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The Daily Pitch: VC

August 6, 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:

Our Private Capital Indexes now have asset class returns data as of Q1

AI safety startup Haize Labs lands a nine-figure valuation

Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital hauls in $5 billion for its largest fund yet

Femtech startups appear to be on track to raise record VC funding this year

Our latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, now with league tables ranking the industry's most active players

Today's Top Stories

Exclusive: General Catalyst-led round values young AI safety startup at $100M

(Hector Roqueta Rivero/Getty Images)

Haize Labs, an AI safety startup founded less than one year ago, has raised a round at a $100 million post-money valuation led by General Catalyst, according to two people familiar with the deal.

The startup, which received term sheets from multiple VCs in a hotly competitive funding round, offers stress testing and eliminates vulnerabilities in large language models.

The nine-figure valuation for such a young startup is the latest example of how robust VC demand for promising AI deals is driving up prices in the current market.

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Measuring private markets' mixed performance

PitchBook's Q1 2024 Private Capital Indexes provide insights and quarterly return benchmarks for the private markets, offering a view of how the year has gone so far.

2024 has been a bit of a mixed bag—with returns in some sectors such as real estate turning negative, while venture capital eked out a small gain after more than two years of negative returns.

The report also includes indexed returns for private equity, real assets, private debt, funds-of-funds and secondaries. It provides risk-modeling data, including adjusted volatility estimates, correlations with public indexes and peak-to-trough drawdowns over select market environments.

read it now

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With $5B Fund IX, Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital lands its biggest haul yet

Josh Kushner founded Thrive Capital in 2010.
(Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Thrive Capital, a New York-based VC firm founded by entrepreneur Joshua Kushner, has just closed its ninth flagship fund with over $5 billion, the firm's largest to date.

The $5 billion will be split between $1 billion for early-stage investments and $4 billion for growth bets.

The vehicle ranks among the largest VC funds raised in 2024, as the fundraising prospects for tier-1 VC firms continue to diverge from the rest of the industry.

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Femtech startups appear on track for record VC funding

(Courtesy of Flo Health)

At their current pace, femtech startups could raise a record amount of venture funding this year thanks to several mega-rounds.

Investor interest in the sector has steadily grown in recent years as recognition expands for women's healthcare needs.

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A new reality sets in for VC

At a glance, Q2's venture numbers look promising: With $55.6 billion invested, deal value rose to an eight-quarter high. But $14.6 billion of that was concentrated in two companies: CoreWeave and xAI.

For everyone else, fundraising is a challenge as LPs remain reluctant to double down on the asset class, according to the Q2 2024 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor—which now includes league tables ranking the industry's most active players.

read it now

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SaaS buyout deal volume nears 5-year high

(Khanchit Khirisutchalual/Getty Images)

PE firms are gearing up for a potential improvement in exits and are actively bolstering their pipeline of target SaaS companies.

Recent PitchBook research showed that estimated SaaS buyouts in Q1 surpassed the peak deal count reached during the pandemic, as PE managers become bullish on deals in hopes of favorable valuations in the future.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

9

VC valuations

1977

People

822

Companies

37

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2020 Vintage Global Real Estate Funds

Median IRR

8.30%

Top Quartile IRR

14.88%

0.17x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Turnberry Portfolio

Mavik Real Estate Special Opportunities Fund

PGIM Real Estate US Impact Value Partners

*IRR: net of fees

53 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Groq, a Bay Area-based startup developing interface technology to optimize AI compute speed, raised a $640 million Series D led by BlackRock. The round values Groq at $2.8 billion.

Moonshot, a Chinese generative AI startup, raised over $300 million at a $3.3 billion valuation from investors including Tencent and Gaorong Capital, Bloomberg reported.

Placer.ai, a startup providing AI-powered location-based analytics, raised $75 million at a valuation of about $1.5 billion, TechCrunch reported.

Muon Space, a satellite and space technology manufacturing startup, raised a $56.7 million Series B led by Activate Capital.

Savvy Wealth, which offers software for financial advisors, raised $26.5 million at the close of its Series A led by Canvas Ventures, Fortune reported.

Hedra, developer of an AI-powered video foundation model, raised a $10 million seed round from Index Ventures, Abstract Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.

PE Deals

Cogentrix Energy, a North Carolina-based power plant operator, will be acquired by Quantum Capital Group from The Carlyle Group for about $3 billion.

Therakos, a unit of Mallinckrodt that develops treatments for immune-related diseases, will be acquired by CVC Capital Partners for $925 million.

Turnkey IPS, a UK-based corporate insolvency software developer, received an investment from Bowmark Capital.

GenServe, which provides backup power solutions for companies affected by grid outages, was acquired by Aurora Capital Partners.

New Mexico Gas Company, an operating company of Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Emera, was sold to Bernhard Capital Partners for about $1.3 billion.

Guild Esports, an esports organization co-owned by David Beckham, agreed to be taken private by California-based DCB Sports, according to reports.

Three Hills invested in Madrid-based production services company TwentyFour Seven Group

Equistone invested in UK loss adjusting and claims solutions group QuestGates.

UK-based mid-market investor Livingbridge exited Habit Health, a New Zealand-based rehabilitation and mental health services provider, to Five V Capital, marking the sixth exit for Livingbridge's 2016 vintage fund.

Exits & IPOs

Pliops, an Israel-based company developing cloud storage solutions, will no longer merge with French publicly listed company Kalray after a significant loss in share value since the deal was announced in June.

Kellanova, which sells a variety of snack brands, is in talks to be acquired by Mars, Bloomberg reported.

Grupo Axo, a Mexico City-based fashion retailer with stores also in South America, is considering filing for an IPO, Bloomberg reported.

Fundraising

The Carlyle Group raised $12.4 billion in Q2 2024, with most of the funding going toward the PE firm's Japan buyout fund.

Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners closed its Net Zero Power Fund on $3 billion. Quinbrook invests in companies tackling the energy transition.

Arche Capital Management, a VC firm focused on crypto investments, is raising a $100 million debut fund, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Eiffel Investment Group invested €24.4 million in INVL Asset Management's fund focused on renewable energy projects in Romania.

Chart of the Day

Source: Corporate buyers make preemptive bids to snag PE assets

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PitchBook News - AI safety rakes in term sheets

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