PitchBook News - Venture debt spikes to all-time high

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The Daily Pitch: VC

February 19, 2025

Presented by SVB

⛰️ Venture debt lending hit a record in 2024. Lenders say it's "prime time" for the space as startups struggle to keep up with growth expectations from VCs without having to raise equity financing at lower valuations. Full story

📢 Exclusive: Caltech picked a new CIO to manage its $4.6 billion-plus endowment: Ken Lee, the CIO of Children's Medical Center in Dallas, will succeed Scott Richland, who recently stepped down after 14 years at the helm. Read more

⚖️ America's antitrust chiefs vowed to continue Biden-era merger review guidelines. "If merger guidelines change with every new administration, they will become largely worthless to businesses and the courts," wrote FTC chair Andrew Ferguson in a memo to staff. Our latest M&A report lays out the major deals under review.

Plus...
• Europe's VC valuations and deal sizes soar

European VC roars back: Valuations, deal sizes soar

(Eoneren/Getty Images)

Europe saw a recovery in valuations and deal sizes in 2024 as investors prioritized high-quality investments.

The region saw fewer down rounds, but the time between funding rounds has jumped up.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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VC valuations

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People

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Companies

29

Funds

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The Daily Benchmark:
2020 Vintage Global PE Funds

Median IRR

13.92%

Top Quartile IRR

21.20%

0.12x

Median DPI

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Tenex Capital Partners III

SSC Partners II

Ultra Capital Sustainable Infrastructure Fund II

*IRR: net of fees

140 Funds in Benchmark »

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VC Deals

Safe Superintelligence, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever's AI startup, is raising a $1 billion round led by Greenoaks Capital Partners at a valuation of over $30 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Terra CO2, a developer of low-carbon cement alternatives, raised an $82 million Series B led by Just Climate, Eagle Materials and GenZero.

Hightouch, which operates an AI platform for marketing, raised an $80 million Series C led by Sapphire Ventures that values the company at $1.2 billion.

Luminance, which offers an AI-based legal platform, secured a $75 million Series C led by Point72 Private Investments.

Blockchain security startup Blockaid raised a $50 million Series B led by Ribbit Capital.

Cambridge GaN Devices, a UK-based semiconductor company, raised a $32 million Series C led by an undisclosed strategic investor.

Capi Money, a London-based cross-border payments startup, secured an $18 million Series A led by Creandum.

Avandra, a startup building a network for medical imaging data, raised a $17.75 million round led by Aegis Ventures and SpringRock Ventures.

UK-based Nodes & Links, which offers an AI-based construction management platform, raised a $12 million Series B led by ETF Partners.

PE Deals

Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to invest about $1 billion into Spring Education Group, which operates private schools in the US, Bloomberg reported.

KKR is increasing its stake in the Italian energy company Eni's Enilive to 30% by acquiring an additional 5% for €587.5 million, Bloomberg reported.

The potential take-private of Walgreens by PE firm Sycamore Partners is still a possibility for the drugstore giant, CNBC reported.

One Equity Partners agreed to acquire Wheeler Fleet Solutions, a vehicle parts and services specialist, from Nasdaq-listed VSE Corporation.

KKR agreed to acquire Germany-based energy company EGC.

Genstar Capital-backed Flourish Research acquired Diablo Clinical Research, a US-based multi-therapeutic clinical trial specialist.

Exits

Permian Basin units belonging to Double Eagle, an energy producer backed by EnCap Investments, have been bought by Diamondback Energy in a $4.08 billion deal.

Parts of Humane, a startup that launched a wearable AI pin to replace smartphones, will be acquired by NYSE-listed HP for $116 million. Humane has raised over $230 million in VC funding to date.

Japan-based Folio, which provides automated financial advisers and is backed by SBI Holdings, will pursue a Tokyo IPO, CEO Shinichiro Kai said.

Fundraising

New York-based Neuberger Berman closed on $1.6 billion in investments for its third specialty finance fund and related funds, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Greenfield Partners, a VC firm that invests in mostly Series B and Series C rounds for startups, closed its latest fund on $400 million, Fortune reported.

Aquila Capital launched its first Energy Transition Fund, backed by Commerzbank, with an initial €50 million investment in a 56MW battery energy storage project in Germany.

Chart of the Day

Source: European VC female founders dashboard

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PitchBook News - Venture debt spikes to all-time high

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