PitchBook News - Survey: Tech VCs ride wave of optimism

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The Daily Pitch: VC

December 24, 2024

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Tech wraps up 2024 with stability in VC deals

VCs are riding a wave of optimism heading into 2025, demonstrated by consistent fundraising activity and technological innovation, according to our latest VC Tech Survey.

Most investors who responded to the survey indicated that the amount of equity acquired in VC funding rounds was consistent throughout the latter half of 2024, hinting at stability in the VC investment climate.

Investors remain cautious of oversaturation in certain markets—highlighting chatbots, general-purpose AI, healthcare and fintech. But they continue to show confidence in the disruption potential of other targeted AI innovations.

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Crypto headhunter-turned-VC uses talent chops to court startups

Dan Eskow, founder of Up Top Capital
(Courtesy of Eskow)

A veteran crypto headhunter with previous Wall Street ties is betting his experience brokering hires can translate into closing winning early-stage crypto deals.

Dan Eskow of Up Top Search—who has placed personnel for notable crypto VCs including Framework Ventures and Polychain Capital—said he's aiming to tap his recruitment expertise by assisting portfolio companies with hiring.

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Infrastructure fundraising slows, but carries momentum

Just over 60 real assets funds have closed on nearly $71 billion combined through Q3 2024—putting the asset class on pace to fall short of year-end fundraising totals from 2023, according to our recent report on the strategy.

Funds are taking longer to close across the board, with even the fastest batch of real assets vehicles taking nearly 21 months to do so. Infrastructure fundraising has been subdued as the asset class awaits the closing of several mega-funds targeting over $7 billion in capital.

The outlook on real assets fundraising overall remains positive, with investors driven by decarbonization, digitalization and deglobalization. Still, fundraising in natural resources is moving at a slower pace, amid global tensions around supply and commodity pricing volatility.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

11

VC valuations

2798

People

825

Companies

48

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2016 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds

Median IRR

14.91%

Top Quartile IRR

22.54%

0.94x

Median DPI

Select top performers

LTO Fund

ICG Strategic Secondaries Fund II

Industry Ventures Special Opportunities Fund III

*IRR: net of fees

27 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Chromafora, a Sweden-based climate tech startup that develops water treatment technology, raised €22.5 million from the European Investment Bank.

Australia-based Sitemate, which develops no code software platforms, raised an $18 million Series A led by Blackbird Ventures.

Banking platform developer Infinant secured a $15 million Series A led by FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP.

Avalon Finance, a developer of a stablecoin cryptocurrency built using the bitcoin blockchain, raised a $10 million Series A led by Framework Ventures.

PE Deals

Aser Ventures-backed British sports network DAZN agreed to buy Australian cable TV unit Foxtel from News Corp. for $2.1 billion including debt.

South Korea-based investor Hahn & Company will buy an 85% stake in SK Specialty for $1.9 billion. The company produces gases for the semiconductor industry.

Sixth Street agreed to acquire Lemon Pepper Holdings for a £400 million, Bloomberg reported. Lemon Pepper is the operator of fried chicken chain Wingstop's locations in the UK and Ireland.

NashTech, an information technology company based in London, has been acquired by Hong Kong-based asset manager PAG from Nash Squared.

CDP Equity and Trilantic Europe acquired a majority stake in Diagram, an Italian precision farming services provider.

Exits

Nasdaq-listed Xerox acquired Lexmark International, an imaging machine and printer developer, from PAG and Ninestar Corporation for $1.5 billion.

Oil and gas company Westbrick Energy, which mainly operates in the Deep Basin of Alberta, has been acquired by Vermillion Energy for about $746.5 million.

AI observability platform developer Aporia, which is backed by Tiger Global and Samsung Ventures, has been acquired by Coralogix, a VC-backed observability and analytics startup.

Investors

PineBridge Investments has been acquired from PCG by MetLife in a $1.2 billion deal.

Chart of the Day

Source: Q3 2024 US PE Middle Market Report

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PitchBook News - Survey: Tech VCs ride wave of optimism

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