16z

Sleeper, a fantasy sports startup, has raised a $20 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz. A star-studded list of other investors also participated in the round, including athletes Kevin Durant, Baron Davis and JuJu Smith-Schuster, ESPN basketball analyst Ros Gold Onwude, and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin. The San Francisco-based company is valued at $90 million, according to PitchBook data.

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Sequoia leads $14.5M round for Vise

Vise, the provider of an investment management platform for financial advisers, has brought in a $14.5 million Series A led by Sequoia. The New York-based startup's software, which uses AI to create portfolios for individual investors, is available on the Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade Institutional platforms. Vise raised $2 million in May 2019.

Additional Investors:

Bling Capital, Founders Fund, Human Capital

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Portfolio Companies

Zeus Living lays off nearly half of its staff after down round

Home rental startup Zeus Living has laid off 73 employees, nearly 50% of its staff, in an effort to extend its runway. The cuts follow a Bloomberg report that the company's recent $15 million funding round valued it at $110 million, down from $205 million last year. The Bay Area-based startup, which provides furnished apartments to business travelers, said it was "required" to give back a PPP loan that it had secured to pay salaries. Its investors include Airbnb, Initialized Capital Management and Comcast.

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Chart of the Day

"The median early-stage VC deal size rose 26.8% YoY to €2.4 million, having recovered from a dip in the middle of the decade. It is now approximately double its size from 2016. The top-quartile deal size had its largest uptick of the decade at 35.1% YoY in 2019. Early-stage deals accounted for a healthy 37.5% of total European deal value in 2019, indicating the stage continues to be the most popular for VC investors."

Source: PitchBook's 2019 Annual European VC Valuations Report