PitchBook News - Dry powder piles up for mature funds

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The Daily Pitch: VC

March 10, 2025

The Daily Pitch is powered by PitchBook’s industry-defining research and best-in-class data

🤺 Defense tech deals are getting bid up to over 100x revenue multiples, fueled by hype that the Pentagon under the Trump administration will be a more hospitable environment to startups, insiders say.

Two of the most prominent VCs in the space, Founders Fund and 8VC, have spent the last few months raising war chests from LPs to deploy into the next generation of warfare technology.

But that momentum appears to be turning into a bubble.

💵 Dry powder is piling up at VC funds with vintages between three and five years old. These maturing funds have not held as much uninvested capital since the 2008 financial crisis. What's a VC to do about it?

Plus...
• Sycamore Partners will take drugstore giant Walgreens private in a $23.7 billion deal
• France's private markets rebound in Q4, but fundraising struggles

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Carlyle, TPG, Ares erase DEI language as legal risks heighten

(Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Several US buyout giants pulled back on diversity disclosure to their stakeholders this year. But it's unclear whether internal policies and practices are shifting along with the language.

From 2023 to 2024, most of the largest publicly traded alternative asset managers in the US removed significant portions of language related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from their annual filings with the SEC, PitchBook found.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

1

VC valuations

180

People

31

Companies

7

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2015 Vintage Global Debt Funds

Median IRR

8.37%

Top Quartile IRR

10.32%

0.93x

Median DPI

Select top performers

AAVIN Mezzanine Fund

Stellex Capital Partners

ICG Europe Fund VI

*IRR: net of fees

88 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Charlesbank Capital Partners appointed Michael Treisman as managing director, general counsel and chief compliance officer. He spent 10 years at Bain Capital.

Jason Cope has joined Polar Asset Management Partners as head of global fixed income and rates and will be based in the firm's Toronto office.

Lower-middle-market investor Corinthian Capital Group has promoted John Hughes to managing director.

VC Deals

Anysphere, the developer of AI coding editor Cursor, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars at a valuation of nearly $10 billion in a round led by Thrive Capital, Bloomberg reported.

Reflection AI, a developer of autonomous coding systems, raised a $25 million seed round led by Sequoia and a $105 million Series A led by Lightspeed. The funding values the company at $155 million, Bloomberg reported.

Nuclear fusion startup Renaissance Fusion secured a €32 million Series A led by Credit Mutuel Impact.

Kansas City-based Daupler, the developer of a response management system for utilities, raised a $15 million Series B led by Aqualateral.

Alpine Eagle, a Munich-based defense tech startup, raised €10.25 million in seed funding led by IQ Capital.

Paris-based Comet, which offers a platform for connecting companies with freelancers, secured €10 million from investors including Daphni, Otium Capital and Founders Future.

August, a DeFi brokerage, raised a $10 million Series A led by Dragonfly Capital.

GoodSam Foods, a regenerative and natural foods specialist, raised a $9 million Series A led by Alive Ventures and Desert Bloom.

PitchBook webinar: Private Credit Analysis & Outlook

What can private market participants expect in the year ahead? Join our guest speakers from throughout the private credit segment and in-house analysts as they share the most impactful trends in the current market environment and their insights on possible developments throughout 2025. This webinar will also feature results from our latest proprietary private credit market survey and a Q&A with our panelists. Key topics include:

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PE Deals

The FTC is challenging GTCR's $627 million proposed acquisition of Surmodics, a provider of medical devices and coatings for intravascular devices.

Bain Capital and CC Capital increased their bids for Insignia Financial, an Australian wealth management firm, valuing the business at roughly A$3.3 billion (about $2.1 billion).

PEQ has agreed to exit Tecomatic, a Sweden-based water treatment company, to IK Partners.

American Securities has acquired Integrated Global Services, a provider of surface protection solutions, from J.F. Lehman & Company.

Industrial and manufacturing investor Big 7 Ventures has acquired Modern Concrete, which services the mining, cell tower and construction industries.

PE-backed Advantive has acquired Commerce Vision, a digital commerce specialist, as Advantive seeks to venture into the dental and PPE industries.

Center Street Ventures has acquired Author Solutions, a provider of book publishing and marketing services, from The Nafaji Companies.

Exits

Apollo Global Management and The Vistria Group are weighing their options for an IPO or sale of Apollo Education Group, the holding company of the University of Phoenix, Bloomberg reported.

HitecVision exited its stake in Norwegian oil and gas company Sval Energi Group for $450 million.

Blackstone-backed Indian REIT Knowledge Realty Trust is seeking regulatory approval for a $711 million IPO.

Fundraising

Blackstone closed its commercial real estate debt fund on $8 billion and is expected to deploy capital in North America, Europe and Australia, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Charter Growth Capital has secured $111 million for its sophomore mezzanine fund.

Fusion Fund, a tech-focused early-stage VC firm, closed its fourth fund on $190 million, Forbes reported.

Chart of the Day

Source: Venture capital’s growing pains, AI take center stage at Upfront Summit in LA

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PitchBook News - Dry powder piles up for mature funds

Older messages

Startups gear up for EU defense surge

Secondaries: $100B+ in 2024 and rising

Are VC's biggest stars retaining their value?

Female founders face anti-DEI wave

Private funds pick their shots

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