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A unicorn raises $250M to fight food waste

SWFs set sights on VC; SpaceX secures $346M before first manned launch; SoftBank eyes sale of OSIsoft stake; Nuclear fusion startup secures $84M
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PitchBook
The Daily Pitch: VC
May 27, 2020
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Today's Top Stories
Apeel becomes agtech unicorn with $250M round aimed at reducing food waste
(Westend61/Getty Images)
Food-waste prevention startup Apeel Sciences has raised $250 million in a round led by GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. The Goleta, Calif.-based company is now valued at north of $1 billion, up from the $420 million valuation it generated with a $70 million round in 2018, according to PitchBook data.

Apeel is the developer of a plant-based coating that can be applied to fruits and vegetables to double or triple their shelf life by reducing water loss and oxidation. The round also received backing from Viking Global Investors, Upfront Ventures, Tao Capital Partners and Rock Creek Group. Oprah Winfrey and Katy Perry supported the financing as minority, non-participatory investors.

A 2011 estimate from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization indicated that roughly a third of all food in the world goes to waste. And supply-chain disruption from the coronavirus crisis has only worsened the problem. The closures of restaurants, slaughterhouses and food production facilities have led to farmers dumping milk, culling livestock and plowing vegetables back into the soil, according to multiple reports.

More coronavirus news: Continuing coverage from PitchBook
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Breaking down sovereign wealth funds' strategies in VC
Singapore's twin SWFs manage roughly $880 billion.
(Tapanuth Termboonvanich/Getty Images)
Sovereign wealth funds became much more active in venture investing as the industry grew throughout the 2010s to a size commensurate with SWFs' investment theses. In a new research note, PitchBook analysts explore the avenues SWFs use to gain exposure to VC, with an eye to both historical context and how trends may evolve in the future. Key topics include:
  • How the advent of mega-deals led to increased opportunities for SWF direct investment

  • The methods of indirect exposure that SWFs utilize, including seeding new managers

  • SWFs' focus on increasing direct investing capacity and what that may mean for the future
read it now
 
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A message from Wpromote
Customer behavior: The new framework for corporate valuation & strategic direction
Wpromote
The economic realities of the pandemic have made it clear that the old path to prosperity based solely on growth is no longer feasible.

With the sophistication of digital marketing, companies now have access to more customer data than ever before. Enter customer centricity modeling, which we believe drives more accurate corporate valuations and a strategic roadmap to accelerate valuation through optimization of digital channels.

Please join our distinguished panel, including Peter Fader of the Wharton School and Theta Equity Partners, Anthony Choe of Provenance, and Jay Sung of Brentwood Associates, for a live virtual event on June 4 to explore this model and how your firm can deploy it effectively, moderated by Jenny Son of Wpromote.

Register now
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The double bottom line in private markets
Impact investing looks to accomplish dual goals: achieving financial returns while also generating positive social or environmental results. Our latest research note dedicated to the impact arena details the strategies and frameworks used in pursuit of this double bottom line, with key highlights including:
  • Identification of what truly constitutes an impact investment
     
  • A breakdown of the important distinctions between impact investing and incorporating ESG factors into an investment analysis
     
  • A comparison of the differing frameworks used to assess impact deals and their relative merits
read it now
 
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Recommended Reads
MedMen was supposed to be the Apple of the legal marijuana industry. Now, though, it looks more like the WeWork of weed. [Politico]

Is MasterClass about entertainment, or education? The company's leaders offer a different question: Why not both? [The New York Times]

The bankruptcy of Hertz is a story of the pandemic. It is also a story of O.J. Simpson, Carl Icahn, private equity, accounting fraud and much more. [Bloomberg]
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Quick Takes
  The Daily Benchmark  
  2003 Vintage Global PE Funds  
  VC Deals  
  SpaceX bags $346M on eve of historic launch  
  Insitro brings in $143M  
  Commonwealth Fusion Systems secures $84M  
  Scandit pulls in $80M Series C  
  DefinedCrowd scoops up $50.5M  
  Portfolio Companies  
  SoftBank weighs sale of OSIsoft stake  
  Fundraising  
  UBS plans fintech fund  
 
 
The Daily Benchmark
2003 Vintage Global PE Funds
Median IRR
14.46%
Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate
26.84%
1.71x
Median TVPI
Select top performers
Rhone Capital II
Genstar Capital Partners III
Onex Partners I
*IRR: net of fees
22 Funds in Benchmark »
Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks
Webinar: Fundraising best practices
Join us on June 3 at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT for an overview of how to create a more effective, data-driven pitch for your fund by using the detailed financial data available on the PitchBook Platform.

