PitchBook News - Has fundraising's bounce-back begun?

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The Daily Pitch: VC

September 11, 2024

Presented by SVB

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

Private capital fundraising could hit $1.7 trillion for the 12 months through Q2—the best tally in nearly two years

Another key researcher leaves OpenAI to found a startup

PE growth deals are outpacing LBOs in a break from a longtime trend

Riding the rapid rise of valuations for AI startups, Glean just reached a $4.6B price tag

PE in the UK is rebounding, with deal value growing and fundraising at a record high

Today's Top Stories

Private fundraising may be bouncing back

When accounting for data our analysts still expect to collect, private capital fundraising has halted its decline. GPs raising secondaries or real assets funds are having a particularly better year, according to our Q2 2024 Private Market Fundraising Report.

Fundraising numbers across private capital should settle at around $1.7 trillion for the 12-month period through Q2, the best result in almost two years.

It's still a grind for some—especially in real estate, venture and funds-of-funds. Closing times for VC vehicles are growing longer, and with LPs being more selective, emerging managers are still having a difficult time.

read the report

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OpenAI's voice mode lead leaves to launch startup

(Anadolu/Getty Images)

Alexis Conneau, one of OpenAI's research leads for its ChatGPT 4-o audio product, has left the company to launch a startup.

A leading natural-language processing researcher, Conneau's departure comes less than two months after the debut of a conversational voice mode for ChatGPT that drew comparisons to the movie "Her."

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A message from SVB

Yes, SVB.

Backed by the strength of First Citizens Bank, a Fortune 500 Company, SVB can deliver even more solutions that can help you stay ahead of the curve. Yes, SVB.

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Glean gets $4.6B price tag as AI valuation growth spikes

(iStockphoto/Getty Images)

Glean, an AI-powered enterprise search startup, doubled its valuation to $4.6 billion just seven months after its last round.

Glean isn't alone in seeing a rapid rise: Valuation growth for AI startups is exploding, especially at the early stages.

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Growth equity deals surpass LBOs, reversing a trend

(Solidcolours/Getty Images)

In the first half of 2024, PE growth investments surged, surpassing leveraged buyouts in deal share, as larger firms more took minority stakes in companies.

PitchBook's Q2 2024 US PE Breakdown finds PE growth investments were on the rise in the first half of 2024, accounting for nearly 23% of all PE deals and outnumbering leveraged buyouts, which made up more than 19%. That reverses the longtime pattern.

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The year of the small institution

(Megan Woodard/PitchBook News)

The competitive edge of smaller institutions is widespread.

In a Commonfund survey of 291 private and community foundations, private foundations with assets over $500 million reported annual average returns of 10% for fiscal year 2023, while smaller private foundations posted higher results.

Larger institutions tend to allocate higher percentages of their portfolios to alternative and private market assets classes. Their deeper exposure to private markets has lowered annual returns over the past few years.

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UK's PE comeback in 4 charts

(Chunyip Wong/Getty Images)

The PE landscape in the UK is showing signs of resilience and adaptability in the first half of 2024: Deal value is growing and fundraising has hit a record high. Exits, however, remain a challenge for the UK firms.

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826

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36

Funds

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2017 Vintage Global Real Estate Funds

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0.59x

Median DPI

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Realterm Logistics Fund II

Principal Strategic Real Estate Equity Fund II

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People

Schroders picked Richard Oldfield as its new group chief executive. He takes over from Peter Harrison on Nov. 8.

Edinburgh-based asset manager Abrdn said its interim CEO Jason Windsor will continue as its permanent CEO, succeeding Stephen Bird.

VC Deals

London-based Finbourne Technology, which offers a financial data management platform, raised over £100 million from investors including CommerzVentures.

Massachusetts-based 6K, a specialist in the sustainable production of lithium ion-batteries, raised an $82 million Series E led by Anzu Partners, Energy Impact Partners LaunchCapital and others.

Forterra, a Maryland-based autonomous vehicle technology startup, raised a $75 million Series B led by Moore Strategic Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital and Hedosophia.

Form3, a London-based developer of payment technology, secured $60 million from investors including British Patient Capital and Visa.

Formo, a Berlin-based maker of animal-free cheeses, received a $61 million Series B from investors including EQT Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital and M Ventures, Sifted reported.

Israeli quantum computing startup Quantum Source has raised a $50 million Series A led by Eclipse.

Delaware-based Smartcat, an AI translation startup targeted for large businesses, raised a $43 million Series C led by Left Lane Capital.

Menlo Park-based AttoTude, a data center technology startup, has raised a $29 million Series A from Sutter Hill Ventures, Canaan Partners and Wing Venture Capital.

Germany's Retraced, which offers a compliance platform for the fashion and textile industry, received a €15 million Series A led by Partech.

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PE Deals

CVC Capital Partners increased its bid for Schenker, the logistics business of Deutsche Bahn, Reuters reported. The offer guarantees Deutsche Bahn at least €1 billion in the event of a potential future IPO exit if the German government remains as an investor.

L Catterton acquired a majority stake in Latvian bath and body care company Stenders.

Malaysian coffee chain operator ZUS Coffee raised $57 million from a group of investors including KV Asia Capital.

Walter Capital Partners took a majority stake in Martins Industries, a Quebec-based company specializing in equipment and supplies for tires and wheels.

Redwood Software, an automation fabric solutions provider, has entered an agreement to be acquired by Warburg Pincus and Vista Equity Partners.

Audax Private Equity has acquired Canada-based Total PowerGen, a distributor of power generation solutions.

Argentum has made a strategic growth investment in L2 Aviation, a company that specializes in avionic advancements.

EIR Partners has made a majority growth investment in PharmaForceIQ, which provides an AI-driven platform with marketing solutions for pharmaceutical brands.

Exits & IPOs

Gen.video, a marketing specialist, has acquired Bounty, a startup focusing on automation in the sponsored partnerships space.

Confluent is buying the data-streaming service startup WarpStream.

Tenant accounting specialist AccountTECH has acquired Shaker.io, a real estate management platform provider.

Fundraising

Bain Capital Life Sciences has raised its fourth flagship fund with about $2.5 billion in total commitments.

London-based FitzWalter Capital reached a $1.4 billion close on its second fund.

Paris-based Sienna Capital raised €400 million for its maiden fund, which just completed a second close.

Chart of the Day

Source: H1 2024 Healthcare Funds Report

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PitchBook News - Has fundraising's bounce-back begun?

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