PitchBook News - Tesla rival Xpeng readies IPO

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The Daily Pitch: VC

August 10, 2020

Like our newsletter? The data comes from the PitchBook Platform — our data software for VC, PE and M&A

Today's Top Stories

After stepping down from Intel, Wendell Brooks sticking to venture capital

Wendell Brooks in 2019 (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Wendell Brooks, who quietly resigned from Intel after six years of running the chip giant's venture capital and M&A business, intends to stay active in venture capital.

Brooks said in an email to Intel Capital's portfolio companies that "it is now time for me to take the next step in my life's journey," adding that he would remain a part of the VC ecosystem, according to a report by the Global Corporate Venturing website.

The departure of Brooks comes just days after Intel CEO Bob Swan, who took the reins in January 2019, announced new leadership in key technology posts in a reshuffle that was aimed at improving execution and accountability of Intel's technology, systems architecture and client group.

Under Brooks, Intel invested in hundreds of tech startups across segments including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, security, data centers and autonomous driving.

On his watch, Intel Capital also embarked on a major initiative in 2015 that set aside more than $300 million for backing minority-led startups in addition to advancing Intel's own hiring of diverse investors.

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Xpeng files for US IPO after raising nearly $1B

Xpeng currently offers two vehicles, with plans to roll out a third next year. (Image courtesy of Xpeng)

Xpeng, the Chinese electric vehicle maker pegged as one of Tesla's main rivals, has filed to go public on the NYSE.

The company listed the size of the offering at $100 million, a placeholder amount that's likely to change. The filing follows Guangzhou-based Xpeng's Series C+, which secured $900 million from Alibaba, Mubadala, Sequoia China and others.

Xpeng sells two flagship electric vehicles—the G3 SUV and the P7 sports sedan—and plans to launch a third vehicle in 2021. Since it began production of the G3 SUV in late 2018, Xpeng has delivered 18,741 units of the vehicle. It began deliveries of the P7 in May, with nearly 2,000 units shipped as of the end of July. The carmaker also has plans to roll out a new product model each year.

Since its founding in 2015, Xpeng hasn't been profitable and has just begun to generate revenue. In the first half of 2020, it booked $141.9 million in revenue with losses of $112.6 million. Last year, it received $328.5 million in revenue, but posted a loss of $522.5 million.

At the end of last month, Xpeng's Chinese rival, Li Auto, raised $1.1 billion in its IPO. Since going public, the Beijing-based company's stock has climbed 47%.

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A message from Orrick

Life sciences VC dealmakers adapt to the pandemic

Venture investors and companies alike in the life sciences sector are adapting to the pandemic era, innovating in terms of their approaches to due diligence as well as modifying operations as need be. The latest edition of Orrick's life sciences-focused series draws on a variety of PitchBook datasets to provide an overview of key macro financing trends, as well as:

A roundtable Q&A with prominent venture investors and experts within the space, facilitated by Orrick
A spotlight on IPO activity broken out by clinical trial status
Analysis of median pre-money valuations in life sciences thus far in 2020 relative to prior years

Read it now

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Reassessing our PE predictions for an unpredictable 2020

The pandemic has changed PE this year in ways nobody saw coming. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

At the start of 2020, our private equity analysts made a series of predictions for what was to come in the year ahead. Seven months later, we live in a different world. The pandemic has reshaped nearly every facet of society, and financial markets are certainly no exception.

Nonetheless, some of our analysts' predictions have proved accurate, even if not for the reasons they may have expected: Private equity fundraising totals are indeed on track to fall short of 2019's figures, and sovereign wealth funds have continued to grow more sophisticated. Others have not come to pass: The VC-to-PE exit path is not proliferating. All of them, though, can reveal something about how private equity has changed in 2020:

read our latest analyst note

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Recommended Reads

Ford wants to take on Tesla. Going private might be its best chance to do so. [The Wall Street Journal]

In the depths of the Great Depression, the town of Tenino, Wash., became the first in the US to introduce its own wood-based scrip. In this latest time of financial strife, the program is making a comeback. [Bloomberg]