Highlighting some of the best practices covered in the PitchBook Fundraising Guide, we'll discuss:
  • Constructing custom benchmarks

  • Creating a target list of limited partners

  • Researching limited partners' previous commitments and current allocations

  • Connecting with your targets
Register here to secure your spot.
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VC Deals
SpaceX bags $346M on eve of historic launch
Elon Musk's SpaceX has raised an additional $346 million ahead of its first manned launch, according to a regulatory filing. The rocket company plans to send a pair of astronauts into space on Wednesday, a historic event for the private space industry. The funding adds to a $221 million round in March that valued SpaceX at $35.7 billion, according to PitchBook data.
View round
 
View 22 competitors »
 
Insitro brings in $143M
Insitro, a San Francisco-based biotech company, has raised a $143 million Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz. Insitro uses machine learning to develop predictive models for drug therapies and clinical research. Vijay Pande, a general partner at a16z, has joined the company's board.
Select Investors:
BlackRock, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Casdin Capital, HOF Capital, T. Rowe Price, WuXi AppTec
View round
 
View similar company »
 
Commonwealth Fusion Systems secures $84M
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised $84 million in a Series A2 led by Temasek, with participation from backers including Equinor and Devonshire Investors. Founded in 2018, the company is a developer of superconducting magnets.
View round
 
View similar company »
 
Scandit pulls in $80M Series C
G2VP has led an $80 million investment in Scandit. The Zurich-based company's barcode scanning software uses computer vision and augmented reality to help manage inventory, ecommerce and logistics. The funds will be used for international expansion and R&D. Scandit secured a $30 million Series B in 2018.
Additional Investors:
Atomico, GV, Kreos Capital, NGP Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Swisscom Ventures
View round
 
View 10 competitors »
 
DefinedCrowd scoops up $50.5M
DefinedCrowd has raised a $50.5 million Series B from investors including Evolution Equity Partners, Kibo Ventures and Portugal Ventures. The Seattle-based company is the developer of a training data platform designed to help companies apply AI to natural language processing, voice recognition and computer vision. DefinedCrowd was valued at $38.8 million in 2018, according to PitchBook data.
Additional Investors:
Bynd Venture Capital, EDP Ventures, Ironfire Ventures, Semapa Next, Hermes GPE
View round
 
View 90 competitors »
 
Portfolio Companies
SoftBank weighs sale of OSIsoft stake
SoftBank is looking to offload its minority stake in OSIsoft in a deal that could be worth more than $1.5 billion, according to Bloomberg. The industrial software company is held by SoftBank's Vision Fund; the sale is reportedly part of the Japanese conglomerate's new focus on raising cash.
View details
 
View 53 competitors »
 
Fundraising
UBS plans fintech fund
Swiss banking giant UBS has announced plans to establish a corporate venture fund to invest in fintech startups, according to Bloomberg. UBS will reportedly invest hundreds of millions of dollars by seeking out stakes worth between $10 million and $20 million. The fund will target financial platforms as well as companies creating solutions for client engagement and bank operations.
View details
 
View 200 investments »
 
Chart of the Day
Source: PitchBook's Q1 2020 US PE Breakdown
Who's in the newsletter today?
People
Vijay Pande
Investors
Andreessen Horowitz
Atomico
BlackRock
Bynd Venture Capital
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Casdin Capital
Devonshire Investors
EDP Ventures
Elon Musk
Equinor
Evolution Equity Partners
G2VP
GIC
GV
HOF Capital
Hermes GPE
Ironfire Ventures
Katy Perry
Kibo Ventures
Kreos Capital
NGP Capital
Oprah Winfrey
Portugal Ventures
Rock Creek Group
Salesforce Ventures
Semapa Next
Swisscom Ventures
T. Rowe Price
Tao Capital Partners
Temasek
UBS
Upfront Ventures
Viking Global Investors
WuXi AppTec
Companies
Apeel Sciences
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
DefinedCrowd
Insitro
OSIsoft
Scandit
SoftBank
SpaceX
 
 
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