PitchBook News - OpenAI's Sutskever bags $1B

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The Daily Pitch: VC

September 5, 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:

The UK private markets are showing signs of recovery at a pivotal political moment

Safe Superintelligence, whose co-founders include two former OpenAI researchers, rocketed to unicorn status

Blackstone's $16 billion deal to buy a data-center operator would be the industry's biggest buyout

AI's applications in biotech and drug discovery caught the interest of VCs. Here are the 10 most active VCs in biotech

Today's Top Stories

OpenAI's Sutskever and super-angel Gross land $1B for AI safety startup

Ilya Sutskever, standing, left OpenAI for SSI in May.
(Jack Guez/Getty Images)

Safe Superintelligence, the AI safety startup co-founded by former OpenAI researchers Ilya Sutskever and Daniel Levy alongside prominent angel investor Daniel Gross, has raised $1 billion. The deal reportedly valued the AI safety startup at $5 billion.

SSI's rapid ascent to unicorn status underscores the ability of highly sought-after researchers to command tremendous amounts of capital from VCs competing for talent in a hot market.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

11

VC valuations

2117

People

638

Companies

47

Funds

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The Daily Benchmark:
2014 Vintage Global VC Funds

Median IRR

16.24%

Top Quartile IRR

24.81%

1.20x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Ludlow Ventures II

Earlybird Digital East Fund I

True Ventures IV

*IRR: net of fees

73 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

ArsenalBio, a Bay Area-based company developing treatments for solid cancerous tumors, raised a $325 million Series C from investors including Arch Venture Partners, Milky Way Investments Group and Regeneron Ventures.

EGenesis, which specializes in genetically engineered organs for use in human organ transplants, raised a $191 million Series D led by Lux Capital.

Japanese startup Sakana AI, which develops AI models and trains them on large datasets, raised over $100 million in an early-stage round led by NEA, Khosla Ventures and Lux Capital.

Cortex, a startup creating an internal portal for developers, raised a $60 million Series C led by Scale Venture Partners.

GALY, a Boston-based company growing cotton material in a lab setting, raised a $33 million Series B led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Fido, a digital lender based in Ghana, landed $30 million in a Series B led by BlueOrchard and FMO.

Carbyon, a Dutch direct air capture startup, raised a €15.3 million Series A that included Siemens Financial Services, Omnes Capital and Global Cleantech Capital.

Reduced, a Copenhagen-based upcycled food ingredients company, completed its second closing of its Series A at €8 million led by the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund.

Palm, provider of a fintech platform, netted a $6.1 million seed round led by Speedinvest and Target Global.

Skarper, a London-based e-bike technology startup backed by Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy, raised €5.3 million led by Adjuvo.

PE Deals

Department store chain Nordstrom is in talks to become private as the owning Nordstrom family explores a deal that values the company around $3.8 billion.

Chrys Capital, The Carlyle Group, and Bain Capital are in the final stages of talks to acquire bakery chain Theobroma Foods.

Miratech, an Oklahoma-based company supplying equipment to reduce noise and other emissions, has been acquired by TPG from BP Energy Partners.

Cybersecurity and threat-detection company ThreatER received a growth capital financing facility from CIBC Innovation Banking.

Exits & IPOs

The Carlyle Group is looking to list Acrotec Group, a Swiss manufacturer of luxury watch parts, at a $4.7 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported.

India's OfBusiness, a SoftBank-backed provider of a trading platform for raw materials, is planning an IPO in Mumbai at a valuation of up to $1 billion, Reuters reported.

Tenyx, which develops AI-powered voice technology for customer service, has been acquired by Salesforce.

Fundraising

Warburg Pincus raised $4 billion for a new fund that will finance businesses utilizing structured-investing strategies, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Park Square Capital raised €3.4 billion for Park Square European Loan Partner II, Bloomberg reported.

Oslo-based Cubera held a €807 million final close for its 10th flagship vehicle, beating its initial target of €700 million.

Bregal Sagemount raised nearly $800 million for its latest credit fund. The fund has $1 billion of deployable capital, including leverage.

Investors

The SEC didn't appeal a Supreme Court decision regarding the regulator's push for more disclosures of management fees for PE funds and hedge funds, Bloomberg reported. This marks the end of its efforts beginning last summer to increase transparency around quarterly fees and expenses.

Chart of the Day

Source: Q2 2024 US PE Breakdown

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PitchBook News - OpenAI's Sutskever bags $1B

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