How did I catch the coronavirus? For so many who have suffered from COVID-19, it's a question they will never be able to answer. [The New Yorker]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2015 Vintage Global Real Assets Funds
	VC Deals
	TemperPack boxes up new funding
	Vicarious Surgical secures $13M+
	Portfolio Companies
	Twitter looks to gatecrash Microsoft's TikTok deal
	ByteDance moves ahead with plans for new TikTok HQ
	Exits & IPOs
	Aveva, OSIsoft near $5B deal
	KE Holdings eyes $1.9B IPO
	Hims in talks to merge with Oaktree-backed SPAC
	Investors
	Billy Draper launches new seed fund

The Daily Benchmark

2015 Vintage Global Real Assets Funds

Median IRR

12.86%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

17.22%

1.29x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Carnelian Energy Capital

Equis Asia Fund II

Cortland Partners Fund II

*IRR: net of fees

122 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

TemperPack boxes up new funding

TemperPack, which offers thermal packaging for food and medicine deliveries, has raised a $31.3 million Series C led by Wheatsheaf Group. The Richmond, Va.-based company plans to use the funding to expand production of its patented sustainable liners. TemperPack raised $13 million in November at a $103 million valuation, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Revolution, SJF Ventures, Harbert Growth Partners, Arborview Capital, Tao Capital, Third Prime Capital, GreenHouse Capital

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Vicarious Surgical secures $13M+

Vicarious Surgical, the developer of a virtual reality-based surgical robotics platform, has raised $13.2 million in a round led by E15 Capital. Existing investors including Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors and AME Cloud Ventures also participated in the funding. The company was valued at $80 million in January 2019, according to PitchBook data.

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Portfolio Companies

Twitter looks to gatecrash Microsoft's TikTok deal

Twitter has held preliminary talks about taking over TikTok's US operations, according to The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft remains the frontrunner for the video-sharing business' activities in North America, Australia and New Zeland. The news came after President Trump signed a pair of executive orders to bar US entities from doing business with TikTok-owner ByteDance and WeChat after a period of 45 days. The orders cited concerns over the collection of user data that could be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party.

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ByteDance moves ahead with plans for new TikTok HQ

TikTok parent company ByteDance is pressing forward with plans to set up a headquarters in London for the video app, according to The Information. TikTok also plans to establish a $500 million data center in Ireland to house its European user data.

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Exits & IPOs

Aveva, OSIsoft near $5B deal

Aveva is in advanced talks to acquire fellow industrial software maker OSIsoft for $5 billion, according to Bloomberg. SoftBank acquired a minority stake in California-based OSIsoft in 2017 from prior venture backers Kleiner Perkins, TCV and Tola Capital. Aveva, which is headquartered in England, merged with Schneider Electric's industrial software unit in 2018.

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KE Holdings eyes $1.9B IPO

KE Holdings is planning to sell 106 million American depositary shares at a price range of $17 to $19 apiece in an IPO. At the midpoint of that range, the Beijing-based real estate giant would raise $1.9 billion. Investors including Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia, and Fidelity International have expressed interest in buying at least a total of $800 million worth of shares in the offering.

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Hims in talks to merge with Oaktree-backed SPAC

Hims, a telehealth company that offers personal health and wellness products, is in negotiations to go public by merging with blank-check company Oaktree Acquisition, according to Bloomberg. The deal could reportedly value Hims at roughly $2 billion, with the Oaktree Capital-backed special-purpose acquisition company looking to raise $100 million to help fund the merger. Since it was established in 2017, Hims has raised just shy of $200 million from backers including 7 Global Capital and 8VC; it was valued at $1.1 billion in January 2019, according to PitchBook data.

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Investors

Billy Draper launches new seed fund

Billy Draper, the son of billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper, has announced a new seed fund, Path Ventures. The vehicle will invest between $150,000 and $300,000 in early-stage companies. Before starting his own firm, Billy Draper was an investor at his father's firm, Draper Associates, and founded a social startup called Mobber.

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Chart of the Day

"We anticipate the UK & Ireland's IT space will lead the way in the post-pandemic recovery. GPs invested a record €7.7 billion into PE-backed IT companies in Q1 2020, equating to nearly one-fourth of UK & Ireland's total PE deal value in the quarter. Investment into the space increased over 80% from the same quarter in 2019 and has substantially grown from its €800 million deal value showing a decade ago."

Source: PitchBook's 2020 UK & Ireland Private Capital Breakdown