PitchBook News - Private funds pick their shots

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The Daily Pitch: VC

March 5, 2025

Presented by Fidelity Private Shares^SM

🤝 Morningstar and PitchBook jumped into private credit portfolio monitoring with the acquisition of Lumonic, a two-year-old startup backed by First Round Capital. The deal follows a consolidation among software and data providers keen to serve private markets with end-to-end investment solutions. Lumonic plans to expand eventually into more asset classes. Go deeper

🧃 PE has kept up its appetite for consumer packaged foods, with dealmaking remaining steady year-over-year, according to our latest Emerging Tech Research. While outside pressure—including inflation and tariffs—could slow exit activity, the sector has generally been viewed as recession-resistant. Read the preview

🚢 BlackRock led a $23 billion deal to acquire two ports in Panama from CK Hutchison, as the Trump administration seeks to limit China's influence over the canal. The acquisition presents a strategic opportunity for BlackRock to expand its infrastructure portfolio. Full story

Plus...
• Our analysts review AI's effects on emerging spaces
• CVC Capital's $5 billion fund could hold assets for up to 15 years

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When one door closes, a window opens

Private market fundraising saw another year of decline in 2024, although the current estimated total is not far off from what the market reached in 2023.

While institutional investors contend with constraints on distributions and approach their allocation ceilings in some of their private market strategy buckets, managers have leaned into evergreen funds and diversified their income streams—particularly within infrastructure, debt and real estate.

Despite sub-optimal market conditions for fundraising, PitchBook analysts cite 2025 as a potential turnaround year—provided existing funds can offload the current backlog of held companies—as PE has recently demonstrated an uptick in exits.

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Emerging technology's AI love affair intensifies

It's no secret VCs are in love with AI, but just how much capital is flowing into the still-nascent vertical and what are the downstream effects it's having on the greater emerging technology space? PitchBook's latest analyst note reviews the surge of investment into emerging spaces, tracking funding trends across new technologies.

Funding accelerated in 2024, increasing 76.7% over 2023 and driven largely by AI—but it's not the only vertical drawing interest. Humanoid robotics and startups powering the energy transition are also gaining traction, with many others following behind.

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CVC Capital secures nearly $5B for long-term PE fund

(Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images)

CVC Capital Partners raised €4.61 billion (around $4.9 billion) for CVC Strategic Opportunities III—its long-term PE strategy that holds companies for up to 15 years. This strategy can generate higher returns on committed capital over the long haul, giving GPs another way to counter the tough exit market.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

27

VC valuations

2892

People

699

Companies

53

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2020 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds

Median IRR

18.16%

Top Quartile IRR

22.00%

0.56x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Landmark Infrastructure Partners II

Banner Ridge Secondary Fund III

Blackstone Strategic Partners Secondaries VIII

*IRR: net of fees

14 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Humanoid robotics startup Figure AI is in talks to raise between $1 billion and $2 billion in a new round at a $40 billion valuation, The Information reported.

Peregrine, the operator of a data intelligence platform for law enforcement and security companies, raised a $190 million Series C led by Sequoia at a $2.5 billion valuation.

Odeko, a startup developing a logistics platform for cafe businesses, raised a $126 million Series E consisting of $96 million in equity led by B Capital and a $30 million credit facility from Banc of California.

Aescape, which builds AI-powered massage robots, raised an $83 million round led by Valor Equity Partners.

Hospitality platform developer Mews raised a $75 million round led by Tiger Global Management.

Garuda Therapeutics, a biotech startup developing treatments for blood disorders, raised a $50 million Series A-1 from investors including OrbiMed, Northpond Ventures and Cormorant Asset Management.

London-based Lenkie secured a £49 million Series A for its cashflow management platform. The round, which consisted of £4M in equity and a £45M debt facility, was led by an undisclosed US private credit fund.

QuantWare, a Dutch developer of scalable quantum processors, raised a €20 million Series A led by Invest-NL and Innovation Quarter.

Numeral, a startup specializing in sales tax automation, raised an $18 million Series A led by Benchmark, Axios reported.

PE Deals

Sycamore Partners is close to finalizing a deal to take Walgreens private for about $10 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Francisco Partners has agreed to acquire Houston-based Quorum Software from Thoma Bravo in a $2.4 billion deal, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Audax Group is in talks to acquire a 50% stake in Fortis Payment Systems from Lovell Minnick Partners in a deal valuing the company at around $850 million, Bloomberg reported.

South Africa-based Nedbank Group and Norway-based Norfund are investing $31 million in renewable energy company Pele Energy Group for a minority stake.

Exponent invested in Hippo Digital, a UK-based digital transformation consultancy specializing in the region's public sector.

Exits

ICICI Prudential Asset Management, an India-based unit of Prudential, is seeking a valuation of around $12 billion in a Mumbai IPO, Bloomberg reported.

Honeywell agreed to acquire Sundyne, a manufacturer of pumps and compressors for the process fluid and gas industries, from Warburg Pincus for $2.16 billion.

Sweden-based investment firm Roko is planning an IPO in which it's looking to raise about 5.3 billion krona ($502 million).

Fundraising

Global Infrastructure Partners' latest flagship fund has nearly reached its $25 billion target, Bloomberg reported.

Adelis Equity Partners, a Stockholm-based PE firm, closed its fourth fund on €1.62 billion. The vehicle targets growth investments in the Nordic and DACH regions.

Foundation Capital closed its eleventh flagship fund on $600 million.

Mitiska REIM, a Belgian specialist investor in European convenience real estate, closed its third flagship fund on €310 million, surpassing its initial €300 million target.

Chart of the Day

Source: These fintech players could be next to hop on the IPO train

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PitchBook News - Private funds pick their shots

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