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The Daily Pitch: VC

March 20, 2025

Presented by Deloitte

🙌 Solid-state batteries have long been hailed as the "Holy Grail" of energy storage, promising higher energy density, greater safety and faster charging than traditional lithium-ion technology. But investor sentiment has been lukewarm as public companies struggle to generate revenue.

The past year saw a surge in major developments, from increased Chinese government funding to strategic partnerships between global automakers and startups. Our latest analyst note explores who's investing and why.

💰 Turn/River Capital closed its sixth buyout fund on $2.5 billion, surpassing its $2 billion target amid PE's ongoing exit recovery. The San Francisco-based software investor sold Redwood Software in September to Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus—a deal that reportedly valued Redwood at around $2.5 billion. Full story

Plus...
• Shortages create opportunities for egg alternative startups
• Europe's female founders snag their largest slice of VC funding in a decade

Sign up for Capital Pool to get weekly commentary on what's driving LP decision-making.

Network effects: Well-connected VCs see lower failure rates, better returns

(Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images)

The saying that "VC is a relationship game" now has data to prove it.

Companies with well-connected lead investors have failure rates ten percentage points lower than those of peers backed by peripheral investors, according to a PitchBook analysis. The power of networking is especially pronounced at later stages: for Series D investments and beyond, well-connected investors had a 4% failure rate among their investments—peripheral investors saw upwards of 15%.

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Ranking the busiest investors of 2024

(Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images)

The world's most active PE shop scored 378 deals last year, and the busiest VC firm notched 443. Who else set the pace? Our interactive Global League Tables for 2024 have arrived. We rank the top investors, advisers and more by region, across the full range of private market activity.

see the rankings

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

11

VC valuations

2605

People

703

Companies

44

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2017 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds

Median IRR

16.60%

Top Quartile IRR

19.10%

0.60x

Median DPI

Select top performers

RCP Secondary Opportunity Fund III

Timber Bay Fund I

Standard Life Capital Secondary Opportunities Fund III

*IRR: net of fees

15 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Barcelona-based HR software startup Factorial has raised $120 million in new funding from General Catalyst.

New York-based Dataminr, a security awareness startup using AI, has secured $85 million from Nightdragon and HSBC.

Ampersand Biomedicines, based in Boston, has raised a $65 million Series B from Eli Lilly.

New York-based AI coding assistance platform startup Graphite has raised a $52 million Series B led by Accel.

Proscia, a Philadelphia-based AI pathology software startup, has raised $50 million led by Insight Partners.

AI logistics platform startup Augment, which is based in San Francisco, has raised a $25 million seed from 8VC.

C1 Green Chemicals, a Berlin-based developer of climate-friendly chemical production processes, raised €15 million led by Denkapparat and a further €5 million in research grants.

Germany's Doinstruct received a €16.5 million Series A led by HV Capital for its compliance platform for frontline worker training.

Jutro Medical, a Warsaw-based telehealth specialist, secured a €12 million Series A led by Kaya VC and RIO ASI.

Don't miss our upcoming webinar

The story for female founders is complicated: PitchBook data shows VC-backed female founders in the US raised more capital in 2024 than the year prior, as mega-deals pulled VC markets forward after two years of declines. However, fewer individual companies are raising rounds, and female founders' share of total US activity declined year-over-year. Join our panel of expert speakers to learn more.

Register now to secure your spot.

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PE Deals

Blackstone acquired full ownership of The Arch Company, a £2 billion portfolio of British railway arches, by purchasing the remaining 50% stake from TT Group.

KKR is now among six bidders for Thames Water, the UK's largest water utility, which is seeking to manage a £20 billion debt burden. Other suitors include Covalis Capital and Castle Water.

Apollo Global Management will buy OEG Energy Group, which provides services in energy sectors, from Oaktree Capital Management and other investors, which will retain a minority stake. The deal values OEG at more than $1 billion.

KKR has held takeover talks with TXNM Energy, the owner of New Mexico's largest utility currently trading on the NYSE, Bloomberg reported.

Hedge fund Citadel has agreed to buy acreage and producing assets valued at around $1 billion from Paloma Natural Gas, a natural gas company backed by EnCap Investments.

Middle-market investor Broad Sky Partners has made a strategic investment in Massachusetts-based electrical contractor Commonwealth Electrical Technologies.

Advanced Instruments, a PE-backed scientific instruments provider, will buy Nova Biomedical in a deal valuing the biopharmaceutical instruments provider at $2.2 billion including debt.

Portfolio Companies

Ripple said the SEC has dropped its case against the crypto payments company. Ripple may decide to continue its appeal on a part of the judgement that ordered it to pay a $125 million fine.

Exits

UK-based Intermediate Capital Group is planning to sell PSB Academy, a major independent tertiary institution in Singapore, for at least $526 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Cinven is selling German life insurance consolidator Viridium Group to a consortium including Allianz, BlackRock, T&D Holdings, Hannover Re and Generali.

Nvidia bought VC-backed Gretel, a synthetic data startup for $320 million, according to reports.

Fundraising

Weatherford Capital closed its second flagship fund on $300 million to target tech, financial services and business-to-government growth companies.

Carr's Hill Partners has raised $210 million for its oversubscribed debut fund, which will back industrials companies in the Gulf Coast

Long Journey Ventures, a new firm started by Cyan Banister and Arielle Zuckerberg, has raised $181 million.

San Francisco-based SemperVirens has raised $177 million for two new funds, a $141 million early-stage focused fund and a $36 million fund focused on growth-stage companies.

Life insurer Lincoln Financial is partnering with Bain Capital and Partners Group to launch two funds targeting individual investors, The Wall Street Journal reported. One will focus on corporate loans and loans backed by tangible assets, and the other will invest in royalties, according to the report.

Chart of the Day

Source: PitchBook 100: The world’s most valuable VC-backed companies

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PitchBook News - Well-connected VCs reduce startup risk

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